Actress Daisy Ridley has spoken for the first time about being diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune condition that mainly affects young and middle-aged women.
Ridley, 32, known for playing Rey in the later Star Wars films, initially put symptoms including a racing heart rate, weight loss, fatigue and hand tremors down to the effects of making a recent film.
“I thought, well, I’ve just played a really stressful role, presumably that’s why I feel poorly,” she told Women’s Health.
But she was then diagnosed after a doctor suggested it could be Graves’, which he told her often makes people feel “tired but wired”.
Ridley realised she had been feeling particularly irritable, she said.
“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.”
She told the magazine that women should not be prepared to accept feeling unwell.
“We all read the stats about women being undiagnosed or underdiagnosed and [it’s about] 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.”
Graves’ disease is related to an overactive thyroid and is “much less severe than what a lot of people go through”, Ridley said.
But she added: “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].”
After getting her diagnosis almost a year ago and making other lifestyle and diet changes, she said she became aware of the difference they had made.
“I didn’t realise how bad I felt before,” she said. “Then I looked back and thought, How did I do that?”
The British actress is known for appearing in Star Wars films including The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, as well as the recent dramas Magpie and Young Woman and The Sea.
Graves’ disease is an autoimmune condition where your immune system produces antibodies that cause the thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone, according to the NHS.
About 80% of people with an overactive thyroid gland have it.
The cause is unknown, but it mostly affects young or middle-aged women and often runs in families. Smoking can also increase your risk of getting it.
- Irritability and swings in emotion; nervousness or anxiety
- Weight loss in spite of a good appetite
- Palpitations (fast or irregular heartbeat)
- Sweating and feeling hot
- Shaking or tremor
- Poor sleep
- Muscle weakness, with difficulty getting out of a chair or climbing stairs
- Frequent bowel movements
- In women who are having periods, these may become light or stop altogether
In 2011, US rapper Missy Elliott, then 39, said she had it, and that it had made her hair fall out and shut down her nervous system.
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