I love it that my entry is automatically called "Chapter 1" for this is indeed a chapter of many. There are a few key points here that have lead to my success so far, in working through my Grave's Disease diagnosis, an autoimmune disease where your cells can't tell good from bad, and attack your own organ - in my case, my thyroid gland.

1. Listen to your body

2. Make sure your doctor doesn't pass off your symptoms as anxiety or sleeplessness disorders

3. Make sure you know your family medical history

4. Accept humility as a part of life, no matter how hard it is to be on the receiving end of help, care and concern

5. Learn as much as you can from books, from your doctors, from your acquaintances (you'd be surprised who knows something or someone this has affected and what you may learn)

6. See a naturopath doctor to understand what vitamins and minerals affect your thyroid and help control side effects

7. no matter how tired you feel, get off the couch for 30 minutes of exercise daily. no matter what.

I'll start with being thankful I listened to my body.  I'm stoic, and don't like going to the doctor for every little ache and pain, but I knew something was different, wrong different. I didn't put "2 and 2" together until a series of out of the ordinary things happened within a short period of time. Other wierd things had happened over the past 3-6 months, but never all at the same time that I'd run to the doctor for. A few Tylenol pm's should do the trick.

There was little bumps all over my hairline for a few days at a time which broke into little blisters, that i attributed to a hat, or being in another country. There was anxiety attacks where i tried to justify why i was having them and force explanations - "it must be that I'm lonely" -- even though i wasn't exactly feeling lonely - life was pretty good actually. I started making things up to explain why my heart was racing and I wasn't sleeping at all. Again, life was going great except for these anxiety feelings of an unknown topic. I went to the bathroom all the time. nerves? why would i have them though. Until my ankles and legs swelled to a fatty water-retentioned filled state, my hands were shaky, unstable and I'd break out into a sweat when i shouldn't, and i was extremely short of breath -- all within a matter of days, that I knew something was wacked.

I thank god for the care of my primary doctor, who didn't give me a pill and a bill, listened to my explanation of autoimmune diseases that ran in my family, and made the time for some blood tests for my thyroid, a gland I'd never given much of a thought to even though it influences many of your organs that aid in digestion and reproduction, and controls metabolism. It was confirmed I was very hyperthyroid. All new to me, I sought to learn as much as i could. My doctor put me on atenolol to get my heart rate reduced to a more normal rate, and pulled some strings to get me to see one of the best endocrinologists in town.

After a series of tests, including a radioactive uptake which required me to go on an over-the-top restrictive diet for 2 weeks, it was confirmed I had Grave's Disease, which caused my hyperthyroidism. With only 3 ways to treat it, I was pretty limited. I was thankful my doctor recommended medication rather than radioactively or surgically, the other 2 options. Even though the medication route had lesser success rate, who wants spooky, glowing green radioactive or risky surgery?  Unfortunatly I am 1 of the few whose liver was affected drastically by the medication. Either that, or i also had another autoimmune disease, autoimmune hepatitis. I had to quickly go off the medication and schedule myself to be treated with radioactive iodine as soon as possible. I researched frantically to see if I could treat it naturally. But I was getting worse, fast, and i'd lose my breath going to the mailbox just outside my house. I was creeped out with the thought of something radioactive inside of me, but made it through. Friends brought food, called (i couldn't be around people, ate from disposable plates/utensils, flushed 3 times). It was more difficult to be humble than to swallow the radioactive monster pill.

It took 3-4 months for the side effects to really kick in, as my thyroid was gradually killed. Once again, the key is listening to your body here, as I had to immediately go onto medication as soon as i felt the inevitable swing to hypothyroidism where your thyroid slows/stops working vs working extremely fast, as in hyperthyroidism. I've never felt so exhausted in my life, never had oilier skin, welts on my back, scabs on my scalp. My body felt like lead, and my mind in a haze.

Its hard for others to grasp the bodily and mental changes you go thru as a result of your thyroid malfunctioning. I have very patient friends, as I came close to losing a few for constantly not being there for them when they needed me.  But I knew I had to put myself first, for one of the very few times I've made that decision. I had to get through this. Saying "no" to invitations was really hard for me. I couldn't commit to anything, because i wasn't sure i could function and didn't want to constantly cancel. I had to live for the very moment, as 1 moment i was feeling ok, the next horrific and exhausted. Its rough waters.

I frantically sought the help of a naturopath doctor - I was terrified of potentially gaining 20-70 pounds out of my control. I didn't care that my insurance didn't cover this - this doctor really rounded out my thyroid knowledge and what my doctor doesn't exactly know enough about. I learned that zinc and sillenium are the key minerals that will help prevent weight gain and other side effects, and the right levels of vitamins and fish oil also contribute, in addition to the right amount of exercise - not too much, not too little. with the likelihood looming that you'll gain weight, you just want to diet and exercise all the time -- but your body feels like lead. I learned that 30-60 minutes a day minimum and maximum, of a variety of things is the optimal management, and that a diet of eating 3x a day - protein with a vegetable, will help. No special diet required of me (i have pretty good eating habits anyways - but not extreme), and no special exercise plan. I started hot yoga and felt this was the best detox for me - of all the bad toxins (more mental than anything) would sweat out of my system.

So far, all of this has worked for me. Time will tell.