b12 vitamin okay

[fedupinmt]

Hi folks my daughter who will be 12 in Aug. has Hypothyroid disease since she was 9. she's been kind of dragging, not much energy. Test says shes okay so it might just be the preteens hitting and not wanting to do anything. What I was wondering Is it okay for her to take B12 or  B6? (since they help with energy from what I've read.) I don't want to give her anything that will conflict with her meds. Any help or advice would be great thanks tab

[Barb135]

Pernicious Anemia does NOT necessarily "go with" thyroid disease - pernicious anemia is an autoimmune disease, as are some types of thyroid disease.  Do you know if your daughter has Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (autoimmune hypothyroidism)?  It's not uncommon for a person to have more than one autoimmune disease.  

With pernicious anemia, the person lacks a substance called "intrinsic factor" in the stomach, which is what allows the B12 to be absorbed.  Without intrinsic factor, B12 can not be absorbed - which is why I suggested the sublingual liquid, as it would then be absorbed directly through the capillaries under the tongue.  

I'm sorry, I can't specifically answer your question regarding the affect of growth and thyroid med, but it would seem that if her thyroid levels are stable and she's free of symptoms, testing every 6 months may be sufficient, but if her hormone levels are off or she has symptoms, then she should be tested more often.  

It's always a good idea to ask for a copy of all blood work/test results for your records. That way if anything comes up, you will have them.  It's possible that the doctor is looking at the results and seeing only that they are in the "normal range", but not really considering that they may be either LOW normal, or HIGH normal, which may make them off for your daughter.  

Do you know which tests were run?  Many doctors try to adjust thyroid meds based ONLY on a TSH result or TSH and Free T4, when they should really be basing their decisions on Free T4 and Free T3.  TSH is a pituitary hormone and is not a good indicator of what the thyroid it doing.  It's necessary to test the actual thyroid hormones.  

Good luck.  

[fedupinmt]

Thanks for the advice, not sure on the results just going by what the dr. says but we will look into that this week.  Also will try giving multi vitamin at different time then pill and see if that helps and will give her some B12. If she's not more more lively in a week or 2 I'll get her checked for the pericious anemia. Does that go along with the thyroid disease often? No not any other symptoms that I can tell just really lazy acting, like I said it could be the teenage bs hitting(aaugh) I'm also concerned about how often to get her tested since she is growing so fast. (fast to me anyways she's not so little anymore) Does growing  affect the way the pills work and for how long. Our Dr. just says to get her checked 6 - 9 months we usually do it every 6 months. I'll look into getting the lab results and posting to see if they look normal to you folks. Once again thanks for the advice. tab

[Barb135]

You said "Test says she's okay" - what test(s) have you had done recently?  Can you post the results, along with the lab ranges for our members to see?  Sometimes "normal" results according to the lab's reference ranges are not really "normal" for the individual.  Additionally, some labs are still using outdated reference ranges, but as long as the numbers fall within the range, they will be considered "normal".  

Does she have other symptoms, besides the fatigue? If so, which ones?

You can try a liquid sublingual Vitamin B12 or even B complex, but it would be a good idea to get her levels of B12 checked to make sure she doesn't have pernicious anemia (B12 deficiency).  I have pernicious anemia and have to self inject vitamin B12 every 2 weeks.  

Also, a good multi vitamin/mineral won't hurt anything, but if she's on thyroid med (synthroid, levothyroxine, etc) make sure there's a 4 hour separation between the thyroid med and multi, since there ARE vitamins/minerals that inhibit absorption of thyroid meds.  The time frame for a sublingual B12 won't matter as it will be absorbed directly, just make sure she gets it early in the day, so it will give her energy throughout the day, but not keep her awake at night.