Graves' Disease Support Group
Graves-Basedow disease is a medical disorder that may manifest several different conditions including hyperthyroidism (over activity of thyroid hormone production), infiltrative exophthalmos (protruberance of one or both eyes and associated problems) and infiltrative dermopathy (a skin condition usually of the lower extremities). This disorder is the most common cause of...
My son lost his job this week because they said he was missing to much time from work while he was I'll. South Carolina is a fire at will state. He had RAD 2years ago and now he is hyper again so they are trying to make him hypo o calm everything down and start over. He went from being agitated all the time over nothing and no sleep to now he can't get enough and feels very run down. His church has been very helpful, they came thru with some great things for them and he is waiting on a call on Wednesday about a new job. People have no idea what we go thru everyday. It seems as if every week he has something else going on. He also has gout and RA. He is only 35. I have been trying to get home on this site for Eve. We are gonna'pay for them to come visit the week before Thanksgiving and I'm gonna tie him down and make him look at this site. I also ordered both he and I Living With Graves this week. So maybe we will both learn more. Thanks to you guys I have settled down some and learning what to avoid although I'm not always compliant. Thanks for your time needed to get this off my chest.
Men seem to have a much more difficult time with all this, with exceptions of course, but your son's experience is not unique. RAI can be the more difficult choice for men in particular, becasue they have a smaller but denser gland than women. The radiation can not penetrate as well, thus the repeats of the RAI.
Given societies expectations for men to be macho, carry on, provide for their families, to not admit even to themselves how sick they feel, it's no surprise they are often more hyper that us at diagnosis. That gives them a greater risk for other aspects of Graves' an a longer road to recovery. Add to all this, that some regard Graves' as a women's disease (not true)...a guy can have a tough time.
Men do have one advantage though. Once they educate themselves , they are more likely to get a doctors attention an cooperation, since they're not a bunch of whining women. Hey.. sometimes it happens that way.
Hope your starting to feel a bit better.
(((hugs)))
Pam