After being diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in November 1994 I started wondering which other family members of mine also had thyroid conditions. Everything I had read suggested that the autoimmune thyroid conditions, Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, ran in families, and it seemed odd therefore that I apparently was the only person in my family with an autoimmune thyroid condition.

I talked about this with my mother, who asked around other members of the family, and in 1999 she told me that her aunt had also suffered from hypothyroidism (as well as premature menopause). It transpired that the two daughters of this aunt also had thyroid conditions, as did the daughter of one of these cousins of my mother. This girl had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism at the age of about 9.

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When I started out trying to help those with thyroid conditions and working with Thyroid Australia, my thought was that if I could help just one person with a thyroid condition to be diagnosed earlier and to have their quality of life improved by what I had done, then the suffering I had undergone before I was diagnosed with my own thyroid condition would be worthwhile. Little did I know that one of the people I would be able to help would be my own mother.

It is, therefore, important to remember that the autoimmune thyroid conditions, Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, tend to run in families, and often occur in families which present with other autoimmune conditions, such as:

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This is why we at Thyroid Australia recommend that anyone who has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, or who is suspected of having hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, should also have their thyroid autoantibodies tested, especially if they have a family history of autoimmune thyroid conditions or any other autoimmune condition.

Further Reading:

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