Low thyroid levels

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My DD12 has been suffering with extremely heavy periods and excruciating headaches, Dr booked blood tests and I rang for the results today. Iron is low, which is no surprise given her heavy periods but also her thyroid level is only 0.53 when it should be 0.51 to 4.3, so she is just over the lower 'normal' level.

The blood test will be repeated in 6 weeks, but if her level stays at the bottom end of normal will she be treated? Her headaches are debilitating and she is also lethargic and has put on weight over the past year, so I think she might need treatment.

Does anyone have any experience of children with thyroid problems?

Is this her TSH?

I think so, although I took it over the phone so didn't get all the details written down.

I think this will be her TSH, so if anything her thyroid hormone is likely bordering on overactive rather than underactive. If the thyroid is underactive and not producing enough thyroid hormone the thyroid stimulating hormone tends to increase as it's trying harder to get the thyroid to produce more hormone. Anyway, best talk to her doctor about symptoms and blood results to decide the best way forward but that result certainly doesn't make me think she needs extra thyroxine.

For tsh, the lower the value the more circulating thyroid hormone she has… so 0.53 shows she has plenty.
Tsh = thyroid stimulating hormone… so the more of this hormone is released, the harder your thyroid works to produce circulating thyroid hormone (t4, T3).
e.g when I was diagnosed with low thyroid by tsh was 49! (Normal range should be 0.5-5). The higher the value to lower the thyroid.
sounds confusing but look up tsh then look up T4.

Yea I wouldn’t say this was anything to worry about. Under active thyroid will be over 5. Your daughter is in the normal range so I would keep looking …..sounds like if anything it would be under active but then those symptoms don’t fit exactly. Super heavy periods would be more likely to be hypo for example…..

If that's her TSH then it's the wrong way for the symptoms you describe which fit more with an underactive thyroid. With an underactive thyroid your TSH would be high rather than low.

With a low TSH this would normally indicate an overactive thyroid with symptoms such as palpitations (very fast heart rate), weight loss, anxiety, feeling wired but fatigued, feeling hungry all the time.

Having said that with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) you can get swings where you get sudden periods of overactivity due to a dump of thyroid hormones as the thyroid is destroyed. If this went on for long enough then blood test results could look like an overactive thyroid.

You can also get a low TSH along with low thyroid hormone levels with secondary or tertiary hypothyroidism.

As your DD has symptoms of being underactive, I would push for more detailed testing - to completely rule out thyroid problems she needs FT4, FT3 and thyroid antibodies checking. GP can request these but the lab may leave out FT3 if TSH is not low. You can also arrange to have these done privately if you prefer.

I would have a look at the Thyroid U.K. website and go into their forum on Health Unlocked to get more detailed info.

Thanks for the responses, I'm going to ring them back on Monday and I'll ask for exactly what was tested and the results. The person I spoke to said her levels were on the 'low side' and dr has written to us advising a repeat blood test in 4 weeks. He symptoms definitely point towards under-active thyroid rather than the other way.