[j_rush]

in reply to: Thank God for GDF (new to GD and GDF) #1070263

Well I have come to the realization that she does believe me that graves’ can make our problems worse. I believe now that it is more that she needs a little bit of time to deal with the hurt. It isn’t rational, it”s emotional, i can understand that.
Tomorrow I am leaving fora week. I am giving her a week to herself so she can get her emotions in order, and recharge her batteries. I realized too that we haven’t had much of any time apart since we got together. She has had no time to miss me. at least when i was in school, she would be home some of the time, and I would not be there. Now that the summer is here and i have not been working and feeling terrible, I am here all the time. She has no time to miss me.
so, if I could ask everyone to pray for her emotional batteries get recharged, and for her to miss me! I will try to keep up on the website while I am gone as well.

But I hope to do some recharging of my own. I have not seen Todd since november, and that was when his brother in law, one of my best friends, died of lung cancer. (scotty was the biggest reason i quit smoking, 2-2-09) Todd and I will be without our women for a whole week….. Of course i dont mean that to sound like I will be naughty, because I wont. I just guarantee something will get broken, dont know what, but when todd and I are together, something always gets broken.
Thank you all for your support.
Thanks,
Justin "the punisher" Rush

[j_rush]

in reply to: Curious about treatment options… #1070217

As it is explained to me, the RAI can cause the eye problems to get worse, so if you have eye problems that are severe enough, your endo might suggest you go a different route. Surgery is usually used for those that have the severe eye problems, but not preferred for those without them. The antithyroid drugs are what seem to be the most popular first step, I believe it is because it is much less invasive and yields a chance at a normal life without having to take hormones for the rest of your life. In the research that I have done, I have not come across information linking antithyroid drugs to the eye problems.
If I were concerned about my thyroid compressing on my trachea, I would personally opt directly for surgery, that is just my 2 cents.
Hope this helps
Thanks,
Helpful Justin the helpless

[j_rush]

in reply to: Graves vs Hashimoto’s how do they know? #1070203

I have to admit that i don’t really know anything about hashimoto’s, is that another autoimmune disease? if it is, I think it should be easy to tell the difference based on your free t4, high free t4 would indicate that your thyroid was hyperactive. i just googled hashimoto’s and it appears that it makes you hypothyroid, so yeah i would assume that symptoms and free t4 levels would tell the difference.

[j_rush]

in reply to: Graves vs Hashimoto’s how do they know? #1070201

I believe there are a couple ways that they check. The first would be to check for the graves’ antibodies. The other should be an iodine uptake scan, if your whole thyroid "lights up" then it is your whole thyroid that is hyperactive. I think that is how, but i cannot be 100% sure.
Thanks,
justin

[j_rush]

in reply to: family member newly diagnosed #1070225

I am sorry that you are going through this. From what I am being told, it is extremely common. I am a man with graves’. I am suffering through the symptoms as well. i have lost my temper far more easily that I ever have in the past. know that he IS the man that you love. Having you there to love and support him will most definitely make the road to recovery much easier. This however does not mean it will be easy on you. I’m sure that many other people can explain this concept better to you, but I’m going to give it the ‘ol college try. Try talking to him about his triggers, the things that make him react badly. Try talking about a "safe" word he can use when he is having a graves’ rage. when he is just raging, and not actually mad at you, he can use this safe word to let you know he is not mad. Again, all of this is not going to make the road easy, just easier. Also, if you two practice different responses he can use when he encounters a trigger, it could help him to replace the rage behavior with a more productive behavior.
I hope this helps, and I know Ski or someone else can put this in much better words than I can, but hey I have no life and wanted to throw in my 2 cents.
Thanks,
2 penny Justin, relinquishing his soapbox.

[j_rush]

in reply to: Thank God for GDF (new to GD and GDF) #1070261

Hopeful-
I hardly know what to say. I feel like your situation mirrors mine very much. Though mine might not be so severe. Scary none the less. For me it just hurts so bad to know that I will be the man she fell in love with again, and that she may not be here to see it.
I want to stay busy, I know that the times I am the worst are the times where I get bored. Those are the times where my mind plays tricks on me. I start to skew things a little bit and get angry. I think it is a mixture of hurting, sadness, worry about christi and the disease, and the little bit of joy that comes from knowing what is wrong with me and knowing it can be treated. Then of course there is the "graves’ rage" Never really understood why I would get angry before, or why i would have the NEED to talk. I would get mad and rant, and I would sit and tell myself to stop talking, but I couldn’t. Those things seem to subside when I stay at least a little busy. I really enjoy it here, I keep the page up and am constantly refreshing it to see what new tid bit it being written. Being able to talk on here makes me feel "normal", or at least like I’m not a complete freak. That feeling helps.
II wish there was something in my area for support as well. I think it would also help to see people face to face.
oh, and can anyone tell me how you all get such clear pictures on here? mine looks like it was made with an etch-a-sketch.
thanks,
Justin

[j_rush]

in reply to: Just wanted to celebrate with you….my friends! #1070246

WOOT!
good job. I read your post, and around my house, we have a butt waggling, arm flailing, weird facial expression happy dance. I got up and did my happy dance for you! I would post a video but i fear it would be used for blackmail.
Little steps, one day at a time.
I know in my own life there have been things that I did not believe I could get through. Somehow I have gotten through them. When on the other side, we look back and ask ourselves how we got here. I know that I’ve looked back at my path, and have seen the footprints during those hard times, and when I put my foot in the empty prints, my foot is not enough to fill them. He will never give us more than we can handle, but we may get to the point where we think he has. Remember, at those times there are only going to be one set of prints.
like you say, one day at a time.
With hope,
Justin (aka mr cries alot)

[j_rush]

in reply to: Thank God for GDF (new to GD and GDF) #1070257

You are all so kind here. Today has been a real struggle. I have felt jacked all day. My heart rate is up, i am twitchy, nervous, been pacing all day, had a sour feeling in my gut. The worst part of it all is that it started to play tricks with my mind. I found myself getting mad at my girlfriend. i had no reason to be angry with her, i was just angry. But i read what ski wrote about jake’s grave’s rage. and i just grit my teeth and didn’t say anything. Christi was probing me to see what was wrong, and I had to fight with everything i had not to explode at her. And i won, it was glorious! I won the battle with my own will. I didn’t allow myself to burst at her. She of course was upset because she thought I was just giving her the silent treatment. After I was able to calm down to a point of civility, I went and talked to her. I told her that I was feeling as though she was hiding something from me, and simply asked her if she was. She said no. I told her that it felt like she had already made a decision to leave me. She said if she had made that decision, she would have told me already. I accepted her answers, and then I felt better. I’m still a little jacked up, my hands are trembling, but I am doing better.
Having this here also helps me to feel like I have an outlet, and I do not have to run and pester her. She wants space, and before I found you guys, she was really the only one that i had to rest my weary soul on. thank you all.
As for my BP, no it stayed pretty decent, it was 130/80 before the betas, and after it ranged from 115-130/65-75.
although, I am a very literal person, and the warnings that the doc and the pharmacist gave me about the betas scared the poo out of me, so the first few nights I was scared to go to sleep. I really mean I was terrified, more terrified than i have been of anything ever before. I thought i would drift off and die in my sleep. Now I realize what I was feeling was just being overly tired because I would put off going to sleep.
As far as her coming here. I am hoping that I can convince her to take a look at the forums. I think I will just give her the links, ask her to look, and leave it at that. If she cares, she will look. If she doesn’t look, then that says it all doesn’t it.
But again, I will learn from this situation, no matter how it turns out, I will be able to help people, and spread the word about how grave’s effects your life.

[j_rush]

in reply to: GD and Emotions..we are new to GD #1070284

No matter what happens in my relationship, I stand resolute to stay the course of treatment. I also know now that i am in a position to help people in the future. If our relationship can endure this trial, then we will be a beacon of hope for others, much like you and your husband. If our relationship ends, I know that I will have a testimonial to the doubting significant other, I will be a testimonial to how things can go terribly wrong. Either way, I fully intend to help those who have grave’s, and their loved ones in the future.
Thanks,
Justin

[j_rush]

in reply to: GD and Emotions..we are new to GD #1070281

I hear you. I’m not a person that cries, but I come on here, and i read short messages from people on here, and it makes me feel that things will be okay. I find myself constantly choking back tears and fighting my stomach down out of my throat. I know that I haven’t been here long, just today as a matter of fact, but this forum has helped me so much already. I have a voice. Now people can hear me, i am not just some anonymous statistic anymore.
for weeks I have been struggling, making excuses, being overly critical of myself, now I can make the decision to say "i have a disease, and I don’t need to make excuses for it or apologize for it."
okay okay, I’m a big softy, like an M&M that was left out in the sun, hard on the outside, squishy and sweet on the inside! and i feel like I’m being overly dramatic, but this is really how I feel, I am so touched by everything here.
Thanks,
Melty M&M

[j_rush]

in reply to: GD and Emotions..we are new to GD #1070279

Sue Conard wrote:This is the first time I’ve ever posted to this site, but I’ve been on-line lurking for a few months.

I think we need more people that will step out of the shadows and become participants. I applaud you for coming out of your lurk! ” title=”Very Happy” />
In my mind, a big issue facing grave’s sufferers is credibility. we do no appear to be ill. I think the more people that stand up, tell their story, and raise awareness, the more credible we will be.
I encourage everyone reading these boards to post your story, i bet you would feel fabulous afterward!
Thanks,
Justin

p.s. I’m willing to give up my soap box now

[j_rush]

in reply to: GD and Emotions..we are new to GD #1070277

Lol!
I am in your husband’s position. I just recently got diagnosed. My girlfriend is upset with me as well. She worries that I will be unable to hold a good job when I am out of college next year. BLESS YOU! BLESS YOU! i cannot say that enough, you are sticking with him and supporting him, please give my girlfriend a little of what you have. I am getting no support from her, and I swear if I didn’t have that stress, i would feel 100 times better.
Keep supporting him, realize that you love him, he has a disease. If a diabetic had out of whack blood sugar, we wouldn’t be mad if they acted erratically. But people tend to blame grave’s patients.
It is never easy, but hey, if that’s the worst you have to deal with, id say that it isn’t so bad.
bless you, you are an angel for supporting him.
Keep it up!,
Justin

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