Читать книгу The Healthy Thyroid: What you can do to prevent and alleviate thyroid imbalance - Patsy Westcott - Страница 64

Graves’ disease has been called the ‘great masquerader’ because it doesn’t always produce the typical symptoms of an overactive thyroid. Confusingly, the condition can take a relapsing-remitting form in which the thyroid swings from overactivity to normal to underactivity and back to overactivity again. Even more curiously, 5 per cent of those with Graves’ disease become hypothyroid over time, sometimes becoming lethargic and passive, and unable to do anything but lie in bed all day. Patricia, 34, who was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid two years ago, recalls:

In the past, I was always a very active person. I love sports and would be out playing tennis or squash or doing aerobics four or five times a week. A couple of years ago, I began to feel completely worn out. I started to put on weight. My muscles ached all over and I felt fluey. I really struggled to get through each day. I was backwards and forwards to the doctor for about six months but, each time, I was diagnosed as having flu or a virus.

My mother suffers from an underactive thyroid so when my neck began to swell, I asked the doctor if I could have a thyroid problem. He said no. He thought it was a problem with my ears, because my job involves a lot of flying abroad. Eventually, I saw an ENT specialist, who felt my neck and said, ‘Are you being treated for your thyroid problem?’ Two days later, I was back at the hospital having tests, which showed I had an overactive thyroid. My symptoms weren’t at all typical, which I guess is why it took so long to get a diagnosis.

Such symptoms tend to be more common in older women who develop an overactive thyroid and who may be labelled depressive or thought to be suffering from a hidden cancer. This type of hyperthyroidism – known as apathetic thyrotoxicosis – can be particularly tricky to detect, which can lead to delays in diagnosis. But a diagnosis is important as this kind of apathy is a sign that the body’s metabolism has reached the point of burnout and in need of urgent treatment to bring the thyroid under control.