My daughter called me from college: she's shaking like crazy for no reason, feeling "randomly nervous" and bursting into tears without knowing why. I know these symptoms: it's Graves' disease (autoimmune hyperthyroidism). It runs strongly in my family (I have it, and so does my mother). I'm trying to get her home ASAP to get to a doctor. How good to know what she has! She doesn't have to spend time thinking she's "just a wreck" and crazy, like I did (my doctor thought I was sick because I was a hysterical person. I was actually hysterical because I was sick...).

Anyway, this came on after her flu shot. As far as I know the only autoimmune disease the flu shot is credited with causing is Guillain-Barre. But I bet someday they find out that it sets off other auto-immune diseases in people who (like my daughter) are genetically prone to them.

Abby