This blog seems to have temporarily turned into a site about pediatric thyroid problems, and it may stay that way for a couple more weeks. I’ve been given the opportunity to compile our experiences into a summary to post on a thyroid-related blog with links to the detailed posts on my blog, so I want to make sure I capture anything that would be helpful for another family. Norah’s condition is rarely diagnosed in kids her age, so there’s not a lot of information out there for parents who are searching for answers.
When people meet Norah or even see her in passing at the grocery store, they often comment on how cute she is, particularly her curly hair. They note her resemblance to Shirley Temple, at which point I typically responded that she was the devil in disguise, a wild animal, or something to that effect. She is adorable, smart, funny, feisty, independent, and full of spunk. Maybe a little heavy on the spunk, but you get what you get and you don’t get upset, right?
In my defense, Norah was Trouble – with a capital T. Luckily, most people who spent any time with her kept their thoughts to themselves, but one friend asked if I thought she was “like that” because I’m tired out from the other two kids. Like I gave up when Norah came along and let her run amuck because I was *done*. A family member suggested that I should send her to a special school to learn some manners. I thought it probably WAS my fault that she was “like that,” and eventually I stopped trying to control her every minute because it was pointless. I started wondering if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy – I called her a hellion so she became one permanently. In some ways I can’t believe that I never wondered whether something was physically wrong with her, but that’s the nature of pediatric hyperthyroidism symptoms.
The behavior Norah was exhibiting was out of her control. Before she began taking medication, her thyroid levels were through the roof – basically not measurable because they were off the scale. In an adult, these levels would cause us to feel “revved up” – jittery, anxious, always hot, hungry and thirsty. We’d have a racing heart, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, tremors, emotional instability, eye problems, a goiter, nausea, and diarrhea. We’d have trouble sleeping, menstrual changes, and possibly infertility. Given these symptoms we’d know something was wrong and be able to describe to our doctor how we were feeling, to help with a diagnosis. I was briefly hyperthyroid when I stopped breastfeeding and didn’t change my synthroid dose quickly enough (I’m hypothyroid), and I can tell you that it’s a terrible feeling. My heartbeat was racing and irregular, and it felt like my heart was flip-flopping around in my chest. I ended up in the E.R. and spent at least a week worrying that my heart might just stop at any moment, before my thyroid hormones leveled out.
Norah was probably just under 3 1/2 years old when her symptoms began. I can see the goiter in some photos starting on New Years Eve (12/31/2009), and I remember her teacher expressing concerns about her behavior as early as February and continuing through the school year. I thought it was “just a phase.”
For Norah, the high thyroid levels presented as hyperactivity and extreme emotion. In preschool, she couldn’t sit still in “circle time,” she fought with her friends, and cried when the teacher left the classroom. Her listening ears and walking feet were nowhere to be found, her eyes were puffy, and her heart was constantly pounding. She was always hot – never wanted a blanket at night and caused lots of car-fights by always wanting the window open. Her skin was as smooth as a newborn’s because it was exfoliating at a much higher rate than it should have been.
At home Norah would not sit still to eat, but she was constantly in the refrigerator and pantry. We had to stop umpteen times on every road trip so she could go to the bathroom. She drove Aliya and Adlani crazy by purposely (it seemed) causing trouble – taking their toys, sitting on them, just generally misbehaving. There were constant loud arguments between the three of them, and Ben and I added to the din trying to correct the behavior. It sometimes took an hour or more to get Norah to bed at night, or even down for a nap. Friends suggested that Supernanny might be able to help us, or suggested that I might benefit from medication.
If you haven’t seen Norah lately, she’s a different kid. One of the doctors at Children’s told us that we’d see a huge difference once her thyroid levels were stabilized, and he was right. At the Ce-Ment Pond a few weeks ago, all of our friends commented that she had calmed down so much. Her preschool teacher has sent home a note about her good behavior EVERY DAY. My RAGE-O-METER is noticeably lower overall, and it’s been a few weeks since I had to take a time-out to avoid bursting an important blood vessel. She goes to bed much easier, and she doesn’t toss and turn nearly as much during the night. She spends a lot of time coloring and drawing – and singing (I’m still trying to decide whether constant Justin Bieber is preferable to the past behavior). Yesterday morning she helped Adlani clean up his room before school, and last night she sat in a laundry basket and watched a whole movie with Aliya and me.
In hindsight, I can clearly see the signs of hyperthyroidism, but while it was happening I just thought I must be doing something wrong. Like maybe I hadn’t been a good mom and therefore I ended up with a wild animal for a daughter. I’ve read that thyroid problems are sometimes diagnosed because a child is being treated by a therapist for behavioral problems. Maybe we would have gotten there eventually, and maybe the untreated disease would have caused lasting damage to Norah’s eyes, heart, or other organs. We’re lucky that we caught it, and her thyroidectomy will make her treatment much more manageable. Her behavior will continue to improve as her thyroid levels will be kept stable with a daily dose of synthroid. As much as I would prefer to keep her thyroid intact, I have accepted the fact that this is the right treatment for Norah, given the circumstances.
So if you’ve met Norah and thought she was a nut-ball, give the *New Norah* another chance. She’s *Naughty Norah* no more. Well, at least not as often. She IS still a 4-year-old.
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He expressed the opinion that Norah shouldn’t rush into surgery because we hadn’t given the complementary treatments enough time to work, and we hadn’t seen a naturopath. He asked me to talk to the naturopath affiliated with his office, so I called her. We had a good conversation, and although she said that there were some things she’d like to “try” with Norah, there didn’t seem to be a definitive naturopathic treatment that she could confidently recommend, especially given the time constraints. She mentioned that there were things she could do after the surgery to help treat the underlying autoimmune disorder so we may see her or another naturopath at some point.
