I am soon to be 56 this year and I was diagnosed with Graves’ and Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) 2 years ago. I am sure I have been hyperthyroid off and on as long as I can remember. Always used to put my hyperactivity down to running on nervous energy. I had the tremors and palpitations, they would just come and go. I only went to the doctors when extremely ill, which wasn’t that often. I always seemed to be running, family and friends would always comment that they couldn’t keep up with me.

Six years ago I had some sort of an attack, I went to emergency and they had me on the heart machine which showed that my heart was behaving erratically, they kept me in hospital a few days but told me they didn’t know what sort of an attack I had had but it was not a heart attack and maybe I would never experience it again.

The night before I had gone out with friends and pigged out on seafood. I had more than my share and was awoken at 3 in the morning with what seemed to be a heart attack. I know now that it was a hyper attack. No one tested for thyroid and I didn’t inform anyone that there was a history of thyroid in the family. It didn’t occur to me that it could have been the cause.

After that episode I was up and down constantly, going through menopause as well and a lot of my symptoms I put down to that. I have also had a lot of emotional turmoil in my life the last 4 years. My mum had started to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease. She also suffered with hypothyroid. Her short term memory was going, but her past was very vivid and she told me that she had a son before the war and could I find him for her.

My mother was from Poland and was in Germany during the war years as a forced labourer. Her son was left behind in Poland with her parents and she never returned. She met my father and migrated to Australia as displaced refugees in 1950. I was born in Germany as well. My parents never spoke of the past at all, and as children when we asked, they just said that everyone had perished during the war. Well, now there is this son! Is it true? Is she confused? I really didn’t know so I started to look anyway.

This in itself was not doing my health any good as during the entire search my father was angry with me for trying to dig up the past. Little did I know that both parents had deep dark secrets, but mum sent me on this journey and me being who I am, I didn’t give up and after 2 years I found my mother’s 60 year old son - and my father’s 59 year old daughter!

It was all emotional heartrending stuff.

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