# 9year old lab test



## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

A little back ground my son has been having constipation issues for going on three years now. To the point he takes miralax daily and still has accidents. Some other signs related to thyroid i noticed is he is really lazy, forgetful, struggling in school, not listening at school or at his moms. Some depression signs to the point we got him seeing a counselor. He would say stuff like "i dont want to live" " i want to die" ect. Those things have subsided but his behavior at school isnt so good. Weekly i get calls of him being in trouble. His grades are also falling behind. He can do the work but its a matter of getting him to do it. This is my step son, been in his life since he was 2 months old, and he has gone though some tough family times but never seems to express any discomfort with it but i am sure some of these signs could be from the fact he has two family's.. is the oldest of 5 kids in our family and oldest of 3 in his moms. His mom is a recovering addict and is doing well now and living in a group home. So yes i have always thought this was what was contributing to all of this until these labs came up. 
11/26/12
not fasting
a1c 5.8 range 5.7-6.0 increased risk of diabetes
tsh 4.88 range .50-4.30

12/11/12
fasting

t3 uptake 28 range 22-28%
t4 8.3 4.5-12
a1c 5.5 less then 5.7 decreased risk diabetes
t3 free 4.1 3.4-5-1
tsh 3.86 .50-4.30
t4 free direct 1.2 .9-1.6
(says under this the current lot of free t4 reagent available from the manufacturer produces results that are approximately 9% higher then previous reagent lots. please interpret these results accordingly)
tyroglobulin antibodies Less then 20 range is less then 20
tryroid peroxidase antibodies less the 10 range is less then 35

Thanks in advance for any help understanding these. His doc said he is fine and referred me to a mental psychologist, i just don't know if that is all of the problem. I did talk to my own doc before the second labs and she said she would treat him to get him down to 2 with all those signs.. I plan on taking him to her to see what she says.


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

also weight gain,a lot more in the last three years, puffy face(maybe just fat..LOL) and dry skin. and itchy skin.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Welcome.

When this doctor says "get him down to 2" is she talking about his TSH level? Is she talking about starting him on a low dose of Synthroid or something similar?

Are the accidents being caused by too much laxative? (Being constipated generally wouldn't cause accidents, would it? It would have to be the laxative...?)


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

Yes, this was with out her looking at his labs and just talking to me about him. She hasn't seen him or his labs she is my doctor. So i wanted to get her opinion. With constipation if your impacted you could have leaking around. So its hard to know. We are getting a xray done this week too, to see if he is impacted.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Ouch.

In my opinion, with those labs, it would be reasonable for this doctor to start him on a small dose of Synthroid.

Has he seen a pediatric gastroenterologist, by any chance?


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

Yea, we have gone a few time and he even had a procedure done to clear him out but at the time there wasn't nothing to clear out. She said ahh he must have cleared him self out with the stuff before the procedure. Pretty much she says don't miss his miralax, up fiber, watch diet, all stuff we are doing. she is always tight for time and this last time i had to wait in the room and say i wanted to talk to her again..LOL she said she would think a procedure were they put in a tub that we would nightly have to flush would be her next step. I am not ready for that! He goes though times where he goes months with out accidents but there are times were he has a few a week. then we make him drink stuff to clean him out. IT sucks!


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Have them on the look out for mega colon when they do his x-ray girlegirl, or he may need a barium to confirm. My oldest son had mega colon from toddler on and the symptoms sound very, very similar. Basically it's where the lower colon gets stretched and they lose sensation, so there's no urge to go or realization that they have, this perpetuates the problem. We had to keep my son on the Miralax regimen for about 5 years to allow the colon to shrink back down, and set a strict schedule for him to go "sit" several times a day, every day. Books, a tablet or e-reader, or a favorite handheld game used only then helps pass the time.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

girlegirl7101 said:


> A little back ground my son has been having constipation issues for going on three years now. To the point he takes miralax daily and still has accidents. Some other signs related to thyroid i noticed is he is really lazy, forgetful, struggling in school, not listening at school or at his moms. Some depression signs to the point we got him seeing a counselor. He would say stuff like "i dont want to live" " i want to die" ect. Those things have subsided but his behavior at school isnt so good. Weekly i get calls of him being in trouble. His grades are also falling behind. He can do the work but its a matter of getting him to do it. This is my step son, been in his life since he was 2 months old, and he has gone though some tough family times but never seems to express any discomfort with it but i am sure some of these signs could be from the fact he has two family's.. is the oldest of 5 kids in our family and oldest of 3 in his moms. His mom is a recovering addict and is doing well now and living in a group home. So yes i have always thought this was what was contributing to all of this until these labs came up.
> 11/26/12
> not fasting
> a1c 5.8 range 5.7-6.0 increased risk of diabetes
> ...


Poor little guy!!! I would say your son is hyperthyroid.

Read this please.

T3 Uptake test
http://www.drstandley.com/labvalues_thyroid.shtml (high, hyper---low, hypo)

The T3 uptake explained.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003688.htm

He needs antibodies' tests as the other numbers may be misleading due to binding, blocking and stimulating antibodies.

TSI
Normally, there is no TSI in the blood. If TSI is found in the blood, this indicates that the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin is the cause of the of a person's hyperthyroidism. 
http://www.medicineonline.com/topics/t/2/Thyroid-Stimulating-Immunoglobulin/TSI.html

Trab
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684583

TPO (antimicrosomal antibodies) TBII (thyrotropin-binding inhibitory immunoglobulin), Thyroglobulin Ab, ANA (antinuclear antibodies), (thyroid hormone panel) TSH, Free T3, Free T4.

You can look this stuff up here and more.........
http://www.labtestsonline.org/

I would change doctors for your son if you can. There could be other underlying situations but it is my humble opinion that the thyroid situation should be thoroughly explored first and foremost.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Andros, are you saying he's possibly hyperthyroid based on the T3 uptake? I wasn't looking so much at that result, but it certainly could be important in this puzzle. The T3 uptake result sort of "conflicts" with the other labwork, which leans a little more hypo. Plus, the lack of intestinal motility leans a little hypo, too. It's very confusing! 

I wonder if a pediatric endo who "specializes" in thyroid could do a better job of exploring & straightening things out than this boy's current doctor. Mom...what are your thoughts about this doctor?

(And I certainly think StormFinch's idea about megacolon is something to explore, too.)


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Octavia said:


> Andros, are you saying he's possibly hyperthyroid based on the T3 uptake? I wasn't looking so much at that result, but it certainly could be important in this puzzle. The T3 uptake result sort of "conflicts" with the other labwork, which leans a little more hypo. Plus, the lack of intestinal motility leans a little hypo, too. It's very confusing!
> 
> I wonder if a pediatric endo who "specializes" in thyroid could do a better job of exploring & straightening things out than this boy's current doctor. Mom...what are your thoughts about this doctor?
> 
> (And I certainly think StormFinch's idea about megacolon is something to explore, too.)


I certainly concur w/what you say. The lab tests for antibodies will help sort it out, I am thinking.

Believe it or not, when I was hyper, I was impacted for 10 days. OMG!! I thought I was going to die. So, symptoms can and do cross over and somehow I sense that has something to do w/the stimulating, binding and blocking antibodies.

And I also agree w/Stormfinch. There may be more going on than meets the eye. Only solution is to use the "rule in, rule out" system.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

That makes sense. Hopefully the antibodies labs will shed more light on the issue.


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

t3 uptake 28 range 22-28%

OMG I miss typed this! its 22-35% i am so sorry.. does this change your input?? I am on your first link reading about it. I have loved the doctor(i was planning on following her to the other town too) but once she said he was fine i was totally bummed. To make the second opinion easier she is leaving this office and going to a town 30 mins away so the office staff shouldn't even notice..LOL I just got a xray done so i plan to see my doc for him. The other doctor that i plan to take him to get the second opinion i am hoping will treat him. So if i am understand it right there is more labs he should get done for antibodies? I am not against taking him to a specialist, i just need to look into finding one. THanks so much for all the responses. I will read them again to make sure i answered all the qs.


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

StormFinch said:


> Have them on the look out for mega colon when they do his x-ray girlegirl, or he may need a barium to confirm. My oldest son had mega colon from toddler on and the symptoms sound very, very similar. Basically it's where the lower colon gets stretched and they lose sensation, so there's no urge to go or realization that they have, this perpetuates the problem. We had to keep my son on the Miralax regimen for about 5 years to allow the colon to shrink back down, and set a strict schedule for him to go "sit" several times a day, every day. Books, a tablet or e-reader, or a favorite handheld game used only then helps pass the time.


The nutritionist today said the same thing, since he seems not to noticed or care that he had an accident. She also said maybe he is having too much miralax since he is going 4 times a day. He really doesn't show signs of constipation now.. but if we miss a dose or if he eats alot of cheese the very next day or days to follow he has accidents and the gasto doc said as soon as he has a few accidents clear him out asap. SO its hard to know if the accidents are leaking around a blockage or what. I just felt like once I saw that thyroid could be the fix to this along with his behavior, memory, and laziness it was like a Miracle to me.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

girlegirl7101 said:


> t3 uptake 28 range 22-28%
> 
> OMG I miss typed this! its 22-35% i am so sorry.. does this change your input?? I am on your first link reading about it. I have loved the doctor(i was planning on following her to the other town too) but once she said he was fine i was totally bummed. To make the second opinion easier she is leaving this office and going to a town 30 mins away so the office staff shouldn't even notice..LOL I just got a xray done so i plan to see my doc for him. The other doctor that i plan to take him to get the second opinion i am hoping will treat him. So if i am understand it right there is more labs he should get done for antibodies? I am not against taking him to a specialist, i just need to look into finding one. THanks so much for all the responses. I will read them again to make sure i answered all the qs.


LOL!! It hampered my opinion and I have to look at this from a different viewpoint but does not change it. All those tests should be run for the reasons explained.

Bless your heart!


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

girlegirl7101 said:


> The nutritionist today said the same thing, since he seems not to noticed or care that he had an accident.


This makes me wonder if the physical issue (whatever it might be) is "supplemented" by a behavioral/rebellious issue. Then again, maybe the whole thing is just so embarrassing to him that he's trying to be "too cool to care," if that makes sense.

Whatever it is, I do hope you see progress with the doctors soon.


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## girlegirl7101 (Dec 19, 2012)

Update! his regular doctor wouldn't not treat him. So i took him to my doctor and she put him on 15mg of armor. He had been on it for about 6 weeks or so and just had his labs retested(dont know the results) But i must say omg he is a different child! No more mirlax and going daily. No more accidents! No more phone calls from the school. No more melt downs! WOW! We still have some normal things but all in all he is doing amazing. We also are now cutting back on the therapy as the reasons he was there have subsided. We went in to get our lab results and the doc didnt have them yet.. but said it doesn't matter sometimes you cant go totally of labs lets keep doing what we are doing. Also since posting this my husband finally got in to do his normal health labs and found out his thyroid was 35! He is now and some meds.. 50mg of the synthetic stuff. Might run in the family.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

That is awesome news! No one should have to suffer with thyroid problems, especially young kids, so I'm glad you've seen so much progress already. I'll bet he's thrilled, too!


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

WOW...this is great news!!! So glad your son is getting back to normal. Way to go, MOM!!!!


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## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

Great news! Sooo glad things are looking up.


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## NDMomOf3 (Mar 8, 2013)

I just wanted to say I'm so glad to hear your son is doing better. I can completely relate to your frustration. I have an eleven year old daughter with abnormal thyroid tests, that the Drs want to call normal for her.

Your outcome gives me HOPE!!!


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