A House Through Time BBC2 9pm Thursday is well worth watching. Historian David Olusoga follows the residents in the house in Liverpool from the 1850’s to the 1890’s to illuminate changes in history as revealed by their lives.
Tonight’s episode was particularly interesting and pertinent as it brought home about thyroid disease being a death sentence before treatment became available, as the death certificate of Jewish woman who lived in the house revealed she died young of Graves’ disease. David Olusoga also mentioned he has suffered for the last four years with Graves’ disease and found her death particularly poignant and felt some of her pain, and it is only by virtue of being born in modern times that the disease can be treated and he has survived.
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TSH110
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I watched it and found it very interesting. My Grandmother lived in the house she was born in. The time date was about the same we have only just sold the house and I was sorry but it had to go. My Father and his sister had scarlet fever and they were both in isolation. Both survived and that side of the family had the good genes so were lucky.
Everyone moans about the NHS but so many diseases are now gone not only because of modern medicine but hygiene clean water etc and drainage.
Hidden that is very interesting - sorry the family house could not carry on but like DO said we are just transient and others go before us and will come after us in a dwelling place. I quite agree on the NHS, plus it has enabled a wealth of statistics to be kept and research done involving the populace that must have been impossible before its institution with individual practices working in isolation. I feel if we would only fund it better instead of always wanting a few pennies in tax cuts it could have a golden era again if we held dear to it’s original principles rather than allowing them to be muddied by those envisioning a carve up.
Sewnsew the bit on Graves was very short so I don’t want to build up your expectations. I rather like slow ponderous programmes, Stephen Poliakoff plays being my ultimate fix which I expect you would find tedious beyond belief!
Yes me too. I’m a woolyback originally but my scouse accent has dissipated away as I left Birkenhead when I was 18 - no work. I still love it there and hope one day I will live there again - so good for cycling too.
It has changed so much in the pool since I was a girl - for the better I’d say.
mstp he had the actual death certificate and read from it the lady died of a heart attack as a complication of Graves’ disease and I remember seeing Graves written on it in perfect copperplate handwriting . A freeze frame would probably show all the info from a download of the programme. This is what he said in the Guardian:
I discovered that one late-Victorian resident of the house had died of heart failure, caused by years living under the shadow of a thyroid condition known as Graves’ disease, I was astonished by how emotional – rather than objective and professional – was my response to her story.
I have been surprised at my capacity to feel sympathy and empathy for people I only know from patchy evidence
By way of an excuse, and by chance, I spent four years living with the same disease. A few days after reading the 1880s death certificate of Esther Lublin I found myself alone in my office, on the top floor of my house, reading old diaries, remembering how painful it had been. I had feared that Graves’ disease would waste years of my life, before modern treatments could bring it under control. For her there were few options. She must have known that, sooner or later, the condition would kill her. Two people with the same disease. I lived, she died – because we were born in different centuries.
Nothing about this can be said to be truly revelatory. We all know that until the 20th century billions died of diseases for which cures now exist. But knowing the historical facts and the bleak statistics is very different to reading of Esther Lublin’s tragic life, our shared diagnosis, her name and age – younger than I am now – scrawled on to her death certificate by a busy doctor.
Thanks TSH110. Very interesting. I started off with Graves. I'm hypo now but it was a grim time before my Graves was diagnosed so I really feel for the lady.
mstp i had atropic autoimmune thyroiditis but had bouts of hyperthyroidism which were terrifying and think I may have mild thyroid eye disease. I had both hypo and hyper symptoms and it was truly grim before I finally got a diagnosis having the final dump of thyroxine and going completely bonkers and then being plunged into eternal hypo - the cold was indescribably awful and I felt so bad death would have been a merciful release but I got treatment in the nick of time and pulled through. I still suffer with awful anxiety and heart pains but feel hugely better. Other family members have also got lymphoma of the thyroid but thankfully I was spared that! Graves would be a most dreadful way to die and I often shudder to think of the millions who died from thyroid disorders before any treatment was available.
It was a gruesome experience but I appreciate how lucky I am to be living in modern times cheating my true destiny with medication and getting some pretty good extra years - a real bonus! I also feel for those who do not regain full health even on medication - that is a cruel outcome.
TSH110 Many thanks for the link to The Guardian. I too live in Liverpool and am finding the programme to be really interesting, especially DO's references to Graves. Very moving and somehow making me feel not so alone with my thyroid condition. Though of course I don't feel so alone on this website either!
grannydoug interesting what you say, I used to feel so alone with my thyroid disorder when I was still very poorly but under the care of an endocrinologist and being optimised. I remember telling a fellow dog walker I had always said hello to about my problems and she opened up to tell me about her awful time with graves when she was only in her late teens. She had no idea what was wrong with her, no one in her family had ever had it, she was tall but weighed about 5 stone and ate huge amounts of food and kids in the street would shout horrible abuse at her. They had terrible problems trying to destroy her thyroid with RAI and thought she could die, she suffered bad thryoid eye disease which might be why I opened up to her, suspecting she might have thyroid problems. Luckily they did manage to get it under control but she clearly continued to suffer with the consequences both emotional and physical. She fully comprehended all I was going through and my feelings of total isolation completely evaporated she really helped me come to terms with my illness and to appreciate how much more awful it can be for others mine was bad but as nothing compared to her terrible suffering also I had more idea of what was wrong because others in the family had suffered with thyroid disorders but as my mother and sister both had thyroid cancer and they were very slow to do any ultrasound on me to check me for it, that greatly added to how bad I felt with the additional and unnecessary worry. I owe her hugely. I was very sad when I was moving away and said my goodbyes to her, we both shed a tear and had a big hug.
Joining thyroid uk has really helped me on a pretty harsh journey towards proper recovery I agree it really helps in not feeling alone with all the problems that can occur with ones thyroid going on the blink.
Doing this post was an an achievement with one of my Italian greyhounds deliberately trying to stop me typing, using body blocking, clawing and even sitting on top of the iPad, because he wants my full attention 🙄😊😂
TSH110 It sounds as if you've had a really rough ride. My experience is nothing so bad but before I was diagnosed I had a miserable time. And I felt quite misunderstood by my then GP and work colleagues. Then over the years I've had several ups and downs - never quite sure if it was my thyroid or my age creeping up. Anyhow I'm currently pretty good and I've laughed at the image of a lively Italian greyhound pouncing all over you. I've got the opposite... a furry, elderly border collie lying/sitting on my foot as we sit in front of the fire. All the best to you both!
grannydoug How civilised 😊, he’s fast asleep 😴 on the sofa unaware the rest of us - bar Big Jack greyhound who is also in the sitting room snoozing by the radiator - have gone to bed, 2 are under the duvet, one on top, and one is on the dog bed - all very cosy!
The ups and downs you mention are strange indeed. I am having a a bit of a down after 3 years feeling really well on NDT not sure why I seem to be having a blip. I’m hoping the call of spring will gradually put me right again.
Give your doggie a fuss from me - they are such darlings, the affection crazy, limpet like hyperactive Italians can be a tad trying at times but they melt your heart with one loving gaze into your eyes and soul!
Oh, I didn't know it was him doing it.Thanks for the reminder, I'll watch it on catch-up. I recently read his book Black & British, The Forgotten History.
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