[Bobbi]

#1074839

Hi, Heidi, and welcome to our Board.

If you can get to the "home" page of the National Graves Disease Foundation, there should be a listing of resources. Look for publications, or bulletins — some phrasing like that. There is a bulletin that was written a few years ago about hyperthyroidism as it relates to children. It’s been a while since I read it, and it may pertain more to educational issues than symptoms, but it might be a help.

Some basic information. A blood test is definitive for whether or not someone is hyperthyroid. Typically, a thyroid panel will involve looking at the levels of T4 and T3 (actual thyroid hormones). Sometimes there will be a T7 reading — T7 is essentially the ratio of T4 and T3 in some order. Then, there will be a reading for a hormone that comes from the pituitary called TSH, which stands for T hyroid Stimulating Hormone. The endocrine system has checks and balances between the various glands. In the case of thyroid hormone, the pituitary is the source of the check. If the pituitary senses too much T4 and T3, it will lower it’s production of TSH, shutting down the thyroid cell’s work; conversely, if it senses too little actual thyroid hormone, it will raise it’s production of TSH in order to stimulate the production of more thyroid hormone. (Think of a seesaw with TSH on one end and thyroid hormone on the other: when one end is high, the other is low.)

There can be various causes of hyperthyroidism, and one of them is a virus. But unless your son has a fever, or other evidence of infection like raised white cell count, that is probably not the case. A ptiuitary cause is rare. There is something called a "hot" nodule — which is basically a clump of cells that become erratic and pour out thyroid hormone. The normal cells in the thyroid will be shut down (thanks to their responding to the pituitary’s reduced levels of TSH), but the nodule will be still going berzerk. That, too, is not all that common. The majority of cases of hyperthyroidism are caused by the autoimmune disease, Graves. That’s true of adults as well as children.

It has been shown over time that even sub-clinical cases of hyperthyroidism have a long-term adverse effect on health. (Sub-clinical would mean that there are few, if any symptoms of the condition, other than the blood test.) It is important to treat hyperthyroidism regardless of the cause.

The good news is that even the autoimmune disease is very treatable one way or another. We have essentially two options — using drugs to regulate the production of thyroid hormone or removing the thyroid. Not every patient has a choice of which option — medical conditions can dictate one over the other. But since we do have options, we do typically regain our health. So while I know it is stressful to have your son diagnosed with the possibility of this disease, it is something which can be well-controlled under the majority of circumstances.

Good luck with the doctor appointment.

[CoffeeHeidi]

#1074840

Thanks so much, Bobbi ” title=”Smile” />

I’ll def. check out the info. I want to be as well versed on the topic as I can so I’m not at a total loss come the appointment and terms are being thrown left and right. It also helps knowing that there are sub-clinical cases. I figured there might be; another reason I decided to take the chance and post here. ” title=”Smile” /> Luckily, he’ll be going to a major medical center with it’s own pediatric endochronology department. (Actually, it’s a shared diabetes and endo department but there are a number of solely pediatric endos on the staff.)

Hope this makes sense. I’m posting in between cooking for New Year’s. Thanks again for the info. It really helped! ” title=”Very Happy” />

[CoffeeHeidi]

#1019888

I’ve been feeling frustrated for a month now and the wait until our son’s pediatric endo appointment is killing me. I found this group and was…I don’t know…hoping to find either some more info. or a link to a group dealing with hyperthroidism in children. (I’ve been reading posts for about 2 hours now and someone mentioned one. ” title=”Smile” />

Our family’s story in brief. Ds10’s (almost 11) pediatrician was concerned that ds had dropped from the 95th percentile in height and weight to the exact norm/perfect. He’s been growing but apparently not fast enough nor gaining weight. We never saw any problems because dh’s brother was also this way growing up. Pediatrician insisted on lots of blood work. It came back that his thyroid levels were high (were never told *which* levels though) and his immune globin A was low (but this we weren’t to worry about.) The dr. called a pediatric endo to consult with him and apparently there was enough concern that we were immediately given the first appointment available – Jan. 21. Two months to wait and worry about what could be wrong with a kid whom seems perfectly normal. ” title=”Sad” /> Filling out the pile of paperwork, which requirds us to get family history didn’t help either. On my side, two cases of hyperthyroidism. Dh’s side has lots of hypothyroidism.

As we did when ds had asthma (infant to age 5) we’ve been researching hyperthoidism to death. "95% of all cases of pediatric hyperthroism is caused by Grave’s Disease." The thing is, some of the symptoms of Graves sound like a normal kid, or, normal for my kid.

* Insomnia – both ds and I are night owls, often leaning towards uber night owlism. We homeschool and know other families who are like ours, so don’t worry about it. Ds gets a good 10+ hours of sleep per night.

* Emotional problems – he stresses out over math at times. Again, normal for him. It’s the one subject he hates no matter the curriculum or teaching method and it’s been this way long before he was diagnosed with elevated thyroid levels. However, from what I’ve read here, stress can be a trigger of Graves. Ds’ grandparents (my in-laws) aren’t exactly the kind of people you want to be around and though we limit his contact with them, we can’t avoid them completely. Ds and dh are often at odds (oil and water those two) but it’s not all bad, just stressful at times. I’ve suggested counseling to ds but he refuses. The pediatrician didn’t feel he needed it either.

He also doesn’t have the other symptoms of Graves – palpitations (his heart will race when he exerts himself but it goes away quickly,) diarrhea, heat intolerance, fatigue, etc.

Like I said, it’s all so frustrating. I’ve read about Hashimoto’s, that hyperthroidism could be caused by a virus or a pituitary problem. Just thought I’d ask and vent here since statistically, the chances are Graves’.

Thanks for listening,

~Heidi

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