Cristy Lee recently updated fans with a very shocking news about her recent encounter with a serious health issues. It’s really heartbreaking to know what Cristy has been through.
She wrote on her instagram post explaining the reason behind her inactivity on social media, she wrote,
I’ve been quiet on social and in general, and what I have been posting has not been current…so here goes… The past 8 months have been the most challenging time in my entire life. I’ve been diagnosed w/ Graves Disease & Thyroid Eye Disease, both autoimmune disorders w/ a vast range of contributing factors but no definitive causes.
Cristy Continues
Graves causes hyperthyroidism, I experienced a
“thyroid storm” so basically went from being asymptomatic my entire life to the ER in less than a week. Monitoring heart rate, blood pressure and lots of medication took a few months to stabilize, choose to have a Total Thyroidectomy. Post-op pathology revealed I also had Thyroid cancer, l’m scheduled for my first lymphatic ultrasound and genetic cancer screening soon.
Unfortunately the Graves pales in comparison to this eye disease, which you prob never heard of – considered a rare disease, around 5% of those w/ Graves Disease will have severe signs/symptoms of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)… so yay me. Physically, this eye disease is debilitating – severe pain & swelling, impaired vision, zero mobility, facial changes, light sensitivity (sunglasses 24/7) I couldn’t drive for 5 months… but mentally, it took the cake. I’ve always been a strong person, but this broke me….the state of my mental health was not good for awhile….
.. I’II delve into TED
and my story more, but Google TED to read more about it if you want. I ended up doing steroid treatments, that failed, then led to a treatment called Tepezza (I described as “chemo for your eyes”) over the course of a few months followed by Orbital Decompression surgery on each eye (look this one up if you don’t have a weak stomach) which I’m still recovering from. The end clip of this video is what I look like now – I break into tears every time I watch this..
.. it’s been an extremely difficult battle to decide how, if, when I would share my journey w/ anyone outside of my close friends & family.
Cristy Lee Updates about her current Health update
Although she has been through a lot, she seems to appear strong (which she is), she wrote
I will live with both of these diseases the rest of my life, I’m moving closer towards remission and out of the “active phase” every day, but I’m not there yet.
[7:50 am, 09/08/2023] Sam: I hope that by sharing my experience I can not only shed more light on this horrible f’ing disease, but bring awareness and become a resource to any other people out there who have suffered from Graves and or TED personally or through a friend/family member.
This is the first of much more to come to share & document my experiences (trying not to write a novel here) I’ll answer some questions on my next post, but I will document this in more detail on TikTok.
This year has changed my life indefinitely and my hectic lifestyle is of course a factor in all this, some changes are in order. After seeing almost 20 different doctors, dozens of appointments and lab work, so many pills, 4 months of Tepezza, 3 major surgeries inside of 1 month, hospital stays, weeks in bed…. I’M HERE, AND I’M A FIGHTER and thank you for listening
 
