Freaking out over 12 year old sons thyroid

[Debbie_Doop]

My 12 year old son is going through puberty...early stages...he had tonsilitis several weeks ago and afterward we noticed a lump at the bottom of his throat that was visible.  Knowing this is where his thyroid is located i took him to his pediatrician and sure enough he said it was extremely enlarged and did blood work checking T3, T4 and TSH levels.  Results for T3 and T4 were completely normal but TSH level was 5.4 with the thryroid still enlarged.  He has been having mood swings and lethargy but i attributed most of it to the puberty.  When he was 5 years old we had a scare with a lump on the left side of his neck that they said was Lymphoma...after surgery, THANK GOD we found it was not cancer but my Father had his thyroid removed due to thyroid cancer and now with this going on with my son and already having one cancer scare i'm really trying not to freak out and keep him calm.  His pediatrician is wonderful and making an appt. with a pediatric endocrinologist for him but i'm really worried about what could be causing the enlarged thyroid along with the elevated TSH level.  Any ideas??

[utahmomma]

Pediatric endocrinologist is the best step.  Your son needs to be put on thyroid meds since he is hypothyroid.  Hypothyroidism can lead to mood irregularities and depression - combine that with puberty and it can be maddening (for him and you).

What type of thyroid cancer did your father have?  There is a highly genetic form of thyroid cancer (medullary).  If that is what your father had you and your son need to be tested for the MEN I and MEN II genes.  Find out what type of cancer it was and let the pediatric endo know all of the details you can find.

While you are waiting for the referral ask your pediatrician to run a thyroid ultrasound and *complete* thyroid panel with antibodies.  It could be as simple as an autoimmune thyroid condition or thyroiditis but it could also be more severe.  Having all the tests run prior to the appointment with the pediatric endo could save you valuable time and make the first appointment more productive.

Here's some information about thyroid conditions that may lead you to more discussions with your son's doctors.  http://www.endocrineweb.com/thyroid.html

I went through tough thyroid conditions (precancer) with my daughter too.   Hang in there mom - sometimes it's harder on the parents than the kids.  Oh, and it's okay to cry, freak out, ask questions, and vent here.  That's what we are here for.

Utahmomma
papillary carcinoma '03, second surgery '04
  recurrence and RAI '06 and '08
three sisters with papillary carcinoma (one with three recurrences)
other sister with precancerous thyroid
daughter with precancerous thyroid

[LittleEd]

I can't offer any help, but I just hope everything works out OK for him.