Actress Daisy Ridley reveals Graves’ disease diagnosis
For the first time, actress Daisy Ridley, famous for her role as Rey in the “Star Wars” films, is opening up about her journey with Graves’ disease.
In an exclusive with Women’s Health, she revealed she was diagnosed in September 2023 after seeing an endocrinologist.
She told the magazine that she began to “feel terrible” while filming the psychological thriller “Magpie,” but she chalked it up to the character she was portraying.
“I thought, Well, I’ve just played a really stressful role; presumably that’s why I feel poorly,” she told the outlet.
She told the endocrinologist that she was experiencing “a racing heart rate, weight loss, fatigue and hand tremors.”
The doctor then told her that Graves’ Disease is often described as “tired but wired.”
The “The Force Awakens” actress then noticed she was feeling “super irritable.”
“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.”
Once diagnosed, Ridley switched from a vegan diet to gluten-free.
“I am not super strict about it, but generally cutting down on gluten makes me feel better,” she explained. She did note that it does help with inflammation.
She’s also working on paying attention to her body and slowing down when she needs to as well as utilizing infrared saunas, cryotherapy, massages and acupuncture.
“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 normalized to not feel good,” she explained.
The Mayo Clinic describes Graves’ disease as “an immune system condition that affects the thyroid gland. It causes the body to make too much thyroid hormone. That condition is called hyperthyroidism.”
“Thyroid hormones affect many organs in the body. So Graves’ disease symptoms also can affect those organs,” the site explained. “Anyone can get Graves’ disease. But it’s more common in women and in people older than 30.”
“Treatment for Graves’ disease helps lower the amount of thyroid hormone that the body makes and eases symptoms.”
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