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Christmas arrived. We tried to get in the mood to celebrate but Sarah was still so ill. She started to go backwards and on Christmas day was throwing up again. I called our GP who said double her medication, which helped a little. But by new year it had got no better.

I called the specialist who saw her straight away. They ran some tests, then admitted her. They found she was suffering from diabetes. They also found she needed another tablet for her Addison's. When they put her on 0.1 mg fludrocortisone a day as well as the 20 mg hydrocortisone, the difference in her was almost instant.

After a few days they ran a glucose tolerance test which proved she did indeed have diabetes. But somehow, since this new tablet had been introduced, the diabetes was being controlled.

Sarah started to pick up, she was eating normally and was now full time back at school. In February 2002 we went back to see the specialist. He was very pleased with her progress, until he ran some more tests and found she now had antibodies to her thyroid gland. The specialist was shocked; he said things are happening to Sarah that should not be developing for quite a few years to come. He said her condition must have started some years back to be at the stage it's at.  Now, we can look back over past experiences and think she was about five when it all began.

At the moment Sarah feels great. She says she has never felt like she is feeling now. Her periods have started again and her energy levels have increased. But she still sometimes gets dizzy when standing and she still occasionally suffers stomach cramps. She also has dry skin and is constantly licking her lips.

This summer we are flying again, just to prove to Sarah that it was her condition that made her suffer a crisis and that holidaying abroad will not make her ill again. Sarah would quite like to get her old tan back again, too.

Kim

(Surname withheld in accordance with the ADSHG publishing code of conduct)