Graves Disease – What is it and How Do You Get Graves Disease

Graves Disease

Graves Disease is a disease that does not neatly fit into any one particular category.  It is an autoimmune disorder, and an autoimmune disorder is one that causes the body’s immune system to attack itself.  If a person has Graves Disease, its antibodies (white blood cells) don’t recognize its own cells.  In other words, the immune system sees normal, healthy cells as “enemies.”  Graves Disease is the most frequent reason that young children and teenagers have hyperthyroidism.  A person with Graves Disease typically has a thyroid that is overly active, and the symptoms of the disease are dependent upon whether the hyperthyroidism that has been created is mild or aggressive/severe.

What is Graves Disease

After people are diagnosed with the illness, they invariably ask, “What is Graves Disease?”  It tends to be something that most people have never heard of.  As expressed previously, Graves Disease is an autoimmune disorder, but it can look like a lot of other health challenges.  The entertainer Missy Elliot had an enlarged goiter (neck) and it seemed her neck was always swollen.  The disease can cause mood swings, emotional imbalances, night sweats, memory loss, and severe fatigue coupled with alternating over-activity.  According to the American Medical Association, sufferers can report everything from fast heartbeat to swollen necks/enlarged goiters, intolerance to heat, over activity and severe fatigue.  Each single symptom can be treated, but it is rare that people combine all the symptoms to recognize that there is one underlying cause.  So, what is Graves Disease?  It is hereditary.  It is complex.  Graves Disease, unless caught, can impair peoples’ entire lives.

How do you Get Grave“How do you get Graves Disease?” is often the next question.  Many think this is a disease that can be caught, but the truth is that it is hereditary.  The following is symptoms should be watched in case one thinks they may suffer from it.  Pay careful attention to the first five (5) symptoms and seek medical attention:  protruding eyes, enlarged neck/goiter, frequency of defecation/diarrhea, cardiac problems, muscle weakness, hot and moist skin, nervousness or anxiety, excessive sweating at any time and especially at night, sleep problems, unexplained weight loss.  While there is no cure for Graves Disease it can be treated with medication.  Missy Elliot suffered with hair loss, fatigue, and nerve-related problems.

About Graves Disease

Graves Disease is one of those diseases with so many different symptoms that it may often for people who suffer from it to recognize that they have it.  They may think that they have an irregular heartbeat, night sweats, hyperthyroidism or a lot of fatigue for reasons they cannot understand.  The underlying issue could be Graves Disease, which frequently goes undiagnosed because each of the symptoms it causes can actually be seen as single health events.  For more information about Graves Disease, ask your local health provider.s Disease

Sources : Secaucusnewjersey.Org

Class of 2011: Avery perseveres despite living with Graves disease

ROCHESTER — Something had to be wrong. 

A well-conditioned athlete, Megan Avery was always tired. A good student, she suddenly had trouble concentrating in class. Despite a healthy appetite, she was losing weight. 

She also had a rapid pulse. At times, her heart would start racing for no reason. To the point, she found out later, where cardiac arrest was a possibility.

"It felt so weird to not be doing a lot of activity and have my heart just beating out of control," said Avery, who played two sports at Spaulding High School before graduating last weekend. "That was the scariest part."

She first noticed the symptoms during soccer season of her sophomore year. They persisted for several months and eventually produced a diagnosis of Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder that leads to overactivity of the thyroid gland.

"It's similar to some other things where the body kind of turns on itself," said Holly Avery, Megan's mom. "It was real frightening. (The doctors) were all afraid Megan might go into cardiac arrest."

Doctors immediately prescribed medication to get her heart beat under control. 

"I had to make sure I didn't overdo it and push myself too hard," Megan said.

The Red Raiders were in the midst of the lacrosse season when she was diagnosed. She not only had to stop playing, but also missed a month of school.

"Walking to class took so much energy," Megan said, "that by the time I got there I was out of breath and felt like I was going to pass out."

She experienced even more distress playing sports. 

"She looked like she was running through mud on the field," Holly said.

The disease caused her to miss two soccer seasons, including last fall after suffering a relapse the previous spring.

She was, however, able to play lacrosse this year, her first full season since the diagnosis almost two years earlier. 

"If I continued to play lacrosse without doing anything about it," Megan said, "I probably would have had a heart attack or gone into cardiac arrest just because my heart couldn't control itself and being constantly active would have been too much for it to handle.

"I don't even want to think about what could have happened if we hadn't gotten it in time," she added.

In addition to having regular checkups every couple months at Boston Children's Hospital, Megan now takes medication on a daily basis in an effort to manage the disease and regulate her thyroid gland.

"We think she blew a fuse," said Holly Avery. "We feel like she was working too hard in school trying to keep up even though she's really bright. Also, doing sports at the same time was too much for her mind and her body."

Megan lost 20 pounds over a period of 10 months. 

"It didn't help at all that I'd lost so much weight because I didn't have a lot of extra body fat to begin with," she said, "so my body was eating away at the muscle. Since your heart's a muscle it was disintegrating a little bit at a time. So bringing my heart rate up and a smaller heart than normal wasn't good."

Because of the weight loss doctors initially thought she might have an eating disorder, but other symptoms and subsequent blood tests revealed otherwise. 

Graves disease is hereditary and Megan has a family history. Her mom and grandmother both have a mild form of the disorder.

That came to light following the diagnosis.

"I had no idea what (the doctor) was talking about," said Megan, who had never heard of Graves disease. "I missed a month of school. I couldn't do anything. I'd lie on the couch all day. It felt like I was never going to get healthy and that I was never going to be able to do anything again. As I started to get better and get stronger, then I started to realize, 'I can overcome this.'" 

Doctors told Megan the thyroid gland secretes hormones that control all the functions of the body and that hers was producing too many which speeds up those functions.

"Everything is too fast," they said, "and we need to slow it down."

That wasn't an easy adjustment for Megan, who had always been so active.

"One of the sad things is a lot of people who are hyper-thyroid don't realize it," Holly said. "They have more energy than normal people. Megan was an Energizer bunny. She could go and go and go because her thyroid was going so fast.

"Now she's no longer an Energizer bunny," Holly added.

"It doesn't feel 100 percent to me," Megan said. "I was the Energizer bunny. I'll never get back to that, but compared to where I was two years ago I'm feeling really good." 

Stress and fatigue can trigger the symptoms so Megan has to closely monitor both.

"It's kind of hard getting used to a normal pace of life," Megan said. "I used to be able to go all the time and I like doing lots of things at once. So I had to limit myself and do things slower. I'm still trying to get used to that."

But it won't prevent her from playing lacrosse next year at Gordon College. 

"I've been able to balance my schedule and get it in a way that works for me and works for my body so I'm not doing too much at once," Megan said. "I've been able to stay healthy for most of this year."

The consequences could have been much worse had the condition gone undetected.

"At the time I didn't realize how serious it was," she said. "When I started getting healthier and I looked back I was like, 'Oh wow, I was really sick.' It could have been really bad."

Currently, there is no cure for Graves disease.

"You're always going to have it," Holly said, "and you're always going to have to manage it. One doctor calls her the poster child for how to manage Graves disease successfully."

Megan must now be more disciplined about her health.

"I never really thought a lot about my health before," Megan said. "It kind of made me a lot more aware of my body and listening to my body and knowing what's too much for me.

"It was awful when I was going through it," she added, "but I think it's really made me a better person. It's opened my eyes to what so many other people have to go through." 







Sources : Fosters.Com

Fans generally pleased with Utah Jazz picks

SALT LAKE CITY — As fans poured into EnergySolutions Arena in anticipation of Utah's two first-round picks in Thursday's NBA Draft, their expectations were sky high, demand for success enormous, with the margin for error paper thin.

The initial overall consensus from Jazz followers? Positive, with a feeling that things are going to improve.

The selection of Turkey's Enes Kanter was mostly expected, so the huge cheers by the big crowd were not a surprise.

Garrett Kramer from Bountiful, for one, wasn't surprised when the Jazz selected Kanter with the No. 3 pick.

"That's what I wanted them to do," Kramer said. "I heard a rumor that he can take off from two feet from the foul line and dunk it. I want to see him do that."

The 19-year-old, 6-foot-11 Kanter filled one of Utah's needs, according to Jazz fan Ned Campbell from Provo.

"I thought it was between (Kanter) and (Kentucky guard) Brandon Knight," Campbell said. "But they really needed a big man."

While Utah's first pick seemed to be easier to figure out, its selection at No. 12 is the one that gained more attention, due to the chance that local favorite Jimmer Fredette might play in his adopted home state after finishing his stellar career at BYU.

But after Fredette was taken by Milwaukee (picking for Sacramento in a three-way trade that also included Charlotte) with the No. 10 selection, those hopes went away.

Loud cheers were heard throughout EnergySolutions Arena after Fredette was selected, but those cheers of excitement were clearly tinged with disappointment.

"I would have liked him to play here, but I was happy for him to be in that situation," Campbell said. "I was afraid that he was going to slip further down the board. It will be challenging for him (in Sacramento) but I think he thrives on that pressure."

Fredette was a great uniter when it came to one of the greatest college rivalries, and he certainly won Kramer over.

"I'm a Utah Ute and I hate BYU, but I love Jimmer," he said. "I was there when he scored 47 points against us and Utah fans gave him a standing ovation. So I wanted him to stay and play here."

With Jimmer gone, most believed the Jazz would go for a guard, especially when Detroit and Charlotte picked guards Brandon Knight and Kemba Walker with the No. 8 and 9 selections, and guard Klay Thompson went to Golden State right before Utah's choice.

So while fans knew the No. 12 pick would most likely be a guard, the actual selection — Colorado's Alec Burks — was more of an unknown.

The crowd's reaction was mixed — about half boos and half cheers — and was followed up by silence, perhaps still stunned and disappointed by Jimmer's selection just two picks earlier.

"I don't know much about him, but what I've heard have been good things," Kramer said.

The unknown factor concerns Campbell, as well.

"I don't know a lot about (Burks), but I have heard that he's not as good a shooter as I would have hoped," he said.

Improvement is always on fans' minds, and going forward this year is no different.

"We're going to be really young, so hopefully someone can step up and take the leadership role," Campbell said. "There is going to be some growing pains, but it will be exciting."

Sources : DeseretNews.Com

The Longest and Shortest Celeb Marriages

Marriage is ideally meant to be an eternal bond between two people, till death do they part. Of course, these days it’s more like “till death or divorce do they part”—and that trend is only amplified in the celebrity world, where wedlock seems to go in and out of style as easily as people’s careers.
For every celebrity married couple that’s managed to weather the storm together, there’s another that’s dissolved in less time than it took for the ink to dry on the marriage license. Here, a look at some of Hollywood’s most and least successful pairings.

Most Successful
 
Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman
Perlman originally guest-starred as Danny DeVito’s girlfriend on his hit television show, Taxi. By the time she starred in her own show, Cheers, she was married to him. The two have been together since 1982 and have three children together. They’re known for their successful marriage almost as much as they are for their onscreen talent.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Married twenty-one years to date, this couple continues to thrive together, despite having had some very public ups and downs. They’ve not only endured busy lifestyles, but also survived near bankruptcy following that Bernie Madoff debacle. Any couple that can power through a Ponzi scheme can only emerge stronger.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
One of Hollywood’s current power couples, these two have been married for twenty-two years. Their union says as much about them as quality people (Hanks is universally known for being a great guy) as it does about their commitment to each other. Hanks and Wilson have two children and often collaborate behind the scenes as producers.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
It really was only death that broke these two apart: Newman and Woodward had been married fifty years when he passed away in 2008, at age eighty-three. The two met back when they were understudies for a play and married in 1958. They were Hollywood royalty in their day, had three children together, and later parlayed their good fortune into a successful food company and nonprofit organization known as Newman’s Own. Even today, the couple continues to represent the gold standard for successful marriage.

Least Successful
 
Britney Spears and Jason Alexander
This was the shortest union heard ’round the world—in 2004, these two former childhood acquaintances were wed a mere fifty-five hours before the then mega–pop star came to her senses. Their Las Vegas marriage was quickly annulled, but not before the media painted a pre-conservatorship Brit-Brit in a crazy light.

Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley
These two tumultuous lovebirds gave marriage the ol’ college try, only to see theirs fall apart in just over three months. Married in August 2002, they filed for divorce in November, citing irreconcilable differences. As Presley put it at the time, “I’m sad about this, but we shouldn’t have been married in the first place. It was a big mistake.”

Drew Barrymore and Tom Green
The funnyman and the film star toughed out their 2002 marriage for five months before calling it quits in December of that year. The sadder part is that this union was more successful than Barrymore’s previous one, to Jeremy Thomas, which lasted just thirty days.

Shannen Doherty and Ashley Hamilton
She was the bitchy outcast of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame; he was the nineteen-year-old son of George Hamilton. After a two-week courtship, the two got hitched. Alas, their whirlwind romance barely withstood five months as a marriage. Doherty wouldn’t fare much better in her second marital attempt (with Rick Salomon), which ended after just nine months. It probably didn’t help that the guy was best known for his part in the Paris Hilton sex tape scandal, but still …
Surviving the day-to-day grind of married life is challenging for any couple, let alone a celebrity one. The fact that these actors chose to enter matrimony in the first place, despite all those high divorce-rate statistics, at least speaks to their commitment to love (or, in some cases, their belief in the justice system to get them out of said commitment). Either way, we regular folks can certainly learn a lesson from their successes and mistakes.

Sources: Click Here

Tariq Anwar and others invited to join Academy membership

Los Angeles, Jun 19 (PTI) India born film editor Tariq Anwar, who received an Oscar nomination this year for ''Kings Speech'', is among the illustrious names invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
65-year-old Anwar, known for his work in films like ''American Beauty'' , ''The Good Shepherd'' and ''Revolutionary Road'' was born in Delhi and lived for a few years in Mumbai before he migrated to the UK as a child.
Today, he is considered one of the finest film editors in England and America.
The Academy has also invited 175 actors, moviemakers, executives and artists who will become associate members and will not be among those voting.
In an unprecedented gesture, documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed in action in Libya in April, has also been invited, the Academy said in a statement.
Hetherington had been a 2010 nominee for his film ''Restrepo'' but died prior to the Academy''s spring meetings to select new members.
Other notable names on the list include Gerard Butler, Vincent Cassel, ''Harry Potter'' star Robbie Coltrane, Brand''s Arthur co-star Jennifer Garner, Dominic Monaghan, Rooney Mara, Mila Kunis, newcomer Jennifer Lawrence, Nastassja Kinski, directors Susanne Bier, Neil Burger, Lisa Cholodenko and Tom Hooper.




Sources : News.In.Msn.com

‘Barefoot Bandit’ Colton Harris-Moore back in court

Colton Harris-Moore -- Camano Island's own "Barefoot Bandit" and international celebrity fugitive --again pleaded not guilty to a string of burglaries on Thursday.

Appearing Thursday in U.S. District Court, Harris-Moore pleaded not guilty to charges contained in a second grand jury indictment filed last month.

The case, however, may be resolved soon.

John Henry Browne, Harris-Moore's attorney, said prosecutors and the defense are "very close" to a plea deal for the Barefoot Bandit. A preliminary draft of the plea deal could be completed later Thursday.

Browne wouldn't offer details of the plea deal but said it would resolve criminal accusations against Harris-Moore in state and federal courts.

Harris-Moore, 20, is facing a slew of charges stemming from his lengthy flight from justice. The alleged plane and boat thief was arrested in the Bahamas after he crashed a stolen aircraft there in July.

Having spent his 20th birthday behind bars at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac in January, Harris-Moore was scheduled to go on trial in July for a string of thefts across the country following his escape from a Renton group home on April 22, 2008.

After his escape, Harris-Moore developed a reputation for committing crimes while barefoot and, on at least one occasion, naked. Investigators claim he also had a taste for planes, stealing as many as five during his two years on the run.

The Camano Island youth is suspected in more than 80 crimes, including several aircraft thefts and assaults on law officers, and would likely face juries in local jurisdictions after the federal case concludes.

In a grand jury indictment handed down May 25, federal prosecutors in Seattle for the first time accused Harris-Moore of a Sept. 5, 2009, break-in at an Orcas Island bank.

Federal prosecutors also claim, in essence, that Harris-Moore should be made to forfeit any rights to his story and be barred from profiting from any sales.

“The property forfeited includes … any and all intellectual property or other proprietary rights belonging to the defendant, based upon or pertaining to any narration, description, publication, dissemination or disclosure of information relating to” the crimes charged, prosecutors said in the indictment.

Prosecutors go on to assert that Harris-Moore should give up “any profits or proceeds received in connection with any publication or dissemination of information relating to illegal conduct.”

Harris-Moore doesn't want to profit from his story, Browne said. But he does want to use any proceeds to pay restitution.

"He does not want to make a dime off of it. He thinks it's wrong. He doesn't want his family to make a dime off of it," Browne said.

The recent indictment followed on new charges filed earlier this year against Harris-Moore by county prosecutors around the state. On May 17, Island County prosecutors charged Harris-Moore with 14 theft-related counts; San Juan County prosecutors recently charged him with 16 similar counts.

The new action by the federal grand jury follows a five-count indictment filed in November accusing Harris-Moore of crimes in British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Federal prosecutors contend Harris-Moore took a stolen .32-caliber pistol from Idaho to Washington, and carried a .22-caliber pistol while on the run in Washington. Harris-Moore is accused of stealing a plane in Idaho, flying it without a license and stealing a boat to travel from Ilwaco, Wash., on the Long Beach peninsula, to Oregon.

Harris-Moore's flight from authorities garnered him thousands of fans and nationwide media attention, to the frustration of Jenny Durkan, U.S. attorney for Western Washington.

"There is nothing in his acts to be admired, and nothing should be glorified," Durkan said following Harris-Moore's arrest. "Real people were hurt by his actions."

Harris-Moore's attorneys contend he was "scared to death" while on the run, and characterized his actions as youthful mistakes.

The young man had been in solitary confinement at the Federal Detention Center, reading National Geographic and making technical drawings of airplanes, his attorneys said. His attorneys have described him as a shy young man, unhappy with the notoriety that saw him garner significant national attention – and legions of fans – before he was arrested in the Bahamas after crashing a stolen plane near the islands.

Harris-Moore’s accommodations appeared to have changed someone; he injured his leg recently during a detention center volleyball game.

Court documents show that federal and state prosecutors and Harris-Moore’s defense team are working toward a global plea agreement that would see Harris-Moore resolve all the allegations against him.

Requesting a minor scheduling change that would still see Harris-Moore face a jury in July, prosecutors and defense attorneys previously told U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones they needed several more weeks to pursue the negotiations.

“The parties are currently involved in settlement negotiations that may potentially resolve this case, the pending cases in Snohomish, Skagit, Island, and San Juan counties, and matters in other jurisdictions,” the attorneys told the court. “The negotiations have been meaningful and productive.”

Such an agreement would likely see Harris-Moore plead guilty to federal charges after receiving assurances from state and local prosecutors that he would either not be charged or that his plea in federal court would resolve those cases.

Sources : Seattlepi.Com

Libya Advice From Justice Department, Pentagon Lawyers Reportedly Was Overruled By Obama

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama decided he could continue the air war in Libya without congressional approval despite rulings to the contrary from Justice Department and Pentagon lawyers, according to published reports.

The president relied instead on the opinions of other senior administration lawyers that continuing U.S. participation in the air operations against the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi did not constitute "hostilities," triggering the need for Congressional permission under the War Powers Resolution, the New York Times reported in its online edition Friday night.

Among those reported to support the president's action were White House counsel Robert Bauer and State Department legal adviser Harold H. Koh, the paper said. Those opposed included Pentagon General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel Caroline D. Krass.

One issue was reported to be whether firing missiles from drones amounted to hostilities.

Presidents can ignore the advice of the Office of Legal Counsel, but rarely do so, the newspaper reported.

The 1973 law prohibits the military from being involved in actions for more than 60 days without congressional authorization, plus a 30-day extension. The 60-day deadline passed last month with the White House saying it is in compliance with the law. The 90-day mark is Sunday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney addressed the internal debate over the resolution at his briefing Thursday.

He said "there was a robust process through which the president received the advice he relied on in determining the application" of the War Powers Resolution.

He noted the resolution has been subject to intense debate since it was first enacted in 1973.

"We are not going to get into the internal process by which the president receives legal advice," Carney said. "It should come as no surprise that there would be some disagreements, even within an administration, regarding the application of a statute that is nearly 40 years old to a unique and evolving conflict. Those disagreements are ordinary and healthy."

Sources : Huffingtonpost.Com