Dear Readers,

I have under-active thyroid (hypothyroidism) and I am a member of this group. This disease causes your thyroid to not function as it should. Hypothyroidism causes the thyroid gland to not create enough thyroxine ( a thyroid hormone) and causes a sluggish thyroid. Some of the signs of an under-active thyroid are fatigue, weight gain, hair loss and depression. 

The opposite, over-active thyroid (hyperthyroidism) produces too much thyroid hormone. 

Today I am talking with the creator of the Facebook group, Underactive Thyroid

Please welcome Laura

My name is Laura Martin, I am 30 this year, I am married with 3 children and am doing a degree in Social Work. I live in wales and love animals. I have several health problems such as Under Active Thyroid, Pernicious Anemia, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and am currently undergoing more tests and assessment for more possible diagnosis.

Please tell the readers a little about the group.

The group is for anyone that has under active thyroid or knows someone that has it. The group is to share experiences, ask questions, seek advice, give advice, be a shoulder to cry on, rant, etc. It’s a safe haven where hopefully you will find someone that understands your problems. I have a friend that is also admin on the group, Hannah, and between us we monitor the posts and remove and block any trolls or people that post ads. We ensure every member knows that we are not medically trained and anything posted in the group is someone’s opinion or experience and may not work for everyone. We also remove any posts linking to any websites that may scare members about what you can and can’t do, eat, say, etc. We try to keep it real and respect others views. It works well. We don’t have many issues within the group and we have some really helpful long standing members that are happy to help answer newbies questions.

What inspired you to create this group?

I created the group when I was at an all-time low. I have had UAT since I was about 15 but I started to experience unexplained symptoms and doctors couldn’t understand what was wrong with me, I had an episode of bell’s palsy, doctors thought I had had a mini stroke, I had every test under the sun to no avail, I had vertigo, lost my balance, my speech would be slurred or delayed. My short term memory terrible, I would forget simple everyday words and have to try and describe things. I also had chronic fatigue all the time. It was very frustrating. I thought I had a brain tumor and was going to die. I was at my wits end and decided to see if I could find others that had experienced similar things. The doctors were always referring back to my UAT and other people had mentioned it too so I set up the UAT group and in a desperate bid to retain my sanity posted an opening plea to anyone that could help me make heads or tails of my symptoms. The response I got was immense and now nearly 30 months later we have 5690 members with multiple new member requests daily. I have been diagnosed with 2 more conditions and am still having tests and referrals.

What would you like this group to accomplish?

I just don’t want to think of anyone else struggling alone not knowing what is happening to them while they wait for medical appointments and tests to confirm diagnosis. As good as the NHS is times are tough and we don’t always remember everything we need to ask, or are told in a 5-10 minute appointment. It’s nice to have the group to fall back on and get a bit of advice and perspective. I hope that people feel they can ask anything. I also know how hard it is for family members to truly understand what sufferers go through so the group can help not only the sufferer to not feel alone but also help family members try to understand what this does to us. Some people manage better than others and every ones symptoms can be different and to different degrees so I want the group to be the go to place like a support group.

Thank you Laura for taking the time to tell us about this important group. 

Click on the link to find this Facebook group – Underactive Thyroid

*This blog post is part of the Blogging From A-to-Z Challenge (April 2017)

*The Internet is a useful tool for creating online support groups. Please lend a helping hand by sharing this blog post in the hopes it reaches someone who may benefit from this group.

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