Graves Disease | Where's Lumpy?

Graves Disease Part I

In a nutshell….

I worked 7 years in odd jobs from driving semi’s to becoming a Nuclear Material Transportation Coordinator and Supervisor of Trucking at a well known former weapons plant near Denver, Colorado. Climbed around, handled, counted, transported, carried, etc. radioactive contaminated shit for every one of those workdays.

6 years after I left ”Rocky Flats“, I woke late February 2007 a healthy 276 lbs with just under a 450 lb. bench press, 2 short months later - 205 and couldn’t even press my fucking pants….

70 pounds? 60 Days? You’re kidding me right?

Oh, I heard it all. From being called a “crack head”, to get off the cocaine and meth, to “do you have aids”? “What type of cancer is it?”

Well it was called Hyperthyroidism, raising well past the level of “Graves Disease”. And no, I’m not going to fucking die and yes, I’m over it - cured now with ironically, more exposure to radiation.

Amazing how life can just motor along with no issues whatsoever, then out of the clear blue sky, wham! - hit you like a ton of bricks.

I knew something was wrong because I couldn’t sleep, was a nervous wreck and had way too much energy. If you had seen me you would’ve laughed your ass off. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Mr. Spazzzzz…. I just thought it was the “pressure” of starting another business ya’ know? The timing was coincidentally perfect.

Well I also got lucky too. I happened to find the best Endocrinologist that ever lived. Great doctor. Smooth, thorough and overall just a great guy. After tests, test and more rounds of tests he determined it was Hyperthyroidism and Graves Disease. I had to keep going back for testing because they thought somehow there were mistakes taking place. Nobody had ever heard of a T3 count being “greater than” 2,000. They thought the tests were hosed up somehow. The scale they measure human T3 goes to 2,000 and my T3 was somewhere between 2,000 and “infinity”. Swell. What makes the Graves disease from the Hyperthyroid is the T3 hormone level. Below a certain point, it’s Hyperthyroidism, above that certain number - Graves disease. One of the marks that happens quite often in folks with Graves disease is the “buggy eyed” look. Some get those buggy eyes, remember Marty Feldman? He had Graves. Lucky for me my eyes were just on the edge of noticing that symptom - I went from Lumpy to Buggy….

To be continued….

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