Guest appearance

Here's a quick update on my daughters health situation and a new site she has started to "help others." She's a strong kid and I'm damn proud she continues to focus on helping people understand the magnitude of this strange and debilitating disease!

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What do rapper Missy Elliot, 41st president George H. W. Bush, famous Italian mobster Sammy Gravano & Rayanne Forbes all have in common?

They were all struck by the cruel “Graves Disease”.

Haven’t heard of it?

Neither did I until 2:07am July 19th of 2010.

My name is Rayanne Forbes & that morning was the beginning of the worst year of my life. After spending a night in the hospital with breathing difficulties, heart palpitations & giving blood; I was diagnosed with Graves Disease.  

It strikes the young, the old, the rich, the poor & the unsuspecting. You may have it and not even know it. This disease takes charge of almost every aspect of your body and because there are so many symptoms it is easily confused with other health problems.

The popular "Work It" hit-maker Missy Elliot has recently made public her battle with the Disease saying; "You live with it the rest of your life. I couldn't write because my nervous system was so bad. I couldn't even use a pen."

Elliot was diagnosed with the disease in 2008 and has been receiving radiation treatment to help alleviate symptoms like dizzy spells, lumps in her throat, mood swings, hair loss, and bulging eyes.

Graves Disease is an autoimmune disease where the thyroid is overactive, producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones. Symptoms of Graves Disease can cause a dramatic neuropsychological and physical signs and symptoms.

Graves Disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in children and adolescents, and usually presents itself during early adolescence.

It has a powerful hereditary component, affecting up to 2% of the female population, and is between five and ten times as common in females as in males. Symptoms include- but are not limited to- a rapid or irregular heartbeat, tremors of your hands or fingers, anxiety, irritability, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, protruding eyes, an increase in perspiration, sensitivity to heat, weight loss & brittle hair.

Although managed through medicine, radioactive iodine treatment or surgery; once diagnosed, you have Graves Disease forever. If you think you may have this Disease ask your doctor to send you for simple blood work to rule out the possibility.

With such little information available online for newly diagnosed people like me I began blogging about the trials and tribulations I went through for other people to look to for inspiration during this seemingly endless fight.

Countless hospital visits later, 8 months off work, daily handfuls of pills & one thyroid removal surgery later I was feeling overwhelmingly alone in my experience so I recently created the "Edmonton Graves Disease Support Group on Facebook" for other sufferers to meet with each other & discuss their stories.

If you are looking for more information or would like to contribute; please do as I am always updating the page!