[Mickey65]

#1075032

Like I said, I wasn’t intending to hurt anyone’s feelings here with the way I’m coping with my illness. I was just sharing with how I’m dealing with it all to make it easier – for ME.

I can’t say that I’m lucky because it was because of my Mom’s death which is what drove me to the doctor. If she’s hadn’t died – and of a neurological disorder (ALS), and made me question why my hands were shaking all the time, I would have never went and just chalked it all up to stress – which I feel brought the disease on anyway.

I hope that whoever is having a hard time dealing with their GD – that they find that light at the end of the tunnel and things get easier.

I am just VERY grateful that all it is is GD and nothing worse than that. I don’t think I would be so cheery if it were something you’d suffer and then die from like ALS – just like my Mom did – who I cared for and watched die a hideous death from.

[Ski]

#1075033

I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It does make it easier to put things into perspective, doesn’t it? Please let us know how your healing process goes, you’ve certainly got a good attitude to begin with. ” title=”Very Happy” />

[cathycnm]

#1075034

Mickey – I definately see optimism in you. We all have strengths – and those are what carry us through life. Optimism just happens to be most related to health outcomes. But they are all good.

I think one of the biggest down sides of chronic illness is how we can get focused on our weaknesses. Let me speak for myself – I was focused on every symptom (weakness) after I was diagnosed. It had its purpose – I could put a diary together for my doc of symptoms over the past year, etc. Unfortunatley – focusing on weakness (ours or someone elses) tends to make us less happy, less engaging and less resilient. So, it is a real catch 22 – because being able to talk about symptoms and get answers is soooo important.

I guess my whole point was to say that it is also important to focus on our strengths. It is interesting – because the more I focused on my own weaknesses with Graves, the more I also focused on others weaknesses, and they on mine. Last night I was MC at our graduation and I went out of my way to focus the introductions on strengths. It felt HUGE to be able to do that again. It has been months. Faces lit up in delight when I could focus like that. I came home and read your post and was compelled to post about the strength I saw in you.

ALS is horribly sad. I lost my mom to stomach cancer and she always blamed her RAI for it – though it is doubtful it was the cause. Now, somewhat like you, I can see how much healthier I am than mom when she went through this. Imagine getting terminal cancer a year or two after a Graves diagnosis? I have some idea what you are saying about your mom – and feeling like this is treatable. Cathy

[malia]

#1075035

Hi All,
I just wanted to say that seeing the full range of emotional reaction to Graves here has been really helpful to me. My first month after the RAI I felt no different, though it was going to be a breeze. Not so much 4 months later, there are the great days and the not so great and I am learning to be OK with that.

That hardest part for me is that I do not have any time off here at my new job and I watch my kiddo in the evenings/week-ends while DH is in school. There is no room for rest and recovery on the bad days, which really gets me down.

I was talking with my husband (studying for his masters in Counseling) and he was under the impression that I would have to have some sort of mental illness diagnosis in order to see a Psy about the emotional effects of Graves – anyone experience this? Something to do with insurance insisting on a diagnosis? Can a endo recommend counseling?

Wishing you all a warm, peaceful day,
Malia

[cathycnm]

#1075036

Malia – I can share my own experience. I choose a psychologist and my HMO paid every dime (except co-pay, of course)

I personally find psychologists to be a better match for me because they work more with helping me develop new coping skills vs more focus on meds with psychiatrists. There are TONs of diagnises they can use. My psychologist is someone I have seen many times through the years – and he picks "adjustment reaction" usually. That just means something has changed in life and we need some counseling to get through it.

Each insurance is different, though – so you may want to check your benefits on that before making a choice. Cathy

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