Amber's Hashimoto's story

Children & Teenagers thyroid symptoms must not be ignored or overlooked!

Hello my name is Amber, and I am 16 years old. I would like to share my story on my diagnosis.

I have always known that there were many members of my family who have been diagnosed with thyroid disorders. My Grandma, Mum, Brother, Auntie, Uncle, Great Aunties, Great Cousins and many other extended family members on my Mum’s side of the family have thyroid disorders. My family suffers from both Hashimoto’s and Graves’ Disease, which are Thyroid Autoimmune Diseases and Nodules on their thyroid gland. My Grandma and Mum have had their thyroid glands totally removed and most of the other family members are on treatment for their thyroid disorders.

Thyroid Autoimmune Disease is a genetic predisposition, which means that it genetically runs in families, which is prominent in mine.

Two year ago when I was 14, I got Covid in which in my case I was extremely sick. From research, Covid can trigger Thyroid Autoimmune Disease, which it did for me.

I was always very tired, I didn’t have any energy making it hard for me to wake up in the morning, even after 10 hours of sleep. I was always so exhausted, and that wasn’t me. My mood changed drastically, before being happy, to now not wanting to even leave my bed. My periods changed, now being constantly heavy, and really irregular.

I developed inflamed cystic acne on my face and back. My doctor prescribed treatment for the acne, which really didn’t help.

Stereotypical teenagers can sleep half the day, stay up late on our phones, not show interest in a lot of what’s going on etc. So, the fact that my energy had changed, and my mood was different etc., could have easily been overlooked and put down to just me being a teenager.

My mum had started to notice my change, and my Mum took me to the doctor. The doctor ran some tests, including Thyroid Function – TSH, T4 &T3 and Thyroid Antibodies – to test and see if I had Thyroid Antibodies and therefore a Thyroid Autoimmune Disease. My results came back, I had very high Thyroid Antibodies, and my Thyroid Function was very low, which meant I had Hashimoto’s Disease.

I ended up visiting my Mum’s endocrinologist. He took one look at me and before he looked at my blood results, he said I needed to be treated with Levothyroxine – Thyroid Replacement Hormone, which is a treatment to increase Thyroid Hormone Levels and hopefully reduce the Thyroid Antibodies.

Over the last 14 months, I have had 6 more blood tests, and my dose has been increased, which has made a huge difference to the way I feel, and I finally feel like myself again. Additionally, I now have no more acne.

If you have a running Thyroid Autoimmune Disease in your family, please keep an eye out for your teenagers and if they show any signs of what I had or symptoms that are different to the way they normally are, please get them tested.

Thyroid Disease can completely change who you are and how you feel. Please don’t ignore it and please make sure your teenagers are well.

Since my diagnosis and treatment, my brother who is 12 has been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and treated for hypothyroidism. He was also very tired, lethargic and had no interest in school. He is now improving and starting to feel well again.

Well over 1 million Australians have an undiagnosed thyroid disorder. Thyroid Disease can affect anyone from birth to old age and can cause lot of different health problems. Treatment can make a huge difference and give you your life back, so please be aware!