The diagnosis: An athlete has dizziness, cramps and hair loss

The young woman had already been suffering from her symptoms for almost two years when she came to see me in April 2023. Two years in which she was often not taken seriously and no one was able to tell her what she was actually sick with, she told me. Sitting in front of me was an intelligent woman in her early 30s who used to play basketball professionally. She was still training at the club, but hadn’t been able to participate much lately.

She told me her story: On The main reason for sport was that two years earlier, her family doctor didn’t take it seriously when she stopped having her period. He said she had trained a lot and shouldn’t worry; hormonal fluctuations often occur in competitive athletes. But she suffered a seizure that same month. No one in the clinic could tell her why, nor could the doctors explain why she missed her period. The patient soon began to have trouble sleeping, felt restless, and was often dizzy. The family doctor suspected that it was her thyroid: the young woman had been suffering from an autoimmune disease for several years, which led to the small organ becoming overactive. Restlessness and insomnia can then result. But a blood test showed that her thyroid hormones were well controlled.

The patient became increasingly ill. She had hot flashes, felt exhausted and had low blood pressure. She hadn’t had a period for eight months now. Her hair fell out, she could no longer tolerate the cold and had muscle cramps.