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Hey Christy, hang in there, it takes a while but it does get better bit by bit, when you look back six months (for example) you can really notice the difference, but in the mean time, just keep an eye out (metaphorically) for those little forward steps. Sometimes they are tiny, but they are there. Also, focus on the good things in your life. You will also get more comfortable with the types of available treatments and if you can you should take lots of time to think through them all and then you will be happier with whatever course of treatment you take.
Rob
” title=”Wink” />Hi everyone, Apologies straight up for this being long. I am 37 and was diagnosed about 19 months ago and I am having RAI in about 2 weeks. When I was diagnosed I had been running my own small law practice for a number of years, my few part time employees had found me difficult (but i was the boss), and my friends and family had also found me pretty hard to deal with. I eventually had to shut my practice down and start working for another firm to reduce the stress on myself after I was diagnosed, which has helped. The people I now work with are sympathetic, but no one really understands my condition and they really do think that on medication I am fine, which I originally thought I would be also. I can understand that people don’t realise the seriousness of GD, because I didn’t either until more recently. My brother is a specialist Dr and he said nothing to me about it, and has said nothing since. The only thing he said after I was diagnosed, that he thought it explained how my eyes looked and the tremor in my hands, which he originally thought were a result of me having an alcohol problem, which I didn’t! Frustrating. I have explained to my work colleagues in detail now about what it’s all about. And I have explained that after the RAI I might feel pretty average some days, and have been told, just to do what I need to. Unfortunately, my clients won’t be like that!
Anyway, my now ex partner could not cope with me. She thought that if I was depressed or anxious and very stressed etc that it was somehow her fault and as a result she got depressed and eventually extremely angry with me because she was trying but couldn’t do anything to make me happy. She was always trying to work out what she had done or what had happened in my day to make me feel like I did and when I said that there was no reason I could think of, she thought I was hiding something or lying to her or having an affair or something, even though I would go to work and then home, and spent 99% of my spare time with her. I would try to talk with her and explain that I sometimes felt like I was losing my mind and that there was no reason I could think of. For a long time I was not aware that my thyroid was making my life and her’s hell. I felt guilty using the excuse that it was my thyroid making me feel like i did and it affected how I was, even though it was the truth. Since the relationship broke down a couple of months ago at her instigation I have communicated with her by email, and now she gets it, but it is too late. Had I seen this bulletin board earlier or had anyone tell me anything, I would still be in a relationship and would have some support around me rather than being left to deal with everything on my own. Which is still very hard.
It is a fine line with explaining to an employer the seriousness of GD, because it may affect your employment. I have to provide a report from my endo to my professional body to explain that my GD is ok every six months and that it doesn’t affect my work and that I am managing the disease. If I don’t do that they will suspend my right to practice as a lawyer. I am sure if my clients knew how this affected me sometimes, they would stop giving me work to do for them.
It’s very important for GD sufferes to understand how GD affects us. I believe that the burden is on us to make sure people understand how GD and it’s various treatments work and how they affect us. I think the brochure idea is a great idea. It could have saved the most important thing I had in my life, my loving relationship. Hopefully with some information brochures, some others will be helped!
Thanks for listening
Rob
