Gina Rodriguez is the latest star to reveal her struggle with thyroid disease. On Tuesday, talk show maven Wendy Williams said she was taking 3 weeks off from her talk show because of severe depression and fatigue caused by Graves’ disease (overactive thyroid).
In an interview with SELF magazine, Rodriguez , 33, explained that she has been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an immune disorder that attacks the thyroid gland, causing hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormones) — the opposite of what Williams is diagnosed with.
The symptoms of Hashimoto’s include weight gain, weakness and fatigue, hair loss, muscle aches, depression and memory loss.
The actress revealed she suffered “really debilitating panic attacks” from taking a very high dosage of her thyroid medication. She said the panic attacks resolved once her dose was lowered.
“To the core of my being, I know what it’s like to feel like there is no way I can win this, so where do I even begin,” she told SELF magazine. “(Hashimoto’s) affects so many aspects of your life. I’ve had it for so many years. That rebellion of not taking care of myself can’t exist anymore.”
She added: “It is really important for us to be super self-aware. I wasn’t banking on that. I wasn’t like, ‘hey, yeah, let me get a disease that makes me have to be super aware.’ I don’t want to be super aware of myself all of the time.”
Williams, 53, suffers from the autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease, which causes the thyroid to leak too much thyroid hormones leading to hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid).
Unlike Rodriguez, Williams takes medication to block the release of excessive thyroid hormones.
The thyroid gland secretes hormones that regulate metabolism and protein synthesis.
Image provided by WENN.com
