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Hi, Val. Sorry to hear that you are feeling discouraged.
First thing, as a friend (at least an Internet friend). You said:
“I am considering moving, when I really can’t afford it, just to be
back around friends so I have some sort of support system.”I don’t know what your financial situation is, but maybe you should
move to where you have a support system in place during this difficult
time. It’s funny that people will move to go back to school or for a
more fulfilling job or because a relative needs our help, but how often
do we move to help ourselves, especially if the help we need is
emotional in nature?I read a book about a year and half ago that really made me think. The
name of it is “Wishcraft: How to Get What You REALLY Want.” Basically,
the biggest premise of the book is that, if we really want something,
we can find people who are willing to help us get it, if we are only
willing to ask and to help others in return when we can. If the first
person we ask cannot help, they often know someone who can, and if we
talk to people who are suggested by the first, second, and so on, person
that we ask, it is amazing how much help and support we will receive.
The author of this book, Barbara Sher, also talks about how allowing
someone else to help us is giving a gift to that person because most
people get a big kick out of the fact that they have knowledge or
expertise that someone found useful. Sometimes, helping another person
even makes them aware of skills or knowledge they didn’t realise they
had.Her book really made me think a lot about how “self-sufficiency”
is, in some ways, a myth. When you think about it, we are all
interdependent, even though American society doesn’t encourage us to
think that way a lot of the time.My point is that you may have more resources than you think.
Perhaps you have a talent that someone would love to benefit from in
exchange for helping you move to where you want to go. If the community
in which you want to live has expensive housing costs and you are not
sure you can afford them, ask around. Many relatively healthy elderly
people who want to continue living in their own homes may allow someone
to live in their home for cheap or no rent so that they can have someone
around to help should the need arise. And so on. There are so many
possible solutions, and if you start asking around you’ll probably hear
so many suggestions that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.Or, perhaps you don’t really want to move right now. Perhaps what you
really want is to stay where you are geographically but develop the
support system you need where you are at. Again, asking around may
help you find it or build it. There are so many support groups and
churches out there. Because they may be run by kind people, many
churches are happy to have you attend group activities even if you
don’t have any wish to join the church.Anyway, I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna but, as I said, that
book really made me think a lot about how many assumptions I make about
why it’s not possible to do something. It made me realise that my
assumptions are often wrong and that, if I’m willing to give up the
illusion that I don’t need other people’s help, I can learn a lot and
hopefully get to where I want to be.O.K., on to the thyroid thing.
Well, I don’t have my thyroid book handy, and I’m no expert on the RAI,
but I’ll try to relate what I remember from my reading.As I understand it, if you had RAI on September 6, it is quite possible
that it has not yet had its full effect on your thyroid gland. I am
under the impression that RAI varies in the length of time it takes
to work on different people but can take several months before it has
its full effect. Since you had the RAI less than a month ago, it could
still be a while before the RAI has the full effect.My guess would be that this is because, even though the radioiodine is
absorbed by the thyroid gland over the course of only a few days, once
the thyroid gland has the radioiodine, it holds onto it for a while.
During that period, the radioiodine continues to irradiate the thyroid
gland cells and destroy their ability to produce thyroid hormone.
Since we are all individuals and people have goiters that differ in
size, it makes sense that the amount of time for RAI to work would
differ.I’m sorry, but without my thyroid book, I don’t know how many people
have to take another dose of RAI because their first dose didn’t work.I think I remember from my reading that some people do have some
tenderness and/or a sore throat feeling after RAI. I’m not sure how
long it’s supposed to last. By the way, with the symptoms you’re
having, particularly the racing heartbeat, you may want to ask your
doctor if it would be a good idea for you to be on a beta blocker until
the RAI has more effect. A beta blocker can help with some of the
symptoms of Graves’ disease, particularly the fast pulse.I hope some of this is helpful, and that you are having a better day
when you read this. Just remember, you don’t have to be strong all the
time. Sometimes it is O.K. to give yourself a day off from being
strong and mature and all that jazz and not feel guilty about it! -
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