Grey’s Anatomy star Camilla Luddington revealed that she’s been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease after she started feeling “slothy.”
“Long as you’ve been listening to us, you’ve known that I joke about being slothy. Just a little slower,” Luddington, 41, said during the Wednesday, August 6, episode of her “Call It What It Is” podcast. “Slower, tired, wanna be in bed, love a nap. It never occurred to me that there could be a medical reason for that.”
Her co-host and former Grey’s Anatomy co-star, Jessica Capshaw, recalled thinking Luddington’s behavior was “was a temperament thing.”
Luddington said she had routine blood work done because she “had all these plans” and wanted to get her “ducks in order” and “make sure everything’s all good.”
“And so I wanna say about two and a half months ago now, still very recent. Had blood work, and it came back. And my doctor was like, everything looks great except this one little thing,” she explained.
Luddington admitted that she was shocked to learn her diagnosis. “I remember hearing the words ‘autoimmune disease’ and thinking, ‘What the f–k?’” she recalled. Despite being surprised, Luddington quickly learned that Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism is “very common.”
Hashimoto’s disease is “an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid gland,” according to The Mayo Clinic. “In Hashimoto’s disease, immune-system cells lead to the death of the thyroid’s hormone-producing cells. The disease usually results in a decline in hormone production (hypothyroidism).”
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“You know what? I knew something was up,” Luddington said of learning her diagnosis. “Because even when I was having my blood drawn, the doctor said to me, ‘Is there any, you know, particular thing you’re concerned about?’ And I said, ‘Look, I’m really f—king tired all the time.’”
While she was initially “freaked out” by the news, Luddington quickly came to terms with the situation when she learned how common the disease is. “I was relieved. I felt like I had the answer for something that I’ve been knowing is going on, and I have health anxiety,” she said. “So there was a part of me that was like, am I gaslighting myself? No.”
