tahumphreys
Registered: 07/23/08
Posts: 1
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Reply with quote | #1 |
My youngest daughter who is 15 is struggling with her weight. Since she began her periods two years ago she has gained weight. She is extremely athletic, playing competition volleyball year round. In addition, she works out with a personal trainer (speed and agility) twice a week. We have been regularly monitoring her food consumption this summer, and she is eating lean meat, fruit, veggies, and low fat/sugar desserts occasionally.
Our primary care physician has tested her thyroid twice now and declared it normal. The last time she had blood work performed, she was tested for fasting sugar. The doctor said it was "borderline" and advised her to lose weight. When I received the numbers, it was not borderline, but within the normal range. That's when we also noticed her thyroid was "low normal."
At the recommendation of a friend we went to an doctor of internal medicine. He looked at the numbers and said everything was OK. He also took a blood sample (with about 5 hours of fasting) which turned out normal. He recommended losing weight, and coming back in a month. This doctor also noticed that her cholesterol was slightly above 200 (about 202), and recommended reducing her fat consumption.
Both doctors seem sympathetic, but we don't think they are not listening. My daughter watches what she eats. She exercises daily, sweats profusely, always hungry, drinks lots of water, has started having heavy PMS symptoms, and has always had heavy bleeding.
At this point, I don't know what to do. A friend is a patient of yours, and swears that you have helped her menopause symptoms. I do not want to keep switching doctors, but we need help.
Can you help? The internist agreed to see my daughter even though she is a teenager since she is mature with adult problems. Your web site does not mention teenagers specifically, but do you work with them.
Thanks for listening, and, hopefully, helping.
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Terry |
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srabin
Registered: 09/13/07
Posts: 33
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Reply with quote | #2 |
Thanks for writing.
I absolutely do take care of teens. We can review all the labs that have already been done and make some decisions based on those values and her symptoms and order any additional test that may help us make decisions.
Please note that thyroid testing can be confusing; the TSH actually goes UP when your thyroid gland is under active or if you are not taking enough thyroid supplement (Synthroid, Armour or otherwise).
It is also useful to check free T4, free T3 and thyroid antibodies such as TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody).
Also, please read about and consider a low glycemic index diet (see my recommended books on home page of website for "The New Glucose Revolution."
I look forward to meeting you both.
Dr. R.
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Steven A. Rabin, MD, FACOG |
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