Hi Christine,
I have a family history of Thyroid problems. My Grandmother had the
bulgy eyes but was never diagnosed. She spent most of her life in a metal
hospiatl for a chemical inbalance. I am not sure if it had anything to to
do with Graves disease or not.
Both her sisters were diagnosed with a thyroid problem and were treated.
This was about 30 years ago. I also swear my mother has suffered from
it. Since I have been diagnosed she has been tested but they say
she does not have it. All her life she has had shaky hands and could
eat anything she wants to (hyperthyroid).
Knowing that hyperthyroid ran in my familly, I have been tested every
couple of years and I have always been slightly hyper thyroid. It only got
really bad after the birth of my first child. 6 months after his birth I
weighed 100 lbs. I was diagnosed with hyper thyroid. I was taking 600 mg
of prophyl thyracil. After 60 months on the medication I had stabalized
so I decided to have another child. I was fine through out the whole
pregnancy.
I had my second son 6 months ago and I was diagnosed with the hyper
thyroid 4 months ago. 1 month ago I was finally diagnosed with Graves
disease.
In short, I am sure your baby will be fine. I was told that graves disease
can disappear when you are pregnant. But maybe that is incorrect. I
definetly think Graves disease is hereditary. I just think that
our ancesstors may not have been properly diagnosed.
I live in Canada an my great Aunts also lived in Canada. I think they were
diagnosed because medical care is accessable to everyone. My familly
was also important in the post World War (II) government in Canada. So
they had acess to the top medical doctors.
Anyway I hope everything goes well with your pregnancy.