[Anonymous]

#1037674

From the beginning my doctors have always told me that there is NO cure for GD and that very little is known regarding its cause. Therefore, I was prepared that we were going to go through a trial and error period with my medication and general treatment.

We aren’t exactly sure why my T4 count fell from 76 down to an acceptable normal range. We hypothesized that it could be because I was diagnosed relatively early, or that we decided to take a conservative and slow approach to the amount of thyroid inhibitor I was taking, or that I was just plain lucky. Personally, I think it was because we talked a lot and chose to treat GD in a holistic sense (meaning not just the physical symptoms, but also my mental and spiritual well-being). One of the first things I did was to list all the things that were stressing me out and then finding out ways to reduce each individual stress factor.

My internist also thinks that I’m just too darn positive and that my experience from 7 years ago in breaking my neck from a car accident taught me a lot about looking at life more positively and working through adversity. She also MADE ME go on a five-month sick leave from my high-stress job (I’m the Human Resources Director for a big consulting firm — this was number 1 on my stress list!), which I fought against but eventually accepted. FYI: I’m leaving this company in mid-August to take another (less stressful) HR job with an entertainment company.

TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR to understand more about the individual levers you may be able to manipulate with this disease. For me they were identifying and reducing stress factors, diet, physical exercise, social outings, the availability of a family & friend network, and building an honest & trusting doctor-patient relationship.

Good luck to you. Hope this helped.

Troy

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