Hi, Thank you in advance for reading my question, I know this is lengthy but I am at my wits end and don t know what to do or where to go anymore. I am 36 year old female and have for most of my life (since I can remember) suffered from water retention. It is mostly in my hands and face and sometimes my ankles. I have always had severe cellulite even though I am not majorly overweight now (66kg s), I had the cellulite even when I was 18 and weighed only 49kg s. I have at times in my life had low iron and slight low blood sugar, nothing severe and very mild asthma as a child. I have never suffered from high blood pressure even though almost everyone in my family does. My Grandfather was a bleeder and I have a mild disorder which causes severe bruising called Von Willebrands and a doctor 8 years ago said I have endometriosis. My stress levels are reasonably high and I was treated on a short course of aropax for anxiety/depression when I was 23 and again 4 years ago. About 18 months ago I was walking 8 km s 5 days a week with my friend and playing squash once a week, one day when we were walking my chest seemed tight and it felt like mucus was building up in my throat and I started coughing, at first I thought maybe it was the humidity that day but then it started happening every day. As I was exercising for months before it started happening I did not think it was due to being unfit and I am not majorly overweight. It started getting worse and worse, now it is so bad I can t go for any walks or play any sport, I can t even climb the stairs in my own house without gasping for breath. When I talk I also get severely breathless and my chest makes a wheezing sound when I breathe in not out. It almost feels like I can t breathe, that is the sensation and best way to describe with a sudden mucous build up and cough. I get this when I get excited or upset as well and at times it is so bad that I wish I never have to move again because it is an awful feeling. Other symptoms I have are the water retention mentioned above, weight gain of about 6kg s while I was still exercising, I always feel tired and have low energy levels, at times I feel flushed and hot for no reason and then at times cold for no reason. For about a year before the breathlessness started my hair fell out, it was so bad that when I lifted my head off my pillow it was just hair everywhere however it seems when the breathlessness started I have had less hair loss. I sometimes get a sensation of pins and needles in my face around my jaw and also in my hands. I am extremely irritable and it seems to be getting worse by the day. I have always had strange bowel movements, my tummy will work quite loose for 1-2 days and then not at all for a few days then it is loose again without me taking anything for it however lately I have been constipated for far longer periods and the loose bowels are far less frequent. I live in Australia and went to see the Dr here who sent me for thyroid blood tests and iron deficiency as well as chest x-rays and ECG. All of which came back with no issues then he said I should see a psychiatrist because he thinks it is just stress. Then one night I lay in bed with the feeling of not being able to breathe and I wished I could just die because this is no way for a 36 year old to live. The next morning I went back to the Dr however my own GP was sick so I had to see another one. She immediately had the nurse put me on a ventolin nebuliser and said I was a bit better but still not right after. She prescribed prednisone for 3 days and symbicort inhaler and said to come back after the 3 days. At my next visit she said my chest was still not right however I was at least now able to sleep at night so she said to continue the prednisone for a further 3 days and stop using symbicort and prescribed an asthavent inhaler. At this visit she also had me do a breathing test for asthma which came back fine! This baffled her as she could not understand why it would come back fine but I was showing slight improvement with asthma treatment. Something that also picked up and also could not explain was that the test showed that my lungs were only functioning at 80% for someone of my height and weight. At this time I was on my way to visit my mother in South Africa for 2 weeks and decided I would rather see her Dr there who is excellent and may be able to give a different perspective. The Dr in South Africa checked all my vitals, said my blood pressure is excellent however that I was hyperventilating when talking to him and that is why I was gasping for breath rather than my chest being tight on breathing out. He said to cease taking the asthma medication. He also noticed some little bumps almost like very small soft balls which you can only feel not see under my skin on my legs and if they were sore which they were not. After the full check up he said I have an underactive thyroid to which I then replied that my blood tests came back normal to which he responded that the blood tests are often not sufficient to determine and he said I had Myxedema and wrote it down to give to my Dr in Australia. He also gave me a prescription of Xanor for 7 days and Euthyrox 100mg which he said I should continue taking and get further scripts in Australia. I have been on this medication for 15 days now and it has not made any difference yet. Now my legs have started cramping especially at night, I have had this before and it had gone away but this time it is worse. I am just wondering if the diagnosis was correct or if there could be another explanation and how long it takes for the medication to make a difference? Can an underactive thyroid cause such sever shortness of breath with almost no exertion? Please help, I just want my life back