I've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease. Recently my 12 year-old
daughter was also diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Her TSH levels have
recently risen to 35,
and I am quite concerned. We will be running some blood tests, and the
Dr wants to do an ultrasound on her thyroid. My question is: are there
any good treatments for this condition; are there blood tests that
should be included i.e. cancer screens, hormones, or lupus that should
be included in her work-up. What is likely going to be the best
treatment to cure this condition? Any and all information will be
appreciated. Please don't quote the normal medical book information
because I've read most of those.

Hi irwinito,

Good day and thanks for your question.

It is indeed unfortunate to learn that you and your daughter have been
diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease.  As a matter of fact, one of my
close friends has been diagnosed with a mild form of Hashimoto's
disease, and I know what he has gone through.

As far as Hashimoto's disease is concerned, no one knows how it is
caused and why. There is no cure for it, although taking thyroid
supplement tablets help in regulating it.

Extreme cases of this disease require that the thyroid be operated
upon, but such cases are rare.

Laboratory tests to determine thyroid function include
* Free T4 test
* Serum TSH
* T3
* Thyroid antibodies such as antithyroid peroxidase antibody and
antithyroglobulin antibody

Replacement therapy with thyroid hormone (levothyroxine) is given if
the hormone is deficient or may be given if there is evidence of mild
thyroid failure (such as elevated TSH), also known as subclinical
hypothyroidism.

What I would suggest is that you follow the instructions of your
health care provider. Under no circumstances should you attempt to
ignore the instructions of a health care provider for this disease.

What you could do is to get those blood tests done and ou could post a
clarification to this question and I could give you some more
information based on the outcome of the tests. Please note that Google
Answers Researchers are not professional doctors and hence the advice
here should not be the only one you should adhere to.

If you have any other clarifications, please don't hesitate to ask.

Some websites which you might want to visit are:

Thyroiditis, Inflammation of the Thyroid Gland
http://www.endocrineweb.com/thyroiditis.html 
Information from endocrineweb.com.

Thyroiditis
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section2/chapter8/8f.htm 
The Merck Manual: A description, signs, symptoms and treatment of
different types of this disease.

Chronic Thyroiditis: Hashimoto's Disease
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000371.htm 
Adam.com takes a look at this disease and its alternative names, its
causes, incidence and risk factors.

Inflammatory Diseases of the Thyroid
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu:80/oto/grand/1694.html 
Acute and chronic thyroiditis from the Grand Rounds Archive, The
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas

Hashimoto's Disease: Hypothyroidism and Memory
http://vitamvas.tripod.com 
Etiology and symptoms of hypothyroidism, especially caused by the
autoimmune disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis including effects on
memory. Personal story, links and information on nutritional
supplements that helps with cognitive deficits.

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/Chapter8/8-contents.htm 
An in depth look at this disease including a historical review,
pathology, pathogenesis, incidence and distribution, course of the
disease, postpartum thyroid disease, iodide metabolism, diagnosis and
therapy.

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
http://www.geocities.com/queen_nefertitti/hashimoto.html 
An overview of this autoimmune thyroid condition with links to other
informative websites

Thanks for using this service and have a nice day.

Regards,
Aditya2K

Good morning, 
In addition

you should see the Website of "Thyroid Foundation of Canada" , too.
I've  had a Hyperthyroid (Graves illness) and this Website was very
hepfull to me.

http://www.thyroid.ca/index.html. 

I think you should see the entire site, but for your disease in
particular, go to the :  "Thyroid Health Guides" :

http://www.thyroid.ca/English/Guides.html

All the green titles of this page are important for you, but more
especially in your case:

- The link called "Thyroiditis" :
http://www.thyroid.ca/Guides/HG05.html
- the link called "Hypothyroidism" :
http://www.thyroid.ca/Guides/HG03.html
- the link called "Thyroid Disease in Childhood" :
http://www.thyroid.ca/Guides/HG09.html

There is several forums on the Internet for people who have thyroid
diseases. This kind of forum is really really helpfull. You will get
many informations, you'll see that you and your daughter are not alone
and you'll get support.
1) http://thyroid.trishs.net/thyroid.html
Click on "Enter the Forum" at the begining of the page. 

2) http://forums.about.com/ab-thyroid
see : "Mary Shomon's Thyroid Forums" 

2 advices : be patient and take a good care of the informations about
the psycological consequences of the disease, the more you will learn
about them, the more you will face the illness quietly and easily.
On the site: http://vitamvas.tripod.com/
that Aditya2K gave you, the page: 
http://vitamvas.tripod.com/brain.html
is a really good summary of this subject.

Best regards,
Fabienne

Irwinito -

I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis myself, and the basis for this comment
is my own experience - it should not be construed as medical advice,
of course.  After nearly four years of various doctors trying to get
my thyroid symptoms stabilized, I found a great resource in Dr. Ridha
Arem's book - 'The Thyroid Solution'.  It's widely available, and it
gives a very realistic picture of the difficulty some people have in
getting the disease under control.  (I found it so helpful, I actually
became a patient of his.)

There is another book that has been very helpful to me and other
friends of mine with Hashi's - "Living Well with Hypothyroidism", by
Mary Shoman (one of her online forums was mentioned in another
comment.)  You can read more about her book at the following page
(also from her "about.com" forum):
http://thyroid.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.thyroid%2Dinfo.com/booktoc.htm

I've found Mary's information to be, far and away, the most helpful
and informed source on the web.  There are many personal stories on
other sites, and many detailed medical sites, but hers is a wonderful
combination of both sound information and personal experience.

Mary's general site address is:
http://www.thyroid-info.com

Some of her website content is mirrored on the "about.com" site
mentioned in an earlier comment.  (http://forums.about.com/ab-thyroid)
 However, the about.com site has some annoying pop-ups that her direct
site does not.

One thing that I've learned in having the condition is that doctors
almost universally underestimate the difficulties presented by having
the disease, and the true complexity of successful treatment.  The
typical doctor's perspective is - with Hypothyroidism, you don't have
enough thyroid hormone, so we'll just replace it and you'll be fine. 
Not so for many, many people.  There are different hormone replacement
medicines, although one is much more frequently prescribed, and often,
even when the test results are back to "clinically normal", the
symptoms are still quite severe.

After a while, patients can begin to wonder if they're crazy, or their
doctors are completely incompetant.  (Especially since the condition
can cause significant mental/emotional symptoms, as well.)  Both the
books I mentioned (as well as some of the online forums) are very
helpful resources for people who are struggling with this condition.

The ultrasound that your daughter's doctor is recommending is done to
look for nodules in the thyroid - nodules can be cancerous, although
it is found relatively infrequently.  The doctor may have felt a
nodule when feeling her neck, or he may simply want to check the
consistency of the thyroid itself.  (Hashi's has a characteristic
ultrasound pattern.)  The ultrasound is mildly uncomfortable - you lie
with your head tipped back while they press the ultrasound wand over
your neck - but it's not painful or terribly distressing.  If they
find a nodule, they may want to do a "fine needle aspiration biopsy",
to draw out some of the tissue for further lab examination.  You can
find more information on the biopsy on the endocrineweb site mentioned
in your answer:
http://www.endocrineweb.com/fna.html 

In general, Hashi's is seen as an autoimmune disease - and your
daughter (and you) may be more prone to other similar conditions
(similar in their auto-immune profile.)  These might include diabetes,
Lupus, Scleroderma, Sjögren's disease, etc.  Fibromyalgia, in
particular, seems to have many links to hypothyroidism.  Another Mary
Shoman page outlines the differential diagnosis between the two.
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/autoimmune-checklist.htm

Best of luck to you and your daughter - 
asking-ga