NTC My Kids Story

Hypothyroidism in children can be difficult to diagnose. I know
because I am the mom of two hypothyroid children. When
diagnosed they were 7 and 4 years old.

Neither child was overweight as is the common assumption.
Both were thin and when I asked my pediatrician about them
he told me that there was no need to worry. But as a mom I
new something was wrong.

When I saw my holistic MD for the first time, one of the first
things he told me was that I would need to watch my kids
closely for hypothyroid issues. This was because I had
thyroid cancer while pregnant with my son and had received 2
rounds of RAI before getting pregnant with my daughter.

I asked how to monitor them and he told me to take thier
basal temps (temp under the arm before rising). According to
Dr. Broda Barnes the temperature should be 97.6 degrees or
higher. My children were consistently under this.

When I took them to see my MD my son's were 95.6 and my daughters were 96.1.
Upon examination my Dr. noted that they both had puffy faces, swollen thyroids and
low reflexes. Their labs showed normal (within the range) TSH and low Free T3 and
Free T4. My son was low in Iron/Ferritin and Selenium which are key nutrients for
thyroid hormone production.

Each child was started on 6.25 mgs of Iodoral, 1/4 grain Armour Thyroid, Vitamin C
Celtic Sea Salt (for adrenals), and my son was placed on Selenium and Iron.

Prior to Armour I noticed that they were both lethargic, complained of being tired with
any exercise activity and were cold even when the house was 80 degrees. They
would be under blankets in the summer. They did not want to play outside with their
friends. The TV and videos would call to them. I thought it was just a bad habit I had
let them get into.

Within a week both children were like different kids. My son had exhibited ADHD like
symptoms. He was unable to focus, could not sit in his chair at dinner (was up and
down and up and down) and did not participate in class activities. He also was not dry
at night. After working his dose up to 1/2 grain all of these issues stopped. He was
also less prone to 'melt downs'. Prior to Armour he would cry for up to 1 hour when
something upset him.

My daughter also made significant improvements. She was very intolerant to change.
On one particular morning she was attempting to stab a piece of a waffle with her fork.
When she could not get it to stay on she burst into tears and proceeded to cry
uncontrollably for 15 mins. She was also prone to insomnia being up until 11 pm when
we would put her down at 8:30. She is now happy and plays outside - even when it is
cold. Her sleeping has improved as well. She now falls asleep easily but 9 pm.

My son is currently on 1 1/4 grains and my daughter is on 1 grain. They continue to
take the iodine and other nutrients. We have added B12 and Floradix Iron + Herb to
their protocol. It is definitely a better "home". It makes me sad wondering how many
children are being placed on ADHD/ADD medication for something that is more than
likely hypothyroidism. Recently I had a parent teacher conference for my son. His
teacher provided a copy of a spelling test he had taken that week, expressing
concern over the penmanship and stray marks. He had also missed 6 words and he
usually misses 1 or 2. I told her that we believed he needed more Armour due to a
growth spurt but wanted to get the lab work done first to have a baseline. The parent /
teacher conference was 11/8/07. We increased his dose on 11/11/07. On 11/18/07 I
had him retake his spelling test. He got 2 words wrong and his penmanship changed.
He even did all lower case words. We did not discuss this prior to taking the test nor
did we go over the correct spelling of them. The brain fog has definitely lifted.

Go HERE to see his 1st grade report card and the spelling test samples.