I was diagnosed with an over-active thyroid at the age of 7, I am 17 now and I have suffered with this condition for the past 10 years of my life. in someways it has been quite lonely, as no-one knows much about the thyroid, which is why I was so happy to see this page!

Thyroid issues in children are obviously very rare, which is why it had never been picked up before. As a child I had ADHD and was under a specialist for this but my nan noticed that my eyes always bulged and I had a large goitre. She immediately pointed this out to my mum who then spoke to my ADHD doctor. Because of my age, my doctor said that she bets her years wages, I will have the blood test and it will come back negative because it's just so rare in children. I had the blood test and to her surprise it came back positive.

As a child, I didn't really understand what this meant, no one had ever spoke to me about thyroid issues before, I didn't even know what a thyroid was so it didn't really affect me that much. The only thing that did bother me was the blood tests every 3-6 months and the constant changes in my dosages for my medication. I was told to go on carbimazole but my dose age changed numerous times.

I hated having to take tablets, that was the worst thing about having the thyroid issue. I tried so many different ways of taking my tablets, but being a kid it was the one thing I didn't look forward to. I just wanted to be a kid that didn't have to worry about taking tablets or having blood tests, or missing out on lessons at school.

As I got older I just used to forget to take the tablets, and a couple of years ago I stopped taking them for about 6 months, this did me no favours as I was having heart palpitations. One day the paramedics were called to school, I went to the nurse and had a pulse of over 160! so of course I went back on the tablets.

In February this year I had the radio iodine treatment, I can see the difference already, my neck looks so slim and I'm starting to see definition in the shape of my neck. it's made me feel so much better as I now don't have much discomfort when wearing shirts with top buttons, as previously they used to be really tight on my neck where it bulged out so much! I find out in June how successful the treatment actually was and if I need further treatment!

But believe me, it all gets so much better, although you may not feel particularly great about it now, you'll be find in the end!

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For more information on Hyperthyroidism please see our information leaflet