Fw: Family Post 2

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> Graves Letters Post 2

>

> Jean posted this on another board in response to someones request on what

to

> tell her hubby because he didn't believe what/how she was feeling...to me

it

> was a perfect response and helped in my home more than anyone will ever

> know...so Jean, thanks again for this post, and for saying okay to me

> posting it here!!!!

> Jody

>

> Posted by : JeanC on 12/30/99 at 2:00:28 AM

>

> Here's an answer for your hubby hon,

>

> What is happening now is her thyroid is putting her thru hell by screwing

up

> everything it is attached to. Before I ever even heard of Graves' I was a

> healthy active woman who bicycled to work every day, ran up and down

stairs

> all day and didn't think twice to pitch in and shelve several book trucks

of

> books (not too mention pushing around said trucks. Fully loaded they

weighed

> 200 pounds easy). When I was finally diagnosed with Graves' I was lucky if

I

> could walk 10 feet without wanting to lie down and die.

>

> My bike is permanently stored on hooks in the shed. I couldn't even stand

at

> the kitchen sink for longer than a minute before I was too exhausted to do

> another dish. Even after being stabilized on the meds, it took a year

before

> I could even think of climbing a flight of stairs and the most exercise I

> could do was water aerobics (I tried regular aerobics, but my muscles were

> still so delapidated that was impossible).

>

> She ain't being lazy and isn't making excuses. What Graves' does to the

body

> is frustrating and debilitating. One of the things it does is attack the

> muscles, making even the simplest tasks, such as walking or lifting

> difficult and sometimes painful. As for the weight gain, well, again that

is

> something that the Graves' affects. I had uncontrolled and sudden weight

> loss before I was diagnosed. As soon as I went on the meds, the weight

came

> back on, even tho I still had no appetite and was barely eating anything.

> The problem with Graves' is you can't control how the body is going to

react

> to things. In my case, my bod thought it was experiencing famine, so as

soon

> as I stabilized it grabbed all the spare calories it could to protect

> against the next famine.

>

> Now hubby, I want to give you a homework assignment. I want you to sit

down

> and read all the past messages on this board and you can see what Graves'

> can do to people. Then I want you to hug your wife and tell her you love

her

> and are there for her, in sickness and in health and all that cool stuff.

It

> ain't a nice disease and we need all the support from our loved ones to

get

> thru it.

> Jean C