by Scotlass

Created on: April 05, 2009   Last Updated: April 06, 2009

You look in the mirror and you notice that you have gained a few pounds but you can't quite figure out why - you don't eat an unhealthy amount of food and you are constantly "on-the-go". No big deal.You notice that your cycles are utterly irregular, and, every month, when nothing happens, you rush for the pregnancy test, hoping that this will be the month... no... negative! It must be stress. Eventually the bi-monthly cycle becomes quarterly, then it eventually disappears...

In the midst of all this, you have sudden bouts of utter exhaustion, shaking and irritation.... now you need to know that something is not quite right...I can tell you this because this was me less than one year ago. I had gained several pounds for no apparent reason, and never truly worried about it, although I always wished I could get back to my once slender build, lol. I am 5' 10", so I can carry the weight without looking "heavy" (or so I was told....).

It was the complete exhaustion that irritated me the most. I would feel wonderful on Monday and suddenly, on Tuesday, I was lightheaded, shaking, pale and the most exhausted that I had ever been in my life! I can recall sitting on the sofa and being unable to turn my head or speak! My body would "collapse", "shut down".

For years I was under the impression that I was anemic and frequently partook in a regimen of Iron suppliments and multivitamins. I believed that when these events happened to me, that it was my iron deficiency, I had no reason think anything other....I started to grow more concerned when my husband and I were trying for a second child. Each month I would be so elated at the lack of my cycle. I would rush to the store and we would gleefully await the positive result, yet month after month, the result was negative - yet no cycle. Eventually they grew to be non-existant.

My mother flew across the pond from Scotland to visit us last June and was shocked to witness one of my "shut-downs" - it frightened her to see her daughter, her little girl (37, but always mama's little girl, lol) this exhausted for NO reason! Piecing all the signs together, she forced me to visit my doctor - I am one of those people who have to be dying before I go to the doctor! She was my mum - I had to go!

After a series of blood tests, I received a call that I had "severe Hypothyroidism" - I had NO metabolism and it was astounding to this man that I could get out of bed in the morning! (That also explained the weight gain - my body wasn't burning any

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