Thyroid Patient Advocacy -UK (TPA-UK) has recently put together the largest hypothyroid patient survey ever to be carried out in the UK for sufferers of the disease. It is hoped the results of the survey will raise awareness of this debilitating illness, which can strike at any age and affects 1 in 4 of us, mainly women.

Symptoms include unexpected weight gain, hair loss on both head and body, infertility, extreme tiredness, mood swings, loss of libido, coldness, high cholesterol, memory loss, depression and dementia among many others. Because of the wide variety of symptoms experienced, the patient may be wrongly diagnosed, or thought to have other illnesses such as ME, Fibromyalgia (FM), menopause etc.

Some common and often undiagnosed symptoms and dangerous consequences of low thyroid include: serious mental problems, seizures, heart disease, diabetes including misdiagnosis and complications, constipation resulting in colon cancer, all female problems (due to high amounts of dangerous forms of oestrogen), including: tumours, fibroids, ovarian cysts, PMS, endometriosis, breast cancer, miscarriage, heavy periods and cramps, bladder problems leading to infections, and others....

If you wish to take part in the patients' hypothyroid survey, please contact:
[email protected] with your name and postal address, or telephone NSM Research direct on 01865 310073. Alternatively, you may wish to complete this survey on-line on our website:
www.tpa-uk.org.uk where you will find more information about the condition.
Sheila Turner
Thyroid Patient Advocate.

Thyroid UK has a new self help support group meeting in Chester le Street shortly, for details contact: Dorothy Walsh on 0191 3886134