Michelle Gonzaba, of San Antonio, Texas, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in 2011. She shares how she navigates the emotional side effects of treatment and the honest conversations that make all the difference.
Transcript
Yeah, so steroids, yeah, it’s that medication that is incredible, helps you, but then has so many crazy symptoms along with it, side effects.
I think that being honest, right, with your caregiver, you’re like, “OK, I’m on this medication,” you’re on it for a while.
And when you already know, like your mood has changed that much, you can be very honest with them and be like, “I’m in a terrible mood right now. Like I’m extremely irritable or just the smallest thing is making me angry. And I’m letting you know that. Like I know that this is not normally how I react to things. These are not — this is not my normal mood, but I’m letting you know that’s how I feel.”
I think honesty is a really big thing. Transparency. Maybe if you’re feeling extremely irritable and you don’t want to be around people because you don’t want to upset anyone.
You don’t want to upset your caregiver or whoever you’re around. Acknowledging it and maybe removing yourself from that situation, maybe have some alone time for 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Maybe look up like some breathing techniques to help yourself calm down.
But I think really acknowledging like, “OK, this is not me normally,” I think that helps a lot and that helps with your team and with your caregiver.
