Advice re daughters bloods - fatigue, pale, migraines, dark rings under eyes

[Hattie007]

Hello all. My daughter is 9. I realise some may feel unable to comment on a child's condition but am just looking for opinion/ advice really please if anyone can spare a few mins.

She has suffered from what was eventually diagnosed as abdominal migraine 2 years ago. She was put on medication for that. Improved but not perfect. She very much struggles with fatigue, aches and pains in her legs and is often very pale and has deep set eyes. She has an active life and eats what I would class as a healthy diet for a 9 year old. Terrified of having blood tests so I did a finger prick test with her.

Anything stand out here from these results?

(GP results from March 2015- TSH 2.16 (0.05-6), FT4 10.4 (8-18))

June 2017:

Ferritin - 30.1 (20-200)

TSH - 3.32 (0.28-4.3)

T4 Total - 115.2 (64.5-142)

FT3 - 7.21 (3.8-8.6)

FT4 - 15.78 (13.9-22.1)

Antibodies were in range

Vitamin D - 53 (>50)

B12 - 394 (>250)

Folate - 20.38 (8.83-60.8)

Very grateful all- maybe it is just puberty and growing up kicking in but just needed to check as I have three autoimmune diseases, one of which is hashimotos.

Xx

[Saggyuk]

Although her tsh and T4 levels aren't optimal, her T3 levels are okay so maybe her thyroid's beginning to struggle or maybe caused by other things.

Vit D could possibly do with being a bit higher but not severely deficient. Ferritin (iron) is on the lower side so would be good to check blood count and maybe even iron panel.

I would concentrate on the stomach issues as often something is causing this. Have you tried gluten free or elimination diets to check for food intolerances? Many hashis people find a gluten free diet improves their symptoms and with other autoimmune problems. Most of my immune problems and fatigue cleared up after going GF but was too late for my thyroid. I also say this as this was the age my similar problems started and was always sent home with stomach pains plus my little girl was also tired, pale, sore knees and legs, ill looking eyes and stomach issues with a little eczema and all this cleared up also after GF. Not saying it will work for you but well worth a try even if just to rule out and it's important to find out what's going on with stomach as could be the root cause and ruling out foods is the best place to start.

You can test for coeliacs but the bloodtest is very unreliable and even endoscopy is not 100% reliable and sometimes just easier giving it a go for three months to see if any improvements.

I don't agree with most IBS or non descript fits all type diagnosis as normally it is something causing the pain

[Hattie007 in reply to Saggyuk]

Oh Saggyuk that's really interesting, thank you. I hadn't really thought about the stomach causing the problems. And thank you for sharing yours and your little girls experience. I have coeliac disease and she had a negative blood test for it two years ago but yes I release it isn't reliable. I shall have a chat with her about gluten free. Thanks so much for helping me see a different perspective. 🙂

[Saggyuk in reply to Hattie007]

Oh yes, if you're coeliacs, then definitely worth a go

Hope she feels better soon

[Saggyuk in reply to Saggyuk]

They should have really sent her for further testing anyway if you're coeliacs and she has stomach pains as it's even written on the NHS website that blood test cannot rule it out. Although even endoscopy is problematic especially in kids as sometimes the damage is not widespread enough yet. I don't know with these docs sometimes tut

Hope it turns out to be the case so you're still not left worrying

[Hattie007 in reply to Saggyuk]

I find that with both my kids; I identify a problem to a professional (e.g. My sons eyesight), they tell me there's nothing wrong, I say there is (but am full of self doubt), and they say there isn't. Then I um and argh about whether to persue it as I don't want to put them through any unnecessary suffering or over medicalise what could be normal growing up. With my son, I was turned away three times, but eventually found he really could hardly see and is now on a 3.75 prescription in both eyes. It's difficult to know what to do. When it's yourself that is poorly, you choose what to do to yourself but when it's your child, it gets a little more confusing. Thanks again for your thoughts and loveliness. 🙂

[Wolfiesmom08]

I'm by no means an expert but I do struggle with ferritin and she is at the lower range. You might want to think about giving her some desiccated liver pills or adding liver to her diet. I get migraines and dark circles under my eyes.

[Hattie007 in reply to Wolfiesmom08]

Gosh thanks wolfiesmon08 for sharing your experience, maybe that's it, then. I shall look into it further. Thanks again.

[humanbean]

If you can afford it, do finger prick tests for a full blood count and an iron panel, or ask your doctor to do them for you. (They will probably refuse, but if you don't ask you definitely won't get!)

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

medichecks.com/tests/full-b...

I think your daughter might need more iron (this would raise her ferritin level), and from personal experience I can say that low iron is misery-making! Your daughter's ferritin is just under 6% of the way through the reference range, and I would feel awful at that low a level. I need mine to be about 60% of the way through the range to feel well, but then I'm an adult and I don't know what is best for children. It is possible that your daughter has plenty of serum iron and plenty of haemoglobin, in which case it would be a bit dodgy to suggest giving her iron supplements.

[Hattie007 in reply to humanbean]

Ok that's really helpful- thanks very much for that response humanbean. There's definitely something not quite right. I may try the GP's first... just not sure if I can put her through a venous blood test again so may just pay and do my own. And useful to have an idea what to look for. Much appreciated.

[Hattie007]

Hmmm, but I imagine it wouldn't be in any GP's book.

Thank you reallyfedup123.

In your opinion how long would you wait to retest TSH then? I imagine I will need more to convince a 'professional'.