Health is everything. Having faced serious health challenges twice before, I’m deeply aware of how precious it is.

In 2015, I underwent open-heart surgery. Afterward, I worked hard to recover, rebuilding my health and fitness. Then in 2021, I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, an autoimmune disorder that overstimulates the thyroid, accelerating metabolism and affecting various body systems. I received treatment, went into remission, and regained my health and fitness. But I knew a relapse was possible.

Graves’ disease symptoms can be wide-ranging and make no sense in how they sit together leading many people to not join the dots. They may go to the GP with one symptom but fail to mention the others. There is also evidence that doctors may not consider thyroid disease when considering a diagnosis. For instance, someone experiencing palpitations, breathlessness, and anxiety may be misdiagnosed with panic attacks. A middle-aged woman with similar symptoms, plus heat intolerance, might be dismissed as having menopause-related issues.

I’m diligent about monitoring my health and fitness as a consequence of my history. I know my resting heart rate, VO2 max, how fast I can run and how much weight I can lift.

The first clue that my thyroid was becoming overactive again was a slight drop in my deadlift strength. But this was easy to attribute  to fatigue as the previous week I’d walked over 40 miles along the South West Coast Path. At the same time, I began feeling down, but I was really busy and was dealing with some issues that were keeping me awake at night. So some mild depression wasn’t unexpected. Only now do I know that an overactive thyroid is a physical cause of depression and that doctors should screen for thyroid disease when someone presents with unexplained depression.

On reflection I have to acknowledge that the stress I was experiencing could have kicked off the relapse. 

The sign that made me suspicious that I was becoming ill again was a rise in my resting heart rate. It started to creep from its usual 60 bpm to around 70 bpm. I’d also lost weight, around 6 kg in just a few weeks, without trying. And this is not healthy weight loss it being predominantly muscle not fat that is lost.

One new symptom was hoarseness. I hadn’t experienced this before, but it is due  to the pressure of the thyroid on the vocal cords. 

I requested a blood test, and a week later, the results confirmed that my thyroid was once again overactive. Securing a GP appointment was challenging, but I managed to get an “urgent” slot four days after getting my results. 

In the meantime, I started to feel too unwell to go to the gym but didn’t think twice about joining friends for lunch. However, the outing left me breathless with palpitations intense enough to make me flinch. I then developed a temperature and grew concerned about a potential thyroid storm, a rare but life-threatening condition that arises from dangerously high thyroid hormone levels. Thankfully, paracetamol and a good sleep ruled out this possibility.

But my health  worsened. My palpitations turned into atrial fibrillation, with my smartwatch urging me to seek medical advice. Luckily, I still had some carbimazole left over from my last treatment—expired, but worth the risk. And within  a few hours, I’d spoken to my GP who provided a new  prescription.

This relapse has hit harder and faster than my initial experience with Graves’ disease. And I fear that my recovery won’t be as straightforward as before. Last time it was linear. It took time, at least 6 months to recover what I’d lost, but no relapses. This time I’ve already had a backward step,  spending another day in atrial fibrillation. So it may be a long process to full recovery. But I’ll get there.

One thing I do need to do is remove those issues that may have triggered my relapse. It is hard and sad to let people and passions go but when they cause you stress and a loss of sleep what is the point of holding onto them.

This is the 3rd time in my life where I’ve needed to recover my health and fitness. To get back to a place where I can walk up a mountain. This time feels different, though, as it’s a relapse that has brought me back to this difficult place. This recovery needs a lasting solution, which will likely include radioactive iodine treatment.

This experience has reminded me that health is everything. It’s when it fails that we truly appreciate how important it is.