January: Thyroid Awareness Month

It’s a butterfly-shaped gland that is small but is so sensitive.

I feel at times I should have MD after my name thanks to this little thing, yet I’m always learning.

Our daughter has congenital hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, and although I believe this falls in the rare disease category, it talks about the
Pseudohypoparathyroidism with Albright hereditary osteodystrophy.

Her diagnosis started with hypothyroidism and sadly, it was a late diagnosis thanks to office error. When we finally learned she did indeed have it, she was immediately put in early intervention and we were told to prepare for mental retardation. Having the thyroid working to maximum efficiency is that vital. We thank God that this was not the outcome for her.

After other health issues, we had a divine connection with the state rep for endocrinology and he explained that the thyroid is like a thermometer for a furnace. When it runs well, it kicks on as it should and all systems work as they should. Someone with hyperthyroidism would run hot and fast. Their thermometer would need to be regulated because it would be turning on too often. Hypothyroidism, what we deal with, means the furnace doesn’t kick on. She needs daily medicine to get the furnace to regulate. And in our case, even then, her furnace seems to run like it needs a filter change. Her systems have always been much slower than others. Whether that’s how God made her, or effects from the doctor error when she was a newborn, we don’t know. But all the things you see in this image are pretty accurate for us.

When her endocrinologist confirmed Hashimoto’s, she said it goes hand-in-hand with hypothyroidism and no additional treatment is necessary beyond the meds we take for her thyroid. I know people with this, and it robs them of energy. Stress definitely seems to accelerate symptoms.

So for us, there is extensive lab work at least three times a year. She takes a medicine to “kick the furnace on,” and we also have her on a probiotic, and Vitamin B complex to help combat some of the systems. For us, weight and extreme fatigue are the biggest issues to deal with.

If you’d like to learn more about the thyroid, this post does a good job explaining the different aspects and resources. Next month is rare disease month, so I will share the little we understand about Albrights Hereditary Osteodystrophy, AHO.