Is having an underactive thyroid or hashimotos disease a life long condition?

[Linseyd76]

Hi, everyone. I'm just wondering if having an under active thyroid or hashimotos a life long condition? My son who is 13 in a few ekes has been diagnosed by our G.P as having an underactive thyroid ( very low, according to our G.P ) and further blood tests show he has raised antibodies in his blood. He is seeing a specialist at Alder Hey in 2weeks but hasn't been pit on any medication by our G.P and has only had 1 lot of blood tests by our G.P which were done on the 12th of June this year. Do you think I should get our G.P to do another lot of blood tests beofre we go to see the specialist on the 18th of September? Any advice would be great! Am just worried that if we see the specialist he won't put him on any treatment straight away because he will want to do more blood tests!

[Trina]

Your doctor should have started a dose of medication immediately and when you see the specialist be sure to tell him, Is there any way you can get your sons appointment brought forward to ASAP ? because without medication your son could be in danger of going into a coma.

My life was put in danger by a GP in 2010 because she reduced my Levothyroxin and did not keep an eye on my bloods every 3 months and I was only 1 point away from a thyoid Coma in 2011 ( I was diagnosed at Birth with non functioning Thyroid )

[Linseyd76 in reply to Trina]

Since he had the first and only blood tests in June, that showed a very under active thyroid, further tests were done which showed raised antibodies in his blood the doctor just referred him to an endocrinologist and that as been all the help he has had from our doctor! He sees the endocrinologist on the 18th September. Which can't come quick enough for me!

[Linseyd76 in reply to Trina]

What are the signs of him going in to a coma? Am absolutely disgusted with my doctor now! Am going to make an appointment and demand all his results from the first blood tests ( only blood tests he's had ) and ask why he hasn't put him on treatment!

[Trina in reply to Linseyd76]

Hi

You need to get them ASAP and I would definitely consider making a complaint against the doctor in question as the signs were there from the word go. I would not hesitate to advise The General Medical Council (GMC) about the mis-diagnosis , These types of cases should not be ignored and your son was treated correctly by this doctor.

I count myself lucky that mine was found at birth. I think GPs need to trained thoroughly about thyroid as too many people are being incorrectly diagnosed which could also be linked to obesity in some people that may be unaware they have a medical problem and are being bullied about their weight.

[Trina]

your son may become very tired find it hard to concentrate because he just wants to sleep he could also withdraw into himself.

If he shows any sign of these take him straight to A&E and advise them that he has an untreated underactive thyroid condition, this may be another way of getting his treatment started sooner rather than later.

Please keep intouch and let me know how your son is.

[jacrjacr]

you need to know all his levels and post on here...call dr office and tell them you are coming by for copies of his labs to pick up and to have them ready..also to make sure if all the correct test were ran....,free t3 , free t4, reverse t3, tpo, etc low d3, low b12, low ferritin and iron, many things can go hand in hand with thyroid issues....but I must say the immune test does sound like hypothyroid. WATCH for slowed speech and falling asleep a lot or wanting to sleep all day....

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

It would be good to have recent blood test results available on the 18th September. Would it be feasible to get blood drawn on Monday or Tuesday? The labs are usually pretty speedy at running tests, typically running them within hours and results potentially available within two working days, but you increase the chances if the blood is drawn at a hospital with a pathology laboratory.

Many areas now allow hosptial consultants to access blood test results directly on their computer systems. If yours works like that, fine. Otherwise do indeed ask for prints of test results to take with you.

The majority of people diagnosed with thyroid disorders requiring thyroid hormone replacement do end up taking it for life. There are exceptions - it is not a 100% hard and fast rule.

[Linseyd76 in reply to helvella]

Hi, I had to take my son to A&E on the 1st September due to a distended stomach which was quite hard to touch. The day's previous to this he had diarrhoea, but his stomach was still swollen. The hospital did blood tests so I am going to get a copy of them for comparison with his 1st blood test. He turned out he was suffering from overspill!