Dr. Richard A. Guthrie, M.D.

Yes it is. If untreated it can lead to severe tiredness, heart failure, mental slowness, kidney failure & other organ failure including swelling of the face, edema of the ankles & other problems. It can be fatal in untreated. Treatment is easy- 1 pill a day & check your thyroid values once or twice a year. So don't neglect it. I have had it for 26 years & with proper treatment "it ain't so bad". One pill a day along with my other pills, & a blood test twice a year to adjust dose if needed & I have lived well these 26 yrs. Go for it!

You didn't say what issues he has. Does he have high or low thyroid? I would guess he has low or your Dr. would have sent him immediately to a specialist or a thyroid surgeon. Rx of low thyroid is easy. Just take 1 pill/day. Your physician may be able to handle or you could request a referral to a pediatric endocrinologist for treatment. The Dr. needs to palpate the gland every 3-6 mo. & test thyroid & TSH (Pituitary Stimulating Hormone) levels frequently at first to find the right medication level the once or twice a year to adjust medication with growth. A pediatric endocrinologist can do all this quickly & easily. I have had low thyroid for 25 years & its no real problem. He can also.

Diabetic Neuropathy (NP) is a frequent complication of diabetes. The cause is not completely known but is a loss of the insulation covering of the nerves so they short circuit just like 2 bare electric wires. It is thought to be related to high blood sugar (BS) levels but can occur at fairly low levels. My HbA1c is 6.0% but I also have neuropathy. The most important thing to do is get & keep your BS is good control (HbA1c >7 or 6.5%). There are medicines such as Lyrica that may help. Check your feet daily & see a podiatrist regularly. DR is the most common cause of foot ulcers & amputations. So be alert.

That depends on the type a cancer & at what stage it has progressed. Some types of thyroid cancer do not spread & can be removed by surgery & cured. Some are more severe & can spread throughout the body. If she has this form of cancer & it has not spread yet, it can probably be cured by removal of the thyroid perhaps followed by some chemotherapy or radioactive Iodine. If it has spread more aggressive chemo &/or radioactive iodine will be needed and may or may not cure it. In any event, thyroid cancer is less life threatening than many other forms of cancer & the prognosis is good especially if caught early.

I'm not sure you can. Diabetes is a serious disease and at present can't be cured. I have had it 26 years & can't get rid of it & life is not "normal" though you can, as I have, adapt to it. The most important thing is KEEP YOUR BLOOD SUGARS DOWN & A1c IN THE NORMAL RANGE (>7 or 6.5%). to prevent complications. If you think life is not normal now, think of how complicated it will be if you develop complications such as blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy of your feet & heart disease. These complications are related to high blood sugar (BR) & are preventable. You can live a fairly normal life with diabetes. 1) get or keep your wt. down 2) follow a good diet-the American Heart Association Prudent American Diet to prevent heart disease is a good one as is the Mediteranian diet. 3) check your BS frequently 4) exercise regularly. 5) limit deserts & concentrated sweets. Follow this advice & you'll quickly adapt to the few restraints & life will be good. I am 83 & worked until I was 80 with the disease. I am retired & having fun even though I have the disease. You can too!!

This is a complex question because there are different kinds of diabetes (Type 1 & Type 2 & subtypes of each). I suspect you have Type 2. Both 1 & 2 are a combination of inherited (genetic) and environmental cause, but different genes & environmental causes. Type 1 is genetic with genes carried on the #6 chromosome, but we have not yet identified the environmental trigger, though there are several possibilities. Whatever triggers it, sets off the immune system to attack the pancreas cells that produce insulin & destroying them. Type 2 diabetes is also genetic though the many forms of it suggest many different genes. Last I heard scientists had identified at least 120 possible genes that could cause one form or another of Type 2. The environmental triggers for Type 2 are better known that for Type 1. Overwt. is the most potent trigger. Abdominal fat produces hormones that trigger insulin resistance & make the pancreas cells work harder to keep the blood sugar down. This stress on the pancreas is eventually too much & it wears out sooner than usual & can't make enough insulin to keep up so the blood sugar goes up, viola Diabetes! The outcome is the same if the diabetes is not well controlled-damage to the blood vessels & nerves with blindness, kidney failure, heart disease & nerve pain, & amputations. Get your doctor to send you to a certified diabetes educator & get a good education about your disease & keep the blood sugar in control!!

I'm not sure what test you are asking about. Thyroid disease is usually diagnosed by a simple test for Free T4 (level of thyroid hormone, the FUNCTION) of the thyroid and for TSH (a test of the pituitary FUNCTION). That's usually all that is needed-1 simple blood draw. If the gland is enlarged or there are nodules by palpitation the a sonogram may be performed. This is painless using ultrasound just like they do to look at babies in the womb. That could lead to a biopsy is nodules are found. That requires a needle into the gland but is done with numbing of the skin & is painless. They might also do a radioactive iodine test to look at the nodules for function or malignancy but that is also painless. They drink a liquid that contains a very small amount of radioactive material that is taken up by the gland then they put a counter that counts the radioactivity throughout the gland. It is completely painless. Start with a single blood draw with Free T4 & TSH. Nothing else may be needed.

The simple answer to this is no! Hypothyroid disease is usually caused by an auto-immune process that destroys the gland. And like all other organs with the exception of skin & liver cannot replace itself. So, when it's, gone it's gone. Sorry, but that's the way it is. You will have to take thyroid medication the rest of your life. But that's no big deal - one pill a day. Most people take more pills than that that they get over-the-counter (food supplements, etc.). I have had hypothyroid for 26 years & take the pill along with the rest of my pills each day. It's easy. Good luck!

There a several symptoms of diabetes but the main ones are polyuria (excess urination), polydipsia (excess thirst), & polyphagia ( hunger with wt. loss). Overwt. is a causative factor & should be controlled. You can get a list of all the symptoms & factors that influence diabetes from the American Diabetes Association at a local office or if there is none near you contact the national office on the internet. You can GOOGLE it.

There are several ways diabetes can be diagnosed. 1) a Fasting Blood Glucose test. This may require a blood draw or a finger stick. a value of 126 or greater is diabetes. Below this is either Pre-diabetes or normal depending on the level. 3) a Hemoglobin A1c test (HbA1c). This can be done on a single blood draw or in some offices on a finger stick. A value less than 5.8% is normal, 5.8-6.5% is prediabetes, & >6.5% is diabetes. 3) an oral glucose tolerance test. This requires to drink an overly sweet drink, then do several blood draws over a 3 hour period. A 2 hour value of blood glucose >200 is diabetes, <200 but >140 is prediabetes and < 140 is normal. 4) A FBS > 200 at any time if you have any symptoms of diabetes such a excess thirst & urination, severe Weight loss, etc. A complete list of symptoms can be obtained from the American Diabetes Association of your town or if none from them on the internet.

There are only 2 important tests to take as screening but several others is screen says you may have thyroid disease. 1) Tell the doctor if you have any symptoms & have him feel the thyroid gland in your neck to see if you have enlargement or nodules. 2) ID no symptoms (or some) & the gland feels normal the a blood test for thyroid function is needed. There are 2 tests-Free T4 (thyroid hormone) & TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone from the pituitary gland). If your thyroid is low, the TSH goes up to make the thyroid gland work harder and if the gland is overproducing (hyperthyroid) the TSH goes down. So this is an important test. If any of these tests are abnormal, then further testing is needed but I won't go further here. This is all that's needed now to answer your question, I hope it turns out OK.

There could be many causes. Too many to explain all here. It could be thyroid, heart, blood vessel disease & many others. It could also be lack of insulation i.e. fat. My wife is skinny & always cold. I am a little overwt. thus have some fat to insulate me & keep the eat in, so I am always hot. We fight the battle of the thermostat every day! Please see your DR. and get checked. It may be nothing or it could be serious so get a check up soon.

There are several tests that can be done. 1) a fasting blood glucose level in the blood. This can be done by finger stick in 5 seconds. 2) a hemoglobin A1c level. This test measures your average blood sugar over the last 3 months. It is a blood test. 3) a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. This requires you to drink a very sugary drink that tastes awful & draw several blood samples over a 3 hour period. I rarely do this but depend on symptoms, Fasting Blood Glucose level >126 mg/ml and or the HbA1c >6.5%. See your DR.

Yes & no. There are many causes of hypothyroid. Some are hereditary. Others are caused by infection, auto-immunity, damage from trauma, surgery, aging, etc. Since you have a strong family history, this suggests you have a heredity form which is usually auto-immune & occurs most commonly in females. Even if heredity you may not get it but if you do get it treated right away because lack of replacement therapy can have many bad effects including heart damage.

Yes it can. Listen to the commercials for some of the latest diabetes drugs. They stress this. High blood sugar causes damage to blood vessels that can cause eye damage with blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke & many other things. This blood vessel damage is caused by chronic poor diabetes control with high blood sugars. Your mother should be monitoring here blood sugar level regularly, getting a Hemoglobin A1c test every 3 0r 4 mo. & working to keep them in normal range. If they are not in range, she needs to insist to her Dr. that she needs a change in the medical regime until it is normal. It can be done. I have had diabetes for 26 years & my HbA1c is 6.0 (normal) & I have no complications. Complications such as heart attack are preventable with good control. Now be aware of the fact that there are other causes of heart disease other than diabetes-age, heredity, cholesterol, hypertension, etc. so try to get all of these tested & controlled.

Some dietary changes are needed but this does not have to be so strict as to be unpleasant. How strict you need to be is dependent on several factors such as how severe is your diabetes, do you need to lose wt., etc. Diet for wt. lose may be more difficult that for control of blood sugar. Please get some education about diabetes. See a diabetes educator & a dietician and get educated about your disease. Insurance will pay for diabetes classes. If you have no insurance, a good source of diabetes education is the YMCA. Their course is good & it's cheap. Your Dr. should have gotten you into a diabetes education program where you would get dietary education. Every one with diabetes needs 10-15 hours of diabetes & dietary education. It is your need & your right

Yes they certainly can. Diabetes associated with diabetes is usually Type 2. We used to call this adult onset diabetes, but in recent years, with the epidemic of overweight children, we are seeing it in them, so we now call it Type 2 diabetes & drop the age reference. In my practice, I have had a child as young as 4 yrs. old with "adult-onset" (Type 2 diabetes), so age is not a factor. Get her to a DR. & get her wt. under control. She may have a pre-diabetic state called Metabolic Syndrome that is without symptoms, but can cause damage. So, get her under control.

Diabetes is a complex group of diseases, all managed differently. I would advise you to enroll in a diabetes education class by a certified educator to get the full information about the disease. Diabetes causes many severe complications if not properly controlled, & ignorance of the disease & the tools for control is the primary cause of poor control. Your doctor should have taken care of this at the beginning. In my practice, I would not take care of a person with diabetes of any kind if they were not willing to take a 10-15 hr. class from a Certified Diabetes Educator. You can't do right if you don't know what is right. So, find a diabetes educator & get the training needed to get & keep good control.

I'll try to answer both questions: 1) How does he monitor his sugar? Well, there are many ways. The simplest is, get a blood glucose monitoring machine from the drug store (they do not require a prescription) & some strips for it (they do require a script if you want insurance to pay for them). How frequently he monitors the BS depends on the type of diabetes he has & the treatment program. Monitoring is less frequent with Type 2 diabetes than for Type 1 that requires 4x/d. If he has Type 1 diabetes & is taking insulin, there are now several alternatives- Continuous Glucose Monitoring (called CGMS) which monitors the BS continuously & is read out on a "reader" or a cell phone. Also now there is a new system called Libre that has a small round devise that goes on the arm & is read by a reader. The arm piece needs to be changed every 2 weeks. The first kit with the reader & device costs about $75. The replacement set costs $25, so 2 a month is about $50 a month. This is cheaper than strips & CGMS and does not require finger-sticks. Just place the reader over the device on your arm & get a reading. It's easy & painless & cheap.
2) How to manage low BS? This is a little complex because it depends on how low the BS is & the kind of treatment he is receiving. Low BS is most common in Type 1 diabetes where the person is taking insulin. The cause of the LBS is also a factor. It can be caused by too much medication, taking taking the wrong dose, not eating properly, exercising too much, etc. The most important fact is to prevent the hypoglycemia. So, identify the cause & correct it. To treat, the first thing to do is eat, usually something with a high sugar content. If that doesn't work, or if they are not able to eat or drink, then a shot of a drug called glucagon is needed (there is now a nasal form of this). Then call 911, especially if he doesn't wake up or is convulsing. Get him to the hospital for intravenous glucose solution. BUT MAINLY find the cause & prevent it!!!

A thyroidectomy is the surgical removal of the thyroid gland in the neck. There are 3 ways to treat this disease: 1) medication that blocks the thyroid glands output. This requires 2 or 3 pills a day for 1-2 years. 2) Thyroidectomy that you have been recommended 3) treatment with radioactive Iodine to destroy the gland. The latter is the easiest & less traumatic and is what I usually recommend if the thyroid gland is not too large for this treatment, then I would recommend the thyroidectomy.