Born without thyroid or know someone with this condition?

[mcaa1234]

I've never come across a doctor or nurse that has heard of this.  I was born without my thyroid.  My newborn screening tests came back abnormal on TSH.  I have been on Synthroid since I was a week old.  My mother had radiation to destroy her thyroid(hyperthyroidism)  when I was 12-13 years old.  My grandmother had hypothyroidism in her late 80s-90s.  My mother was taking Bendectin #36 while she was pregnant with me.  I tried to research this medication several years ago.  I found that some children were born without limbs and this medication was pulled in the mid 1980s.  My pediatrician said that any children I may have would have a higher risk of having the same condition.  Both of my girls are fine and have their thyroids.  

Does anyone have this condition or know of anyone that has it? Do you know of any circumstances regarding mother's pregnancy?

[Red_Star]

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a deficiency of thyroid hormone at birth. CH occurs in approx 1 in 4000 births. There are two types of CH - transient (temporary) and permanent.

Around 80 to 85% of permanent CH cases are due to a defect or abnormal development of the thyroid gland (dysgenesis).  The other causes of permanent CH are inherited defects in the ability to synthesize and secret thyroid hormone (10% of CH cases); defect in the thyroid hormone transport mechanism; central hypothyroidism (hypothalamic or pituitary problems).

Transient (temporary) CH occurs in around 10 - 20% of births. Causes of transient CH are infant iodine deficiency due to insufficient iodine intake in the mother; TSH-receptor blocking antibodies (TRB-Ab) in a pregnant woman with autoimmune thyroid disease; anti-thyroid drugs taken when pregnant; fetus or newborn exposure to very high doses of iodine.

An interesting thread on bendectin:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Maternal--Child/anti-nausea-drug-banned-in-80s/show/158730

[Barb135]

We've had several people on the forum who were born without a thyroid gland, over the years.  Once medications are stabilized they do well.

I did just a few minutes of research and while I couldn't find anything specific to missing thyroid gland, the drug does seem to cause a range of defects.  Since many of the organs in the body develop at about the same time, in the gestational period, it would seem that any one of them could be affected.