ADD and GD - Amy's Pam and others

[Guest guest]

>> I read somewhere that a fair number of children may be diagnosed

with ADD/ADHD when it's actually a thyroid problem.

Hi Pam (and anyone else interested in the ADD thing),

This doesn't surprise us a bit, and I'd love to see an article or

study addressing the issue. Ever since we entered the " thyroid world " ,

we've been looking for info linking the mis-diagnosis of ADD and

thyroid disease. This past winter, before her GD diagnosis, and in our

desperation to figure out what was going on, we had Lillie tested for

ADD.

As I mentioned before, she'd been progressively doing worse in

school. She presented a puzzle to teachers, who knew her in-class

comprehension was excellent, but couldn't figure out why she didn't do

ANY homework. She had been complaining of difficulty focussing and

concentrating (now, we know why!). So, she was duly tested and

received a diagnosis of ADD at the age of 17, apparently fitting a

description of a certain " syndrome " involving teenaged girls and ADD.

She had a very cursory visit with a shrink who prescribed " strattera " ,

a new ADD drug, in the anti-depressant family (NOT a stimulant like

ritalin). I shudder to think of the effect a stimulant might have had

on her heart. Of course no one bothered to take her pulse, which was

running between 110 and 120 upon diagnosis in May.

She responded mildly but positively to the strattera - reported

improvement in sleeping and in her ability to focus on tasks like

reading. But her schoolwork didn't improve. We had noticed many Graves

symptoms, but didn't recognize them as such -- it was the eyes that

finally led us to the diagnosis. She has slight proptosis and lid

retraction (which has been improving!). Again a long story, not to the

point today. When we got the diagnosis, she stopped taking the

strattera, of course.

Lillie's doing well these days, the challenge being to keep her from

becoming hypO. She seems a bit tired, and her once hyper-huge appetite

has dwindled. It's also been hard for us as parents to keep ourselves

from hyper-focusing on her and her health in a way that she would

reject. If I remind her to drink more water, she's sure to drink less!

It's been a learning experience for all of us (isn't all parenting!).

She's proved that she can handle a LOT in the past few months!

We have another daughter, Emma, 14 yrs old, who is the picture of

health, much to Lillie's annoyance. And of course Emma is jealous of

the extra attention Lillie's been getting lately! Yikes!

Hope everything is OK in your house. I haven't spoken with Lillie yet

about corresponding with your daughter Amy. You mentioned that Amy

gets stressed when she has too much to do, and we've found the same

thing, though Lillie expresses it by simply not doing the extra

things. Used to drive us nuts, but we're all more relaxed nowadays.

You also mentioned that you think living with Graves for several

years, untreated, " contributed to some habits in her thinking " . This

is something we've been wondering about. Without a doubt her

behaviorial habits have been affected. It seems that we'll never

really know what can be attributed to the Graves, and what is in her

nature. And I guess it can't be separated out, because the disease is

part of her. The thing is, like you said, to learn how to best to live

with it and compensate. Cliches are popping into my head -- about

strength coming from adversity, and how knowledge is power.

Now I'm rambling.

Sorry it took so long to respond to y