advise!!

[Naomig77]

After months of different testing we finally found out that my 16 yr. old son as a thyroid disorder.  His TSH was 68. His doctor called in a prescription for levothyroxine 75 mcg. I'm worried cause of the side affects and his diagnose.  I'm trying to educate myself on this disorder.  Im just very worried and need advise. No mother wants their child to have to go thru any medical condition.  Please advise. Thank you.

[Naomig77]

Thank you both for all the helpful information and words of encouragement.  I really appreciate everything!!

[goolarra]

Your son is young, so he should be able to handle the meds just fine.  People over 50, who have been hypo for more than a couple of months or who have a heart arrhythmia sometimes have to start out lower and increase slowly to avoid hyper-like symptoms.  If he has any unpleasant side effects, just talk to the doctor about cutting back temporarily and increasing a little more slowly.  

Did the doctor test anything besides TSH?  He should also be testing FREE T3 (FT3) and FREE T4 (FT4).  These are the actual thyroid hormones and much more important in managing thyroid meds than TSH, a pituitary hormone, is.  If they tested FT3 or FT4, please post those with reference ranges.

Levo takes time to build in your system.  It takes 4-6 weeks to reach its full potential in your blood.  During that time, FT3 and FT4 levels are building.  Your son should be tested again in 4-6 weeks to see how much his labs have changed and to re-evaluate symptoms.

Next time he has blood work, you might request that thyroid antibodies be tested to see if he has the most prevalent cause of hypo in the developed world, which is the autoimmune disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  The two markers for Hashi's are thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOab) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGab).  Only one of those has to be elevated to confirm Hashi's, but both have to be tested to eliminate it as a possibility.  

  

[JenniZ118]

Don't worry, he should be just fine!  In fact, within a few weeks he should be feeling so much better!  High TSH means low thyroid hormone, so what the medicine is doing is supplementing his thyroid hormone so that he can get back into the normal range.  Don't be surprised if they eventually have to up his dosage though, that is completely normal as well.  Very soon he should have more energy and feel more like himself.  If he does have any unpleasant side effects from the medicine, switch him to the brand name of it--Synthroid.  Doctors will say it's the same, but I believe there are different fillers in the generic levothyroxine.  I know I feel much better on the name brand Synthroid than I do on levothyroxine.  I was achy and had joint pain on the generic.  My mom is the same way, so maybe it's just something weird with our genetic makeup!  :)  Good luck and try not to worry--he will do great!

[Naomig77]

Fyi....he took his medicine for the first time this morning and he is off to school. Just worried how the medicine will effect him.