They told me it was anxiety. It was Graves'.

Before all this, I was at my physical peak. I lifted weights most days. I'd lost a lot of weight. I was running 10k every weekend, just for fun. I felt on top of the world.

Then things started to slip. I couldn't sleep. My 10k runs turned into 2k runs. The weight kept falling off. I was tired all the time, and sweating constantly. Then the brain fog crept in, and I couldn't focus on my work as a programmer. Even I felt different. Something was just 'off'.

The hardest part was the anxiety. My body felt stuck in the 'on' position. At my lowest, I'd wake in the night having panic attacks - heart racing, that primal fight-or-flight feeling. It was like being locked in a room with a tiger after three nights without sleep.

Getting a diagnosis was a battle.

At first I told myself I was just having a bad week. Then a bad month. But it got too big to ignore.

Graves' is less common in men, and I think that threw people. The doctors put it down to anxiety. My GP prescribed sertraline, and I took it for months before anyone did a blood test. It didn't help. If anything, I got worse.

In the end, I collapsed in my kitchen with my pulse at 120. That's when the GP finally ran the bloods. My TSH came back undetectable, and I was referred straight to an endocrinologist. Looking back, I wish I'd pushed harder, sooner. But it's hard to fight your corner when you feel that ill.

I knew what a thyroid was. I had no idea what it actually did. After the diagnosis, I read everything I could.

The treatment was a long road.

I spent about three years on carbimazole, with my levels going up and down. I had a short spell of remission, then it came back and I was back on the tablets.

Two years ago, I decided I'd had enough of the rollercoaster and had radioactive iodine. My body responded fast. Within six weeks I'd swung the other way - properly hypothyroid, with a TSH of 80. I felt heavy, slow and low for a while.

I went straight onto levothyroxine, starting at 25mcg and building up to 150mcg over several months. It took time to settle.

Two years on, I'm stronger and happier than I've been in years. There was some weight to lose, and I've been losing it. I feel like myself again.

What made the difference.

The six-week wait between blood tests was hard. Medication changes take a while to show, so a lot of it is just waiting and hoping. The fatigue still stops me doing things on some days.

Talking to people helped more than anything. It's amazing how many people have been through something similar and are happy to share it.

Having a plan helped too. I keep a record of my thyroid levels. I take my medication at the same time every day. I stay on top of my appointments and blood tests. I was honest with my employer, and they were brilliant about it. Owning the condition, instead of letting it own me, changed everything.

If you're going through this.

Here's the one thing I'd say: you are unwell. Your body is unwell. Your idea of 'normal' is different right now, and it's okay to not feel okay. You're not dying. You're not going mad. There's a real reason you feel like this, and it's genuinely hard. Be kind to yourself. It does get better.