I’ve just had a WOW moment on reading this article. I’ve had a diagnosis of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease for 26 years. My Mother had Graves’ disease and my daughter has Graves as well.
thyroidpatients.ca/2018/12/...
I had a scan several years ago that showed my gland was Atrophic - in fact, there is so little tissue left that it’s considered non-existent.
I’ve read a couple of articles recently about Atrophic thyroiditis but none that really put it in perspective like this one.
My mother developed Graves’ disease in her 20s and suffered years of anxiety and being virtually unable to function, she was extremely thin, but eating everything in sight. Her doctor told her “pull yourself together or you’ll end up in the local mental hospital. Go home and have a baby to take your mind off yourself”.
So she had me. When I was 5 years old, she had gone down to 4.5 stone and had a massive goitre, then the doctor finally realised there was something wrong with her and she was admitted to hospital and was the first patient in our area to have a total thyroidectomy.
I always suspected that my thyroid problems were related to her carrying me when she was untreated hyperthyroid. Now I know that what I have is a variation of Graves’ disease but although this was a condition known about in the past, the knowledge has been lost because it’s no longer included in the medical training program.
I really feel that we need a campaign to draw attention to this lost knowledge. Does anybody else have any ideas as to how to draw attention to the condition?