From normal to kids to Graves?

---

Had my first kid at age 27.
Thought I had multiple sclerosis a few months after his birth. Shaking, tired, I forget what else...
Doc said sounds like thyroid.
Tested hyper.
Said it was postpartum thyroiditis.
Went away in a few months. Back to being me.

Second pregnancy....a few months after birth, I expected it and it came. Hyperthyroid again.
Definitely pregnancy related!
Went away again in a few months.
Back to being me. (Tested for autoimmune antibodies, came back normal!)

Suddenly for no reason out of the blue a few years later: hyperthyroid again!!
No pregnancy this time.
Shaking, soooo tired, (disease made me tired and gain weight...opposite of what it’s supposed to do!) heart beating at 130bpm while relaxing, hungry, couldn’t get filled, etc etc...

Had thyroid scan. Normal.
Tested for autoimmune antibodies. Not so normal.
Officially diagnosed with Graves. (I forget what year. Probably 2005 or so...?)

I had no health insurance and no money so I lived untreated as it came and went for years.
Probably wore my heart down. Sleepless nights while my heart thudded against my chest for hours...scary and annoying.
Found a free clinic for the working poor and they tested me again and put me on Methimazole in I think 2013?
Went to normal quite quickly, and kept going down for a few years. Down to 5mg a day.
Then....I got stressed out at some things in life and in 2017, my levels started going back up. Taking more and more methimazole every checkup. (I don’t have insurance still, so I don’t get checked much. Dangerous but...that’s poor people life!)

I’m currenly on 25mg a day and not sure what my next checkup will find in March.

I’ve had it pretty easy, honestly, compared to a lot of stories I’ve heard. Hope it stays that way.
Worst problem is the weight gain.
Gained 80 pounds since Methimazole.
Sometimes I don’t wanna take my pill and be skinny and die of heart failure, rather than be fat.