12 Yr Old son with health problems

I do hope someone can help. I have a 12 yr old son who has had problems all of his life, he has been tested for everything. On a day to day basis he is O.K (not sure if he has just learnt to adapt). He had another dizzy, sicky turn on Friday, because he looked deathly I took his temperature and it was 93 f, his finger tips were numb. This particular problem has been going on for a year now and his education has rearly suffered. When he was born even though he was breast fed he would put on a 1lb a week and has always been on the 99th centile, his thyroid was tested but came back normal. I took him to a &e yesterday because his

temp dipped again and asked them to test his thyroid again and it all came back normal again including liver and kidney function. He is tired most of the time and find everything hard work but his general health on a day to day basis is o.k. I would say his hair and skin isn't the softest but it isn't to dry either. We have a very strong history of thyroid problems on both mine and my husbands side. Could his problems be thyroid related and if so how do we get the appropriate tests? G.p has refused saying the labs won't do them.

[RedApple Administrator]

My heart goes out to you. It must be very upsetting for you to see your child suffering and feel powerless to help.

There's clearly something going on with your son and thyroid certainly sounds a good possibility, given the symptoms you describe and the family history.

The first thing to do is get in touch with your surgery to find out what the actual result of the thyroid test was. "Normal" is not sufficient. You need to know what the number was, together with the accompanying lab range.

If you can come back with this info, it may shed some light.

[Hidden in reply to RedApple]

Hi and thankyou for your reply. You wouldn't believe the runaround I have just had. A & E refuse to give me the results and are now(after a lot of grumbling) going to print off and send the results to my GP. The surgery have assured me they will tell me the results over the phone but it will take a couple of days. The reason I am a bit vague I think about not knowing even though we do have a family history is all people in our family are over 30 before finding out they have a problem. The history is my great-gran had a goitre which I am told she died from back in the days when not a lot could be done, my gran had her goitre removed, my uncle has just been diagnosed( they thought he had Alzeimers). On my husbands side, his sister has severe thyroid problems but also has Huntingtons and so it is difficult to get any useful info. I do believe my husband may also have a problem but simply because he weighs 19 stone but doesn't eat much. I do think we all need to be tested privately for peace of mind if nothing else. As soon as I get results I will post here but in the meantime how do I go about getting the family tested.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

krankybird,

It must be very difficult for you.

I have a few suggestions for you - but in a form that I cannot post here. If you want me to send the links, please send me a message with an email address I can send the information to.

The suggestions in these links include being caused by or related to migraine, epilepsy, Shapiro's syndrome, hyperinsulinaemia and, yes, hypothyroidism.

You can get private tests from here:

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/pages/...

But do be aware that NHS doctors often dismiss any private tests.

All the best

Rod

<b>Updated on Aug 18 2010 7:36PM:</b> Just to make it clear, it is a page of links which is not in a form which is easy to post here due to technical limitations - but I can easily send as an email. E.g.

Episodic spontaneous hypothermia with hyperhidrosis: implications for pathogenesis.

Sheth RD, Barron TF, Hartlage PL.

Division of Pediatrics (Neurology), Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.

Abstract

Unprovoked hypothermia is an unusual presenting sign. When occurring with diaphoresis it has been referred to as episodic spontaneous hypothermia with hyperhidrosis. Earlier reports described episodic, spontaneous hypothermia with hyperhidrosis in patients with agenesis of the corpus callosum and postulated a midline congenital malformation of the central nervous system. Since then, various endocrine, electrolyte, autonomic, and sleep disturbances have been described but the etiology remains undetermined. Three unrelated children are reported each of whom had an intact corpus callosum and normal endocrine function. Shivering was consistently absent despite marked symptomatic hypothermia. One child had spontaneous resolution of episodic spontaneous hypothermia with hyperhidrosis and two children responded to the antiserotonergic, cyproheptadine. It is hypothesized that specific serotonergic dysfunction in the anterior hypothalamic extrapyramidal shivering mechanism is central in the pathogenesis of this condition.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/819...