u/SnooGiraffes3591

What the title says. My daughter is 15 and has a 3.1cm nodule, which was found when endocrinology was investigating her apparent hyperthyroidism. Given her thyroid numbers and negative graves antibodies, her dr feels confident it will be a hot nodule (uptake scheduled for next week). If not, we move to biopsy, but because of the size and her age, she will likely end up in surgery no matter what.

So my question is for any parents who have dealt with a high school and your child needing surgery. She has no 504 or anything like that, and will only need temporary accomodations. Who would you speak to first? Counselor? School nurse? We have open house next week where the teachers always ask us to leave a note if we would like to schedule a conference, so I'm thinking of doing that and speaking to them allllllll directly. But really, I have no idea what the best thing would be to do here. Everyone says 1-2 weeks out, which sounds fine if you're an adult with PTO, but have you tried making up 2 weeks of school work?! Also, if she goes back after 1 week I don't know that she'll be 100% and ready to knock out 2 weeks worth of work in that one week (they get 1 day per missed day to make up the work, so basically pulling double duty all week). So I do need to figure out accomodations and how to handle this so my child doesn't drown while we're trying to get her health in check.

She's a good student who takes pride in her work (and is a little competitive now that class ranks are out for last year and she knows she's top 10). But right now she's just a new student to most of these teachers. They'll get to know her and what they can expect from her, but at this point they're strangers. I don't want it to come across like we're being dramatic or asking for special treatment. But.... we are. She is going to need it.

My teen daughter has been taking methimazole (10mg twice a day) for a month. Her levels were high prior, and recently (about a week ago) dr did labs again and her tsh is still barely up from where it was (which i'm told is normal) but her other levels are low or right on the border of the low range. I thought dr would lower dosage but she said no. Keep it the same until we see her again. I double checked- asked about the low levels, and she said it was fine, we don't want her levels to go high again. But i'm afraid that they are possibly still going LOWER....

So what should I be watching for? She can barely eat. She is exhausted all the time, but for whatever reason waking up in the middle of the night. I'm fighting my urge to think i know better than a dr, and stop one of her doses. I don't want to CAUSE problems. But she's miserable.

So my child (15f) has a 3.1cm nodule. Her doctor has referred for an uptake scan. If it's a hot nodule, at her age, I do believe they will plan to remove it. If it's not, then we go on to next steps, an FNA and seeing what's next. But I have a feeling it will need removing one way or another.

So tell me about the procedure. How long did it take? Is it possible (or likely. I know it's possible) to remove only part of the thyroid? Her nodule in on the lower gland of the left lobe. If they only remove part of it, does the other part compensate and fully function? Just trying to come up with some positives (being able to look forward to a future of less medication is definitely a positive). How long was recovery? We have gone through thos whole process over summer, but any potential surgery won't happen until she's back in class. I know most of you are adults, but how long would you think she would need to miss school? I know in the grand scheme of things that doesn't seem important, but she's currently 3rd in her class of over 400 (only going in to theor sophomore year, so they just got theor rankings and are getting competitive), so it's important TO HER.

Thank you all for the info!

Am I reading correctly that pediatric patients have a higher % of malignancy vs adult patients? Does anyone know how much more common it might be? I know (for adults) 90-95% of nodules are benign. But having a hard time finding numbers for teens.

Daughter (15) had her ultrasound and has a 3.1cm nodule. Lab recommends FNA, but ofcourse her endocrinologist won't see her results until tomorrow or Friday. Honestly, I have always loved the convenience of being able to see what the Drs are talking about in the portals the labs make available to us, but now I kind of wish no one had made this available to me because i'm freaking myself out for probably no reason.

Edit- nevermind, i google and it looks like both are for Hashimotos or Graves? Either way, they came back normal so apparently she is going to be one of those 5% of hyperthyroidism in teens that ISN'T graves. What else could it be? She does have a thyroid US scheduled but on her initial exam the dr didn't feel anything concerning. 🤷🏼‍♀️

To be clear- daughter IS under the care of an endocrinologist. I'm not seeking an internet diagnosis (just saying this because i got the warning pop up for saying "testing").

Can anyone tell me what these two things are testing for? Daughter has hyperthyroidism, but when her endocrinologist tester her for the graves antibody it was normal/negative. So she said she wanted to test her for a different antibody in case it was hashitoxicosis. These are the only unfamiliar things on her newest labs (and both came back in normal range). Just curiosity, I know she'll see them today or tomorrow and be calling.

Currently, my child (15F) is dealing with chronic pain. She has so many different things going on, we're at 14 appointments or ER visits this summer so far. The pain is getting increasingly worse and more consistent, and she's getting basically no answers. She's handling it all and taking it in stride and trying to put in a tough face, but every once in awhile she lets the mask slip. Just now she came out and broke down. Told me she's sad, because she sees her friends getting together and doing things, and she wants to be able to do that, too, but she's just...so...exhausted. And it broke my heart.

Feeling like there's nothing I can do to help my child just really, really sucks.

I posted this in an ask a dr subbredit but the automod pretty much immediately deleted. Idk why, I followed all of their rules and included all of the info. But here we are. Looking for suggestions to discuss with daughter's pediatrician, that she may not have already considered.

My daughter (15F, approx 5'2" and 110lbs) has been having pain in joints and sometimes middle of bone for at least a year and a half.

Her current medical issues and medications are: SVT diagnosed at age 6. Cardiac ablation that appeared successful in 12/2025, but episodes returned around 2/2026. Her cardiologist put her on atenolol 25mg. Tourette Syndrome, she has ups and downs but currently not ticcing too often, she takes 1mg guanfacine daily. Scoliosis which was at 10 degrees in 1/2025 and is 17 degrees now. Hyperthyroid which is a new diagnosis, she's on 10mg methimazole twice daily. Tested for graves antibody and they siad that was negative, she is now being tested for a different antibody, dr mentioned hashitoxicosis. No diagnosis but she has extremely painful periods and dr put her on birth control, which helped with the pain but she was still having the extreme nausea and vomiting at school if she didn't miss school entirely, so she has started her on a no placebo birth control, essentially stopping her periods

Around January 2025 her dr sent her to physical therapy for the pain she was complaining about, at that point it was just her knees. PT said it was likely just weak muscles, not arthritis, and she said the exercises seemed to help so that supports that. But over time (and mostly in the last 3 months or so) she has started complaining of pain in other areas. Her hip, her chest, knees still, sometimes mid upper arm bone or thigh bone. We spoke to her dr and she ran a bunch of tests, and decided to include her thyroid. Thyroid is hyper, we see endocrinology, and the nurse practitioner started her on methimazole. But when we ask her if the bone and joint pain could be due to the hyperthyroid she says no. The dr we say for her scoliosis also says no, it wouldn't be from this degree of scoliosis. The initial blood tests her pediatrician ran included:

COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL, SED RATE BY MODIFIED WESTERGREN, LUPUS PANEL 1 W/ANA, IFA W/REFL TITER/PATTERN, THYROID PANEL, TSH, VITAMIN D,25-OH,TOTAL,IA. CBC (INCLUDES DIFF/PLT) (REFL), C-REACTIVE PROTEIN

I don't know what many of those mean bit can share any of the numbers that you feel may help (only her thyroid numbers and vitamin d were out of range).

Second set of labs included:

COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL, CBC (INCLUDES DIFF/PLT), FSH, T3, TOTAL, T4, FREE, TSH, ESTRADIOL,ULTRASENSITIVE, LC/MS, TSI (THYROID STIMULATING IMMUNOGLOBULIN), LH, PEDIATRICS, ALBUMIN, SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOBULIN, TESTOSTERONE, FREE AND BIOAVAILABLE, TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, MS

These results also showed her thyroid numbers out of range but TSI was not. The various hormone levels were out of range but she attributed that to the birth control daughter is taking.

I'm just looking for someone to point me in a direction that her doctors may not be thinking of yet. Her endocrinologist says her hyperthyroid could NOT be the cause of this pain, but her pediatrician says it could be. Endocrinologist did say we could run a bone density scan in October if the pain hasn't subsided. Daughter is pretty good at putting on a happy face but when ortho asked her actual pain level she said a 6 or 7. When they left and she looked at the little smile chart I asked her which face she felt like inside, and sure enough.... 6 or 7. All the time. I didn't realize it was that bad until then. And apparently it is consistently worsening. Just before I started posting this she offhandedly said "I don't know how i'm going to get through school when we go back." I didn't realize it had changed that drastically since the last time she was in class. And for the record- this is a kid who wants to be in school. 105 GPA, currently ranked 3rd in her class of over 400. Not a kid who exaggerates her symptoms to get out of things.

Please feel free to ask any follow up questions if I left anything out. Thank you in advance!

My daughter (15F, approx 5'2" and 110lbs) has been having pain in joints and sometimes middle of bone for at least a year and a half.

Her current medical issues and medications are: SVT diagnosed at age 6. Cardiac ablation that appeared successful in 12/2025, but episodes returned around 2/2026. Her cardiologist put her on atenolol 25mg. Tourette Syndrome, she has ups and downs but currently not ticcing too often, she takes 1mg guanfacine daily. Scoliosis which was at 10 degrees in 1/2025 and is 17 degrees now. Hyperthyroid which is a new diagnosis, she's on 10mg methimazole twice daily. Tested for graves antibody and they siad that was negative, she is now being tested for a different antibody, dr mentioned hashitoxicosis. No diagnosis but she has extremely painful periods and dr put her on birth control, which helped with the pain but she was still having the extreme nausea and vomiting at school if she didn't miss school entirely, so she has started her on a no placebo birth control, essentially stopping her periods

Around January 2025 her dr sent her to physical therapy for the pain she was complaining about, at that point it was just her knees. PT said it was likely just weak muscles, not arthritis, and she said the exercises seemed to help so that supports that. But over time (and mostly in the last 3 months or so) she has started complaining of pain in other areas. Her hip, her chest, knees still, sometimes mid upper arm bone or thigh bone. We spoke to her dr and she ran a bunch of tests, and decided to include her thyroid. Thyroid is hyper, we see endocrinology, and the nurse practitioner started her on methimazole. But when we ask her if the bone and joint pain could be due to the hyperthyroid she says no. The dr we say for her scoliosis also says no, it wouldn't be from this degree of scoliosis. The initial blood tests her pediatrician ran included:

COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL, SED RATE BY MODIFIED WESTERGREN, LUPUS PANEL 1 W/ANA, IFA W/REFL TITER/PATTERN, THYROID PANEL, TSH, VITAMIN D,25-OH,TOTAL,IA. CBC (INCLUDES DIFF/PLT) (REFL), C-REACTIVE PROTEIN

I don't know what many of those mean bit can share any of the numbers that you feel may help (only her thyroid numbers and vitamin d were out of range).

Second set of labs included:

COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL, CBC (INCLUDES DIFF/PLT), FSH, T3, TOTAL, T4, FREE, TSH, ESTRADIOL,ULTRASENSITIVE, LC/MS, TSI (THYROID STIMULATING IMMUNOGLOBULIN), LH, PEDIATRICS, ALBUMIN, SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOBULIN, TESTOSTERONE, FREE AND BIOAVAILABLE, TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, MS

These results also showed her thyroid numbers out of range but TSI was not. The various hormone levels were out of range but she attributed that to the birth control daughter is taking.

I'm just looking for someone to point me in a direction that her doctors may not be thinking of yet. Her endocrinologist says her hyperthyroid could NOT be the cause of this pain, but her pediatrician says it could be. Endocrinologist did say we could run a bone density scan in October if the pain hasn't subsided. Daughter is pretty good at putting on a happy face but when ortho asked her actual pain level she said a 6 or 7. When they left and she looked at the little smile chart I asked her which face she felt like inside, and sure enough.... 6 or 7. All the time. I didn't realize it was that bad until then. And apparently it is consistently worsening. Just before I started posting this she offhandedly said "I don't know how i'm going to get through school when we go back." I didn't realize it had changed that drastically since the last time she was in class. And for the record- this is a kid who wants to be in school. 105 GPA, currently ranked 3rd in her class of over 400. Not a kid who exaggerates her symptoms to get out of things.

Please feel free to ask any follow up questions if I left anything out. Thank you in advance!

My 15 year old has had random pains for years. She went to physical therapy and they just said she had weak muscles around her knees. It helped for awhile but I think at some point she just got so used to being in pain that her "normal" was to have some pain, so she stopped complaining unless it was a really bad day.

Anyway, we addressed this again with her pediatrician this week, and she ran blood work, including her thyroid. Came back T3 uptake 27, T4 total 18.6, free T4 index (T7) 5, TSH <0.01. I'm just copying those from her chart because I, of course, am just in the beginning of trying to figure out what they mean, but I know everything but the T3 is out of the normal range.

For those dealing with this for awhile, how concerned should I be? Her dr sent in a "stat" referral, and made a point to tell me that it isn't an "emergency," but she would call it urgent. That she believes we may have caught her at the beginning of something. BUT- she also said she has never seen numbers like this in an adolescent female. I know kids and teens do get this, she just hasn't personally encountered it, so I know she has no experience with it.

The referral was sent this morning. I have to wait until probably Tuesday to call and get an appointment. But daughter's neurologist is in the same clinic and it took SEVEN MONTHS to get in to see him the first time. So i'm preparing myself for a wait and wondering how much I need to push to get her seen sooner rather than later. I'll call daily for cancelations if that's what I have to do, but not sure if the dr is just freaked out because it's no familiar to her or if I should actually be freaking out, too.

I don't want my daughter to end up one of those cases that doctors take years to even TRY to figure out what's wrong. This isn't normal. She has been in excruciating pain during her periods, increasing over time until about a year and a half ago she started to actually turn pale for a period of time, and then when the pain passed she regained her color. She also has pretty severe nausea. I used to get nauseous when my period cramps were bad, so I chalked the nausea up to that. Her dr (pediatrician, not ob/gyn. I think it may be time to ask for that referral) but her on birth control at my request, to help regulate her periods and hopefully help with the pain. Well, that sort of worked, her cramps are more typical now, but she still gets severe nausea. I got her an Rx for zofran, but she tried it this morning and I was still picking her up from school by noon. Last month she tried to power through and actually did end up vomiting... and going back to class. Because wtf else is she supposed to do, miss everything because of her period? Tomorrow she has her first AP test, so hoping zofran helps long enough to make it through. But she shouldn't HAVE to just make it through!

I'm not sure what it is but I hoped that even if it isn't endometriosis, a group like this may have someone in it with similar symptoms who can point me to some resources to help me make sense of what's going on with my (15 year old) child, or at least help me with some questions for her doctor so she doesn't just.... try a different pill and hope for the best. Which is, I believe, her current plan.