“The Boys” star Erin Moriarty is opening up about a significant health challenge, revealing she was recently diagnosed with Graves’ disease. The actress shared her experience on Instagram, emphasizing the importance of listening to your body and urging others to seek medical attention if something feels off.
Moriarty’s personal journey highlights a common issue: initially dismissing concerning symptoms. She admitted to mistaking her early signs for “stress and fatigue,” delaying her diagnosis. However, she reported a dramatic improvement within 24 hours of starting treatment, describing it as “the light coming back on.”
Her candid message serves as a crucial reminder about this often misunderstood autoimmune condition.
What is Graves’ Disease?
Graves’ disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the thyroid gland, a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck. In this condition, the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid, causing it to become overactive and produce an excessive amount of thyroid hormones. This state is known as hyperthyroidism.
Thyroid hormones play a vital role in regulating your metabolism – the process by which your body uses energy. When hormone levels are too high, it effectively puts your body into overdrive, accelerating metabolic processes and impacting nearly every organ system.
Recognizing the Symptoms of Graves’ Disease
The symptoms of Graves’ disease can vary widely among individuals and often progress over time. Because the excess hormones speed up body functions, signs can include:
Early Symptoms: Heat intolerance, increased appetite, difficulty sleeping, fatigue (despite high energy), nervousness, anxiety, or irritability.
Progressive Symptoms: Unintentional weight loss (despite increased appetite), heart palpitations or rapid heartbeat, trembling hands (tremor), frequent bowel movements, and shortness of breath.
Reproductive Effects: The condition can also disrupt menstrual cycles in women and potentially affect libido and cause erectile dysfunction in men.
Graves’ Ophthalmopathy: Impact on the Eyes
A notable complication affecting about one in three people with Graves’ is Graves’ ophthalmopathy. This condition causes inflammation and swelling of tissues around the eyes, leading to symptoms such as:
Bulging or puffy eyes
Blurred or double vision
Gritty, irritated feeling in the eyes
Eye pain or pressure
Sensitivity to light
In rare cases, a protein buildup can cause skin changes, typically on the shins or feet, resulting in thickened, darkened skin that might resemble an orange peel. This is usually mild and painless.
Causes and Risk Factors
Scientists aren’t entirely certain why the immune system malfunctions and triggers Graves’ disease. However, it’s known to involve the production of an antibody that prompts the thyroid to overproduce hormones.
Genetics play a significant role, with studies suggesting they account for a large portion (around 79%) of the risk. Environmental factors like stress, hormonal changes, and certain infections may also act as triggers.
While Graves’ disease is relatively common, affecting about 1% of the US population, it disproportionately impacts women, who are up to five times more likely to be diagnosed than men. Risk factors include:
A family history of Graves’ disease or other autoimmune conditions (like Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or vitiligo).
Being female.
Lower levels of selenium and vitamin D.
Smoking (which also worsens eye symptoms).
Diagnosis and Treatment
Diagnosing Graves’ typically involves blood tests to measure thyroid hormone levels and check for specific antibodies.
Treatment aims to reduce thyroid hormone production and manage symptoms. Options in the US often begin with medications like methimazole or propylthiouracil. Many patients feel better relatively quickly after starting medication, but it can take 12 to 18 months to see if the disease goes into remission, meaning the thyroid calms down and antibody levels drop.
Remission occurs in up to half of patients, but it’s not a guaranteed cure, and the condition can flare up again later. For those who don’t achieve remission or have severe symptoms, other treatments include radioiodine therapy (which destroys overactive thyroid cells) or surgery to remove the thyroid gland. These procedures can lead to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), which is then managed with daily hormone replacement pills.
As Dr. Hyesoo Lowe, medical director of the Columbia Thyroid Center, notes, “For some people, Graves’ disease has a clear beginning and end. For others, it’s a chronic condition that can be controlled but not cured.”
Why Timely Treatment is Crucial
Leaving Graves’ disease untreated can lead to serious health complications, sometimes life-threatening. The constant strain on the heart can cause dangerous irregular heartbeats like atrial fibrillation, increasing the risk of heart failure and stroke. It can also weaken bones (osteoporosis), raising fracture risk, and is associated with a higher risk of thyroid cancer.
In rare, severe cases, untreated hyperthyroidism can trigger a “thyroid storm,” a sudden and extreme surge of thyroid hormones that constitutes a medical emergency. For pregnant women, untreated Graves’ poses risks including preeclampsia, miscarriage, premature labor, and low birth weight for the baby.
Erin Moriarty’s Powerful Message
Erin Moriarty’s decision to share her diagnosis shines a light on Graves’ disease and encourages others to prioritize their health. She shared raw text messages from before her diagnosis, revealing deep distress and feeling “so shit and removed from who I am.” The contrast with her later message expressing relief and realizing, “damn, this is how I’m supposed to feel? I’ve been missing out!” underscores the severity of the condition and the effectiveness of treatment.
Echoing the experience of other public figures like actress Daisy Ridley, who also shared her Graves’ diagnosis and the feeling of being “tired but wired,” Moriarty’s core message is clear: don’t ignore persistent symptoms.
“If yours is dimming, even slightly, go get checked,” she urged her followers. “Don’t ‘suck it up’ and transcend suffering; you deserve to be comfy. Shit’s hard enough as is.”
Her experience serves as a vital reminder that symptoms like fatigue or anxiety can be signs of underlying medical conditions like Graves’ disease and should prompt a conversation with a healthcare professional.
