Well, the test results came back and my poor husband is indeed hypothyroid. We had a brief fight about it (“Gary, stop dismissing this!” “Ellen show some sympathy!”), then realized once again we were having an Information Deficit Fight, then we went off to the internet to gain all medical information.
I found basic facts (Can you Die From Hypothyroidism?), while Gary dove deep and found the relation between the thyroid and his epilepsy (evidently your thyroid can be affected by epilepsy meds, or else both conditions are on the same gene).
He did learn the thyroid controls the metabolism because it produces the regulating hormones. He’s decided that’s why he swings between “I’m freezing!” and “I’m boiling.”
Gary hit the word “hormone” and latched on. I asked why he was so particularly testy one day and he grumbled, “Hormones! I’m hormonal!” He gets hot? “I’m having a hot flash! Hormones!” I’m amazed. I would have thought a real hot flash would send Gary directly to the emergency room.
Terrifying. He is now exacting payback for my menopause.
4 responses to “Gary Health”
If he’s testy due to hormones, it’s probably testosterone… 😉
(but really, hypothyroid usually makes people more chill rather than more edgy, so… uh… hm.)
As someone in possession of a chronic illness, I wobble between “if you’re used to pain at this level, it’s not experientially as bad in some ways as pain at a lower level would be for someone totally unaccustomed to pain” (ditto for restrictions, etc.) and something to the tune of “quit yer whining.”
In this case (as with the Work Ellen case), I am somewhat unclear on whether it would be the clearest justice to treat him with the consideration you would have liked to be treated with while dealing with internal fluctuations, *or* whether it would be more just to treat him with the consideration he evidenced during that time. (I am, uh, assuming that there is some distance between these options, but hey, I could be wrong!) Either way, it’s probably kinder and more loving to err on the side of generosity and whatnot, though. and given that the ‘Pause will presumably not be repeated (hooray!), and ditto for Work Gary, there’s probably not even any educative value in Strict Reciprocal Treatment. So. Yes. Kindness and accommodation are probably the way to go, sigh.
Also, congratulations on figuring out you were having an Information Deficit Fight and dealing with that! Good work! (*can* you die from hypothyroidism, aside from potentially dying from something else slightly sooner due to system stresses?)
KC – the swelling from the thyroid might get so extreme it could affect his heart, I think. He’s been at least three different people during our married life, so if thyroid Gary is chill or nutty it won’t matter to me .
Well, finding-the-right-supplemental-thyroid-dosage Gary is likely to be a variety of things, so it’s good you have practice? 🙂 (but while yes, I can cope to varying degrees with various versions of my husband, there are versions of him that I quite definitely prefer to other versions… so I hope you get mostly Good Gary People out of this!)
KC – so far he’s hungrier. He seems hungry and optimistic.