THYROID Patient Advocacy-UK (TPA-UK) has recently put together the largest hypothyroid patients' survey ever to be carried out in the UK for sufferers of the disease.

It is hoped the results of the survey will raise awareness of this debilitating illness, which can strike at any age and affects one in four of us, mainly women.

Symptoms include unexpected weight gain, hair loss on both head and body, infertility, extreme tiredness, mood swings, loss of libido, coldness, high cholesterol, memory loss, depression and dementia among many others. Because of the wide variety of symptoms experienced, the patient may be wrongly diagnosed, or thought to have other illnesses such as ME, Fibromyalgia (FM), menopause and so on.

Some common and often undiagnosed symptoms and dangerous consequences of low thyroid include: serious mental problems, seizures, heart disease, diabetes including misdiagnosis and complications, constipation resulting in colon cancer, and all female problems (due to high amounts of dangerous forms of oestrogen), including: tumours, fibroids, ovarian cysts, PMS, endometriosis, breast cancer, miscarriage, heavy periods and cramps, bladder problems leading to infections.

If you wish to take part in the hypothyroid patients survey, please contact hypothyroidpatientsurvey@tpa-uk.org.uk with your name and postal address, or telephone NSM Research direct on 01865 310073.

Or you may wish to download and complete this survey from our website www.tpa-uk.org.uk where you will find more information about the condition.

Sheila Turner,

Thyroid patient advocate,

Ickornshaw,

Cowling,

Keighley, Yorkshire.

Updated: 11:18 Monday, October 03, 2005