Gabi's late night call to me, crying. There's something wrong. The diagnosis sounded terrible. After Dr. Graves, I presumed, wishing that the researcher could have had a more upbeat name. Graves is an auto-immune disease, whose main symptom is hyperthyroidism.
Hyperthyroidism is very common, but also frequently misdiagnosed.
I know a lot about the clinical aspects of Graves disease because after Gabi's phone call, when my heart was racing and I couldn't sleep, my husband suggested that we go to the university and cruise the 'Net for information or a thyroid chat room. The other thing that women do when they want to know more about health issues is call other women. Within the week, I learned of five other women who had Graves disease. I called Gabi with each discovery. Gabi was not alone in her weight gain or newfound sluggishness, following her use of medication.