RUN OF HER LIFE; HOW TRACK SUPERSTAR GAIL DEVERS BEAT THYROID DISEASE.

Byline: Ellen Creager Knight Ridder Newspapers

At UCLA, Gail Devers was a nationally ranked runner - but she hid her face behind a book in statistics class so nobody could stare at her horrible skin.

It was peeling and scaly, spotted with white.

Her thinning hair began falling out in clumps. Her long nails broke off. Her weight slipped to 89 pounds. Her resting heart rate soared to 150 beats a minute. She had night sweats. She dragged through the 1988 Olympics, a failure.

Too much running, one doctor said. Too much stress, said another. Rumors swirled: She was anorexic. On drugs. Possibly crazy.

What they didn't see, and what she didn't know: Devers had thyroid disease.

``I went from glamour to monster,'' says the three-time Olympic gold medalist, who is traveling the country on behalf of a national thyroid education campaign. ``I covered my mirrors. I got black mini-blinds on all my windows. I was depressed. And I didn't know what was wrong.''

In 1990, three years after symptoms started, she finally developed the most obvious signs of an overactive thyroid, called Graves' disease: bulging eyes and a big lump called a goiter on her neck. At age 22, Devers' condition was diagnosed. Although her feet swelled up with treatment, and she almost faced amputation, she recovered, returned to racing and won the gold medal for the 100-meter dash at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

In 1996, she won two more golds in Atlanta, in the 100-meter hurdles and the 4-by-100 relay.

``I was lucky. Most of my symptoms reversed themselves,'' says Devers, known for her trademark 4-inch nails before she cut them this year. ``If I look, I can still see some of it in my skin. I used to call myself Alligator Woman.''

Out of racing this year with an Achilles tendon injury, Devers, 31, is at a turning point in her life. She just moved from St. Louis to Atlanta, where she lives with her dogs.

Her goal is to compete at the 2000 Olympics, but she's wondering how she'll manage to train without her longtime hurdles partner, heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who retired in July.

Meanwhile, people keep asking Devers about her close friend and fellow track star Florence Griffith Joyner, who authorities say suffocated in her sleep from an epileptic seizure in August at age 38. Does she feel a kinship with FloJo because both overcame health problems to race?

``I believe God gave us Florence on loan to do a job. She did more in 38 years than most other people do in a lifetime. God just called her home. Now she's up there smiling down at us.''

Perhaps because of FloJo, Devers has a renewed zeal to do good - ``You hope before you go to get your soul right,'' she says. She's touring on behalf of the American Medical Women's Association on a program called Gland Central.

``There are 13 million Americans with thyroid disorders, and only half of them know about it,'' she says. ``I don't want them to have to go through what I did. I know how it feels to be at rock bottom, where you feel you'll never be able to accomplish anything again.''

Hormones produced by the thyroid influence your overall health, especially your skin, hair, nails, heart, bones and fertility. One in eight women and one in 10 elderly people have an overactive thyroid, called Graves' disease, or an underactive thyroid.

In Devers' case, symptoms of Graves piled on top of one another between 1987 and 1990. Previously so healthy that she never missed a day of school between kindergarten and 12th grade, by 1989 her coach, Bob Kersee, wouldn't let her run.

``He was cooking up big piles of ribs and steak and putting it on my plate, and feeding me protein shakes and everything, and I still didn't gain any weight,'' Devers remembers. He knew something was wrong. He just didn't know what.

But after the diagnosis, Devers recovered swiftly. Radioactive iodine treatment destroyed the thyroid. Medication replaced the work of the gland, and Devers immediately felt better. She was racing again the next year and soon headed for triumph in the Olympics.

``I believe I had to go through what I did so I can help other people,'' Devers says fervently, racing her words one into another, as if she will never have enough time to tell it all.

Watching the thyroid

The thyroid is an endocrine gland in your neck. Thyroid function can be checked with a blood test, TSH. Symptoms of an overactive thyroid, also called hyperthyroidism or Graves' disease, are:

Weight loss despite increased appetite 

Increased heart rate

Nervousness or anxiety

Elevated blood pressure

Excessive perspiration

Muscle weakness, trembling hands

Development of goiter, a swelling of the thyroid gland

Bulging eyes

Change in menstrual periods

Changes in skin color

Thinning hair

Soft nails

Source: American Medical Women's Association, ``The Medical Advisor: The Complete Guide to Alternative & Conventional Treatments'' (Time/Life; $39.95).

For more information, visit the Web at www.glandcentral.com

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--2--Cover--Color) BACK ON TRACK

Undiagnosed disease almost put Gail Devers out of the running

(3) Track star Gail Devers (shown here and on the cover in 1992) faced amputation of her feet until she was treated for Graves' disease, an overactive thyroid.

(4) Gail Devers as she looks today.

Box: Watching the thyroid (See Text)