“I had a little support and understanding of my thyroid condition until it was too far gone to repair. I want to help others recognise those symptoms and help where I can.”

For the past 5 years, I’ve been living with and battling a severely overactive thyroid, known as Graves’ disease. Within just one month, my weight dropped dramatically from 9 stone 10 to 6 stone 9.

What followed was years of uncertainty, fear, and exhaustion. I was passed between different hospitals, Ear Nose and Throat specialists, and eye clinics. I constantly received conflicting advice which varied from "increase the medication" to "reduce it" to "change it completely.”

I had blood test after blood test, endless appointments, and overwhelming confusion became my normal. The stress on both my body and mind was unbearable, and with thyroid disease, stress only makes everything worse. My health rapidly declined again. My eyes began to bulge, I was admitted back into hospital, and for another 18 months I suffered constant panic attacks, severe anxiety, and isolation. I stopped wanting to socialise because I no longer felt like myself.

In July 2025, I was rushed to hospital by ambulance after a severe panic attack caused the left side of my face and body to droop and lose movement. I was far too close to having something called a thyroid storm. Thankfully, I was transferred to a new hospital in East Sussex, where the care I received was incredible. They monitored me monthly and did everything they could, but unfortunately my medication had stopped working.

At just 23 years old, I underwent a total thyroidectomy. A major surgery. I required iodine treatment and steroids the week before surgery because my thyroid levels were still dangerously high.

I am now one week post-op. I still have no voice and continue to face difficult physical and mental challenges, including hypocalcaemia, numbness, cramping, and loss of feeling in my hands, face, and feet for several days after surgery. But despite everything, I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.

If my condition had been recognised and treated earlier, I may never have needed surgery. If I had understood more about thyroid disease sooner, I may have been able to help myself before things became so severe.
This journey has been frightening, painful, and exhausting, but thanks to my incredible surgeon, nurses, family, and support system, I am finally home safe and recovering.

Your thyroid controls so much more than people realise: your weight, heart rate, anxiety, hormones, energy, mental wellbeing, and overall quality of life. Thyroid health is so important, yet it still isn’t talked about enough.

That’s why I’m fundraising for the British Thyroid Foundation, to help raise awareness, support others struggling in silence, and hopefully prevent someone else from reaching the point I did. 

Sydney Murphy