the results are in....i saw my consultant endocrinologist on monday and he diagnosed me with Grave's Disease, one of the most common causes of hyperthyroidism (over active thyroid). everything has slotted into place, all my symptoms which i thought i was imagining have been confirmed, im not going mad, these things are really happening. my consultant checked me over and determined that ive had the autoimmune disorder for about 4 months, and that the fatigue, shortness of breath and inability to run more than about 200 yards is all related to my thyroid which has left me with muscle weakness and wastage of my upper and lower limbs. obviously im upset that all these syptoms are present but im so grateful to whatever compelled me to get checked in the first place, if i had shrugged off the symptoms as stress or generally feelling unwell and thought it would have got better, i could have ended up infirtile or having a heart attack in severe cases.

so, the consultant told me what course of action to take, i continue to take my medication for approx 18 months, (rather than radioiodine treatment or surgery) as he said the medication is about 70% effective for women under 30 years old, and that those women who do become pregnant often dont need to take meds during the term of pregnancy as the syptoms resolve (but come back with a vengence after the baby is born). some women become very unwell during pregnancy but can have surgery to remove the thyroid if necessary. so, in short, i carry on taking the tablets, try to get pregnant, if and when i do, i get checked monthly for my throid levels. the consultant was fantastic, so fantastic explaining everything and made the hard decisions for me which is what i wanted.

so, all remains for me is to get pregnant..it may take a while but me and my hubby will try our best ;) :yes: again, thank god for small mercies, if i hadnt of known, i would have had difficlty concieving and most probably miscarried, and not have found out my diagnosis until i needed explorations into my fertility problems. alls well that ends well.