I learned yesterday that my 13 year old daughter had a Thryoid condition. Apparently hers is not doing what it is supposed to be doing and she will have to be on a medication for the rest of her life. What I am wondering is this: Is there anything I can do to help her, that will help with this? Her Dad also has the same thing, and for the most part the medication works, but he says he can feel it fluctuate at times, leaving him feeling rundown and such. I am concerned about this happening at her age, I have never heard of a youngster getting this, so I don't know if it is uncommon or not. I also wonder about her getting cancer in her Thryoid, due to the early age. She goes to the Dr again on Tuesday, and will start her medication on that day. Anyone have any suggestions or tips? Thanks everyone, I appreciate any advice you can give me.

Neena,

I know it is super scary when one of our young ones get sick or is diagnosed with a medical condition. Although I prefer natural remedies when possible, for some conditions it is wise to consider the advice of a specialist. If you do go natural, check with someone who is adept at homeopathy plus do your own research.

Hypothyroidism or Hyperthyroidism (underactive and overactive thyroid) is when the thyroid gland doesn't do what it should. It is fairly common and with proper medical treatment, usually poses no other problems. It is important to have regular thyroid function tests to make sure medication dosing is accurate. Being tired and gaining weight are two symptoms of a thyroid not doing what it should. For now, listen to your daughter's doctor, get a second or third opinion if you want and check out natural remedies.

A word about thyroid cancer - my dad was just diagnosed with it (it is actually a cancer that showed up again from a lesion he had on his tongue three years ago.) We have just been told that thryoid cancer is easy to cure, so not to worry. They either remove the thyroid and then the patient will have to take thyroid replacement medication for the rest of their lives or they shoot it with a cancer fighting medicine that only affects the cancer in the thyroid itself and the success rate is amazing.

Again, I am sorry you have to go through this. The best thing to do is research all interventions. Educate yourself and your daughter. Knowledge is a very powerful and 'empowering' thing. You will both get through this.
Goddess Bless - SisterWolf

Neena,
As someone who has a hyperactive thyroid, I can tell you it is no picnic. My problem is that my thyroid goes 90 miles and hour and makes the rest of my body do the same.so when I am asleep, my body is not resting as it should. But with meds, i feel completely "normal" (whatever that means!!! )
It can be scary but it is also treatable. She will be able to live a normal life and do all the things she wants to do. So..hang in there and I am sending lots of energies your way!!!!

Thank you everyone for all the support, I feel so blessed with friends here, it really helps when your facing somthing that scares you!
Bear, Your right, being a teenager isnt easy! And she just turned 13 on the 17th! Really blew her B-day. I believe her thryoid is under active, as the FNP we see, stated that her brain sends out a request for the hormone and the gland isnt responding. This is what her Dads does also. So yes I believe it is hereditary.
SisterWolf, I live in a very small town, and so we dont have a homeopath anywhere near. Yes Sammie is tired all the time and she weighs 155 lbs. She is 5'1 in tall. I have been concerned about her weight for some time and have repeatedly asked the FNP about it. I would have thought this may have been noticed prior to this and checked but it was not. And any time I specifically asked about this area, I was asked if I were a Dr and that she would get a growth spurt any time soon and basically grow up and out of it. Thank you for the information re.- Thryoid Cancer, that one really had me spooked. It is nice to know that it is treatable and not somthing dooming, for lack of better words. Not that anyone wants any type of Cancer, but thank the Goddess it is treatable with had a great sucess rate. Yes I am trying to educate myself on this and your right, Knowledge is a powerfull thing.
CoyoteMoon, From what I have learned, Sammie and her Dad both have an underactive Thyroid. Dad takes 150 MCG of Levoxyl daily. I think that perhaps it needs upped a tad, just from his reaction to it on a daily basis, as I have seen him wax and wane, from day to day on this dosage. He is scheduled to have another blood workup in June. I don't know Sammie's dosage yet, but on Tues., will post it. He also has a terrible infection due to needing dentures, which we are in the process of trying to get for him, which I believe also affects his condition on a daily basis. But the dentist wont give him anything for it as he says it is in the roof of his mouth and to large to treat with any type of antibiotics. (?) I have given him echinecea at times when he is at a very low point, but that is about it, due to the fact he wont take meds of any kind unless he has too. So I just try to keep their diet as healthy as possible and remind them to do the same and why.
sibrei, Thank you for helping me understand the other side of having a Thyroid problem. I am glad that the meds work for you. I have fibromyalgia, and many nights I feel similar to what you wrote you feel, only it is my mind and not my body going 90 mph!

Thank you all so much! It helps to have others give you ideas and tips and personal stories to help you understand and know where to look next!

CM, thank you, no worries, take your time hun,

I do wish to pick your brain tho; I followed the advice and checked out the herbal, and found out it suggests, Irish Moss, Kelp, Parsely,Black Walnut and Sarsparilla. Well we can eat Parsley, and black walnut, but what about Irish Moss and Kelp and Sarsparilla?

Funny thing, last week, I was scouring the herbs to find the ones common to my area to learn about and how to use them. Guess I wasn't quite fast enough....

wow!! What a huge amount of great information! I have printed it all out and will start my research tommorow or the next day as tommorow is my B-day and I might just try to veg out for a tad. Thank you CM and Alora for the excellent info and to everyone else for your kindness!! It made me feel cared about and helped lift a load of worry off my shoulders. You guys are terrific!!

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I am sorry to hear this about your daughter. My mom has a thyroid condition too. She has been synthroid since she was about the same age. The flucuation is normal my mom goes thur it every now and then. My mom is now 48 going on a healthy young 49 and hasn't had any serious problems with her thyroid except when she runs out of meds.

I wish you all the best of luck.

Aww, Thank you Alora and CM !!! My day was pretty good, didnt want anyone to fuss over me tho... Hubby made me a Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and put Dove pieces on it with a single candle! It is delicious! I got my pressies the day before as we revamped my old kitchen range. We repainted it white,(it was a dingy yellow color) and stenciled Ivy vines on it! Sounds kinda strange, but looks nice and really helps brighten up the room!
My oldest daughter,Mandy, drew me a card with music notes on it, she is my artist and knows her drawing me a pic is a gift to me.(she even reduced my age by two years!!!) and my youngest,Sammie, made me a card on the printer, telling me I still look great! Wow! I listened to Celtic women on TV and cried as this music touches my heart, and got lotsa hugs! It has been a real roller coaster ride lately and everyone is really helping me out both at home and here; and I want you all to know how much I truly appreciate it!
Tody at 3:30 I will know more about what is going on with Sammie, she has been home yesterday and today, think she might be getting strep throat, that is all I need, but should get it all taken care of in one swoop. Hopefully then I can read up more on the herbs and such and have a better idea of what to ask you guys about later!
Lady Mcleod, Thank you so much for your kindness and for letting me know that your mom had this at about the same age. Also about the fluctuation. My hubby does this tho while on the meds, when he does forget to get them refilled on time, it is even worse! I have learned that I am the one in charge of making sure it is done at the right time, as it makes my life easier with a healthy hubby and I suppose it goes double now with a daughter on meds also.

* hugs to all today*

Neena

Well, I just got back from Sammie's Dr appt. I am not happy to say the least..... First of all, the Fnp who she see's called me earlier and tried to tell me that the blood work is fine.... I said excuse me, I called and talked to another fnp in the office and Sam's Ths level is borderline high, as normal is from 0.27 - 4.20 and Sam's is at 5.06. She bumbled as to not having seen that result and I asked her why as that was the main reason for the blood work to begin with,........

Then when we get there she gives me this lame story of trying to get the lab at the hospital to retest the blood from the previous test, which they no longer have..... and so Sam gets more blood drawn which scares her to death....
So to the lab it goes, and depending on that test she will confer with the pedatrician, and what that person says goes. So she may or may not get meds... I reminded her of Sams symptoms and what is going on, and also asked her to check sam for Strep, which she did not do, she just looked at her throat. "it is probably a virus"
So now I wont know anything until Thurs. I asked her what if they dont prescribe anything for Sam?? She just looked at me,,, so I asked her about herbal or vitamins and minerals or just what could I do to help my daughter as I know somthing is wrong and I am worried for her and want her health to be back to normal. She says just a good diet and exercise.
I am sorry but at this point I am fumming........ Hubby went there with us and he is upset also. Knowing that he has a thyroid problem also should at least make her more willing to at least act like she cares????
I am sorry about the rant, please forgive me if this does not make sense.

edited because I flew off the handle.

Ok, just an update regarding Sammy's Thryoid test. We had it redone and after two days I called to learn the result. Well I was told it wasn't finished yet (one part) and the other would be done this week. So I am still waiting to hear whats gonna happen.....

Morning all, just wanted to let you all know I finally got the results of Sams blood test. Her T4 level is low and also her tsh. So she will be going to a pediatrician. Apparently her primary Dr is concerned that their maybe other endoctrine probs, and they want to check to rule that out also. So once that is all done, she will most likely be on meds for hypothryoidism. Keep your fingers crossed that there arent any more surprizes in store ok?

Thank you CM, I appreciate it!

Hi. I know this is a few months after you have asked for info, but thought this may be something to look at also.

I see a natropath regularly and long story short she wanted me to have a sleep apnea test done as I had alot of symptoms of problems with my thyroid. After some time of treating thryoid with no improvement have under gone test. Although I am still waiting on results. It seems that on some occasions having a sleep disorder can cause problems all over the body including with the thryoid.

Also the thryoid and other gland of the body are like our bodies rubbish bins. When they become full and impared they become diseased. To have them working well we need to focus on all of them and not only the single. When looking into natural therapy and herbal remedies also look at herds for the liver, when the liver works well it in turn helps the thryoid etc.

I hope all is going well with your daughter. I have a girl of the same age and it is so hard with the usual things, periods, boys, friends etc without these other things added in.

Kind thoughts,
Kath