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Suggest Treatment For Congenital Hypothyroidism
My baby is so lathargic he will not wake to eat. He has been diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism via bloodwork. He was started on synthroid. Since starting the medication his lethargy has gotten even worse and I now have to literally force feed him. He is a preemie, and is seeing an OT on top of all of this for feeding issues. I have taken him to the ER already for the lethargy and they were not worried. I am due to his diagnosis of failure to thrive and poor weight gain. He is lethargic for at minimum 12 hours out of the day. What should I do? I have talked to his pediatrician. He is only gaining 18g pd. They are waiting for the synthroid to work but as of last week he was losing weight due to not eating. Help please!!
Fri, 1 Jun 2018
Hello and welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
The goal of treatment in congenital hypothyroidism is to correct hypothyroidism and ensure normal growth and neuropsychological development.
The mainstay in the treatment of congenital hypothyroidism is early diagnosis and thyroid hormone replacement.
Optimal care includes diagnosis before age 10-13 days and normalization of thyroid hormone blood levels by age 3 weeks.
Only levothyroxine(sinthroid is a brand name) is recommended for treatment.
So,Sinthroid is OK for the treatement of your baby's condition.
Initial dosages of 10-15 mcg/kg/day, equivalent to a starting dose of 50 mcg in many newborns, have been recommended.
However,in many cases of infants with congenital hypothyroidism, TSH elevation fails to normalize despite appropriate LT4 treatment and the bay has the symptoms of hypothyroidism(like in your case)
I suggest to consult one more time your pediatric endocrinologist because the baby need a strict follow up from this specialist.
Hope this is helpful.
Let me know if i can assist you further.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
The goal of treatment in congenital hypothyroidism is to correct hypothyroidism and ensure normal growth and neuropsychological development.
The mainstay in the treatment of congenital hypothyroidism is early diagnosis and thyroid hormone replacement.
Optimal care includes diagnosis before age 10-13 days and normalization of thyroid hormone blood levels by age 3 weeks.
Only levothyroxine(sinthroid is a brand name) is recommended for treatment.
So,Sinthroid is OK for the treatement of your baby's condition.
Initial dosages of 10-15 mcg/kg/day, equivalent to a starting dose of 50 mcg in many newborns, have been recommended.
However,in many cases of infants with congenital hypothyroidism, TSH elevation fails to normalize despite appropriate LT4 treatment and the bay has the symptoms of hypothyroidism(like in your case)
I suggest to consult one more time your pediatric endocrinologist because the baby need a strict follow up from this specialist.
Hope this is helpful.
Let me know if i can assist you further.
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