TSH Levels - what is normal?

[Nic306]

Hi, I am new to this board.  My son is 6 years old.  He has had medical problems since birth.  He has hypotonia (poor muscle tone) and was gross motor delayed as well as speech delayed.  He had feeding trouble as an infant and is now being treating by a feeding therapist as his evaluation shows he swallows and chewse equal to a 24 month old.  As an infant, his front fontanelle was wide open until he was over 2.  Around 3 years ago he started going through tremendous unexplained weight gain along with night sweats and insomnia.  He can gain upward of 14 pounds per year and eats far less than the other children in our family.  We took him to an endocrinologist last year who basically said he is just unlucky and can't eat like other children (I tried to explain he eats less than others).  He also said if I can keep is body mass index in place until he is 18 he will then be in the normal range.  He ran a TSH and T4 test.  His TSH was 2.966 at that time and I don't know what the T4 was.  This year we brought him back again as his problems continued.  The doc ran the same tests again, this time his TSH was 3.77.  I have read that the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists now say anything over a 3 is in danger of hypothyroid.  Has anyone ever heard of this?  And is it normal for the TSH level to go up in a year?  The endo said that the people that say this are just supporting the pharm companies.  I am going for a second opinion next month. He is currents 71 pounds and I am trying to stop this gaining before it gets any worse.

[estrelinha]

There is an expert forum called: Pediatric Endocrinology . Try it....

[estrelinha]

Well I don't know about TSH of children but I'm going to translate  what it is writen in my lab  results: TSH increases with age: +60 years «10; +75 « 12;
In children TSH changes with the age:
-  new born: 25 - 160;  
-  3 days - 20 weeks:1,7 - 9,1;  
- 5 months - 16 years: 0,5 - 6,5.
T3 and T4 in children and at puberty age:  total T3 and total T4 are higher then in adults (10 to 20%).
Try to ask Dr. Lupo