Daisy Ridley has been diagnosed with Graves' disease.
Daisy Ridley diagnosed with Graves' disease
The 32-year-old actress first discovered she had the autoimmune disease in September 2023 when she went to her doctor after bouts of hot flashes and fatigue following filming of the psychological thriller 'Magpie'.
Daisy told womenshealthmag.com: "It’s the first time I’ve shared that [Graves’]. I thought, Well, I’ve just played a really stressful role; presumably that’s why I feel poorly. It was funny, I was like, ‘Oh, I just thought I was annoyed at the world,’ but turns out everything is functioning so quickly, you can’t chill out.
"I am not super strict about it, but generally cutting down on gluten makes me feel better."
According to the Mayo Clinic, Graves' disease is an immune system condition that affects the thyroid gland. It causes the body to make too much thyroid hormone.
Making lifestyle changes helped Daisy to start to feel better and it is only now that Daisy - who suffered with a racing heart rate, weight loss, fatigue, and hand tremors - understands how ill she felt before.
She said: "I didn’t see how bad I felt before. Then I looked back and thought, How did I do that?
"I’ve always been health conscious, and now I’m trying to be more well-being conscious.
"I do a fair amount of the holistic stuff, but I also understand that it is a privilege to be able to do those things.
"We all read the stats about women being undiagnosed or underdiagnosed and sort of coming to terms with saying, ‘I really, actually don’t feel good’ and not going, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ It’s just normalised to not feel good."
And, she is determined not to feel sorry for herself.
Daisy said: "In the grand scheme of things, it’s much less severe than what a lot of people go through. Even if you can deal with it, you shouldn’t have to. If there’s a problem, you shouldn’t have to just [suffer through it].”
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