This has been possibly one of the worst weeks of my life, and yet it's been relieving in a lot of ways. The breakup was not fun, and I'm still not 100% happy with it, but my mom falling off the ladder had very positive consequences in some ways. First, she was able to help me diagnose what has been wrong with me for the past six or more months. People have been noticing for a long time that I been shaking, that my heart has been beating like crazy, that I always look tired, that I'm not as strong as I used to be, that I've been losing weight even though I eat like a pig, and that I've had major anxiety. I thought I was just out of shape. When I went to the hospital to visit my mom on Wednesday, she immediately noticed the shaking, and she asked me if I had had my thyroid checked. You see, she had Graves Disease when she was 32, and so she new the symptoms of hyperthyroidism when she saw them. And sure enough, she was right. I do have Graves Disease. Having this disease sucks, but it's not the end of the world. I'm already feeling much better because they immediately put me on beta blockers for my heart, so I'm much calmer.

The other consequence of my mom falling off the ladder and me having Graves Disease, is that we finally got to talk about all of the things that have been bothering me, that have been keeping us apart. So all in all, even though three very terrible things happened, I'm feeling pretty relieved. At least I know now that I'm not really that out of shape, and that the anxiety I was feeling was not just because I was going crazy, but because my body has been on overdrive for over six months.

If you want to learn more about Graves Disease, check out:

www.4woman.gov/faq/graves.htm