Diagnosis
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The antibody tests came back positive for Graves disease, a common hyperthyroid disease.
From the Mayo Clinic:
Graves’ disease is the most common form of hyperthyroidism. It occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid gland and causes it to overproduce the hormone thyroxine.
The abnormal immune response can affect the tissue behind your eyes as well as parts of your skin. The higher thyroxine level in Graves’ disease can greatly increase your body’s metabolic rate, leading to host of health problems.
Graves’ disease is rarely life-threatening. Although it may develop at any age and in either men or women, Graves’ disease is more common in women and usually begins after age 20.
There’s no way to stop your immune system from attacking your thyroid gland, but treatments for Graves’ disease can ease symptoms and decrease the production of thyroxine.
What causes Grave disease, from the American Thyroid Association:
Graves disease is triggered by some process in the body’s immune system, which normally protects us from foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. The immune system destroys foreign invaders with substances called antibodies produced by blood cells known as lymphocytes.
Many people inherit an immune system that can cause problems. Their lymphocytes make antibodies against their own tissues that stimulate or damage them. In Graves disease antibodies bind to the surface of thyroid cells and stimulate those cells to overproduce thyroid hormones. This results in an overactive thyroid.
Physicians have long suspected that severe emotional stress, such as the death of a loved one, can set off Graves’ disease in some patients. Dr. Graves himself commented on stressful events in his patients’ lives that came several months before the development of hyperthyroidism. However, many patients who develop Graves disease report no stress in their lives.
I knew about stress being a trigger for hyperthyroidism and had already figured out when this may have developed. I’m going back to the first of this year when Jupiter was opposing my sun and stress was a big theme for me. That was a 5th house and 11th house aspect. My children and my hopes and wishes were influenced. In addition, Jupiter is exalted in Cancer so it is weak in Capricorn and the full benefits of this expansive planet are withheld. I knew it would be a challenging time because I also had my progressed moon opposing my sun (exact) which can cause stress and disappointments. I didn’t imagine the move would be easy as we had relocated three years before and I remembered clearly the work and stress involved. At the same time I had transiting Saturn Retrograde (limits, ruler of 6th house of health, pets and routines) conjunct natal Pluto (governing my home and 8th house issues) opposing my natal Jupiter in the 8th house of finance, transformations and death issues.
My husband changed jobs in September and I stayed behind until the kids finished out the semester at school. He came home at Christmas and we relocated the first week of January 2008. We moved 650 miles with 2 teenagers 30,000 pounds, 3 cars, 3 dogs and 4 cats. That alone was enough stress for a lifetime.
I drove 12 hours and cried on and off with my daughter who was in love, broken hearted and leaving that relationship behind. I had a good dose of Saturn’s fear hovering over me too and worried a lot. Ashton was 19 and not happy to be relocating again. At that age I’m sure a lot of parents would be concerned about having to leave a child behind. To top it off my husband told me right before our relocation that his colleague was transferring and his 19 year old daughter refused to go with them. Boy, that didn’t help me sleep any better. Ashton is responsible, but I also know she’s her own person, hard working an independent. I’m her mother, I cared about what she was going through and I knew it was hard. She turned the station every time Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie came on the radio and went to tears. Gosh, that was a sad time and one long drive.
I did not see this house before we purchased it. My trip to choose between the three best homes that my husband found was cancelled. There was an unforeseen issue arise with my daughters great grandmother the weekend before our trip. Not only was it upsetting to hear that my daughters Aunt was auctioning off Granny’s estate, but no-one called to let us know. It was actually a friend that emailed me about what was going on. I sent Allen to the auction to bid on the items promised to Ashton, items that were rightfully her fathers had he been alive at the time. My sister also went to the auction and bought Keith’s baby pictures for Ashton after spotting some in frames on a table. Granny has been a part of my life for 27 years; we were always close and our relationship did not change in the 18 years after Keith passed on. I made sure that Ashton spent time with her great grandmother as they were always very close as well. Ashton’s family on her father’s side was small to begin with; she is one of three left, Granny (89 yrs.) and her Aunt. Our relationship with Keith’s sister did change as our lives moved in different directions. So it was an emotionally charged weekend at our house when we heard the news from another source about how selfish and secretive her Aunt had been and how she completely disregarded her deceased brother’s child that was an young adult herself now.
I asked Allen to choose the best house. No matter what I asked about in the pictures, he had the right answers, “there was nothing wrong with the house.” We had planned to have it painted, but I had no idea that the walls needed sanding too! My painter thought that the home was wallpapered at one time and the sheetrock was torn up when it was removed. The owner decided to camouflage the damage by painting everything chocolate brown. Did Allen see it? Nope. I could see it in the pictures. I was not happy about the house for a number of reasons.
We moved in and within three days my dog had rat poison and was on an I.V at the emergency vet clinic for intestinal hemorrhaging. That same weekend that Chloe was at the vet my cat Abbey went outside and never came home. If you’ve ever so much as liked a cat, she would have stolen your heart as she did ours. Every time I walked in the door I expected her to be home…that was 11 months ago. I created a horary chart for her which foretold of her health being comprised in the neighborhood. I thought I was reading too much into it so I waited it out and expected her to come home. A week went by when I contacted a pet psychic that suggested I leave the door open, so I did. The front door, three nights in a row with a book under the door, leaving enough room for her to slip through. We posted fliers all over, added her to a lost pet database and ran an ad in the newspaper for two months.
After three weeks I contacted a horary specialist, someone who wasn’t close to the situation and could be more objective. My heart sank when I opened the chart. The chart analysis: Lost her life to coyotes in the neighborhood. The reading was done a week after I spoke with a man down the street about Abbey and he told me that he hoped coyotes didn’t get her because he shot at some trying to get his dogs two weeks before! Talk about getting the city girl mentality beaten out of me! I fell into a bit of a depression. Well, I did a lot of crying and then some. I was grieving for the cat I adopted after seeing her in a dream, the only one that looked her at the Humane Society, the one I waited three weeks for until she was big enough to go home, the one we all loved for 18 months…I was devastated. I still go to tears sometimes driving through the neighborhood.
The next month our first utility bill came in and I was shocked by the amount. Allen said, “Well, you can’t leave the front door open in January.” “Three nights cost us this?” I don’t think so. I called the utility company and the average bill was close to what I had in my hand. We had the unit checked and not only was the filter lying on the floor at the bottom of the unit, it was as black as charcoal, just like the coils. Six thousand dollars later and we are enjoying the new heat and air conditioner that we had installed six weeks after buying the home! Mercury was not retrograde during the purchase of the home and yes, we did have a home inspection. Saturn was conjunct Pluto in my 2nd house, depleting our funds because of this real estate transaction (Pluto governs my home sector) and is a financial planet. We put a lot of money in the house after buying it and we didn’t plan on having to do anything except painting it our own colors. Some of my friends have asked about Mercury being retrograde because we’ve had our share of problems for a home that’s only ten years old. When we’re finished it’s going to make someone a really nice house! We’re having cherry floors installed throughout the upstairs soon. I hate thinking about the mess and work involved, but we’ll enjoy them while we’re here.
There is something else that I should mention about eclipse contacts to my chart. I was not enthusiastic about the idea of moving back to the city I left 18 years ago when my first husband was a victim of a car jacking. In 1990 my first husband took a job transfer to this area. We were here six months when he died. Ashton was a baby and we had no family or friends so I moved back home to family. I never thought I would come back and I had no desire to. I was hoping for the Carolinas! The same eclipse series that relocated us then repeated itself in August 2007. Allen changed jobs and left in September; we moved the household in January 2008. So here I am 18 years later, in the same area, for the same reason as back in 1990. The months before we moved in 1990 lead to my cat dying of a feline infectious disease and my dog died after getting hit by a van when the neighbor kids got their ball from our yard and left the gate open. This time around Chloe had rat poison and Abbey disappeared, although it was after my move. When I say I’ve come full circle, there is no denying the truth in that.
Chloe, stained pink from mulch.
I just bet that the move and the first three months of this year qualify for enough stress to trigger hyperthyroidism.
By Spring everything was falling into place. Ashton went to work in February; her theater teacher took interest in her and put her in a production at the time. I kept telling her to hang on until March. That there were going to be new friends come into her life and she would feel better. Little did I know that those friends were in a theater production and one of them was going to be her next boyfriend. She was happier, which meant I was happier. Chloe did make a quick recovery and the major issues with the house were behind us. I went back to work and started feeling better about everything.
Ricky and Ashton, I love this guy!
In my last post I mentioned that the transiting moon would be at 29 Cancer during my next appointment. This is part of my post.
“My next appointment is Nov. 17, the day after the sun squares the August 16 lunar eclipse. The transiting moon will be at 29 Cancer in my natal 12th house of hospitals, something hidden, and the last house in my chart suggesting the end of something. The symbol for the moon is “A Greek Muse weighing newborn twins in golden scales.” This relates to weighing two issues, balance, comparisons and similarities, the pros and cons of more than one issue and decision making.”
The stars never lie. I have two separate issues and either one or a combination of both may be contributing to my rapid hair loss. My testosterone levels were six times higher than what is normal for a woman my age. High testosterone in woman can cause similar symptoms as hyperthyroidism which includes hair loss. Allen said the Olympics wouldn’t accept me because they’d swear I was taking steroids. I’m just glad I didn’t grow a beard!
I’m taking Tapazole for the thyroid and something to bring my testosterone levels down. I’ll go back in January for new tests to see if this is working for me. I’m not real happy about Mercury retrograde at the time of my appointment, but it always seems to be retrograde when I have a health issue.
I love my Endocrinologist! He discussed everything I had read about concerning Graves disease and Hyperthyroidism. He listens and asks if I have any questions. He wants me to try medicine first and give me a chance to go into remission. I was happy to hear that because once the thyroid gland is removed or destroyed with radioactive iodine, a person will have to take medicine for life. This way I have the opportunity to heal on my own. We are not certain about the testosterone at this point. It’s possible that those levels are elevated because of the Graves, but we’ll know more in January.
I asked him about the nodule. I told him that I knew the cold nodule wouldn’t cause the hyper-functioning thyroid and while they are often benign that is it the cold nodules that can sometimes be cancerous. He said I was right and within 5 minutes he was doing and ultrasound and taking pictures. The nodule is 1cm so it’s too small at this point to biopsy therefore we will watch and wait.
We did discuss that the trigger for Graves is often stress. I told him that I’m an astrologer and have very little stress, but the move and everything that followed was challenging. I mentioned that I already knew that we would be discussing two separate issues, that I had posted that on my blog, but the testosterone was a surprise. He flipped open my chart and said he remembered that about me and we started talking astrology. He said he was fascinated by astrology even though he doesn’t understand it and that science had no explanation of why it works, but he knows it does work. He then shared several stories about some of his patients that had near death experiences and came back. One of his patients had diabetes and his circulation was so poor that his legs turned black. He had a heart attack, died and came back with his legs completely healed. He said he saw it with his own eyes!
He asked what I knew about Leo’s. I asked his birthday and told him that he had an eclipse to his sun in August. I asked what happened 18 ½ years ago that changed his life and what similar themes were going on now. His son was born then and his son just went away to college this fall. I could see that he was moved by that. He seemed very surprised to hear about the eclipse and the similar issues. He wrote down his birth information on his prescription pad and sent me home with it.
My doctors sun is conjunct my North Node exact. He was the help promised to me when the eclipse in August was conjunct my Venus/North Node. When the north node is eclipsed it carry’s the energy of Jupiter and may bring someone into your life that will be beneficial to you. Celeste Teal, in her new book Lunar Nodes writes that the Sun/North Node is a future oriented relationship. Also that the relationship is improved in one of the persons is male. I can understand that given the Sun represents important men in ones life. She also states that there is often a fatherly role taken on by one of the persons and the benefits are that of the houses occupied by the North Node and the houses occupied by the sun. His sun resides in his 10th house of authority figures, conjunct Uranus. That has the makings of a great doctor. For me this is the 12th house of hospitals although my Node could be read conjunct my Leo Ascendant ruling my overall vitality. His Sun (specialist) also conjuncts my Venus (thyroid gland) and is probably why I like him so much. The Sun conjunct Venus can mean an instant attraction between two people. Using Synastry, our charts are very compatible for a doctor patient relationship.
I’ve lost a lot more hair since posting my pictures, but I’m hoping this medicine will slow it down now. Jan. 26, 2009 Solar Eclipse at 7 Aquarius conjunct my natal Saturn, ruler of my 6th in the 6th house of health. The transiting north node will conjunct my Saturn/South node. I’m hoping that eclipse is the beginning of renewed health as it will be close to the time my new test results come back.