Graves disease and pregnancy.

Hi all! Im a 26yo female and i started to get a racing heart over 2 years ago but it was another 12 mths before I went to my GP. She sent me for a blood test which said i had hvperthyroidism, but it wasnt to bad so I would just have to have regular blood tests.

Not long after that I fell pregnant with my 2nd son who is 1yo now. All through the pregnancy my levels kept getting higher but not so high that the benefit of medication would outweigh the risk to the baby they said. So I still waited, even though the symtoms were getting pretty bad by then. My heart raced, I was always out of breath, and my upper arm and thigh muscles were so weak I couldnt even hang a load of washing. Being pregnant is already hard enough!

After I had my baby, it took another 6 mths to get in to see a specialist, who finally put me on 30mg carbimazole per day and 25mg atenolol per day. My symptoms started getting a lot better within 2 weeks.

But about a month after I started taking the meds I got a big itchy rash all over my body. Wasnt due to see specialist for another 2 months so GP told me to take an antihistimine everyday untill then.

By the time I saw him my levels were almost back to normal and my heartrate had come down from about 140 to 68. So he told me to stop taking everything, and that I am too young to have radio-iodine, especially if I want more kids, and I do. We had only waiting for me to be off meds until we tried for another baby, and I fell pregnant the next month.

But now the symptoms have all started coming back again really quickly, and I'm not looking forward to having another pregnancy like the last, so does anyone know of anything I can do? I would love to hear from women who have had an experiance with graves disease while pregnant. And any tips on overcoming the insomnia?

Thanks to all those who took the time to read my novel!