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Hypothyroidism and height, or lack there of

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with congenital hypothyroidism. Mine was discovered when I was almost 2mos. old. My mom said that I was sleeping all the time, I wasn't gaining like I should have been, she said my arms and legs were really short in comparison to the rest of me and wondered if I would be a dwarf. She took me by train into Boston to one of the country's leading medical instutions...Massachusetts General Hospital. There, after several tests, I was diagnosed as having no thyroid. The doctor told my mother that they had just started me on thyroid medication, and told her that my condition was rare. He said that in this country alone, there was only a handful of people with this condition, and to his knowledge, all of them are female, and also dwarves. He also told her that it's likely that should only grow to  3ft or just a little above. I'm 5' 1" tall., but my legs and arms are still shorter than average. My  inseam is only 24 inches, and my arms, well, they look average until I measure them up to another person with normal length arms. My fingers are also short, not drastically short, or noticeably, but when I where latex gloves at work, and I put on size medium, and the tips of the gloves still are above my finger tips, it's noticeable. At home, for gardening, I have a pair of child sized gloves, and they are perfect size for my fingers. Medication wise, I am on 300mcg of Levothyroxine, it's a generic version of Synthroid. My doctor is not an Endochronologist, (there isn't any in the area that I live, I no longer live in MA), and though he believes I have no thyroid, every time I go in to see him when it's time for a refill, he always feels my neck, he simply forgets he says. I'm the only person he's ever known that has no thyroid.  Does anyone else have issues with lack of tolerance of extreme temperatures? I cannot handle extreme heat or frigid temps. I'm a lover of winter time. I prefer the cold, but here in Ohio, it can get brutal. In New England, they may get a lot more snow, but the cold is different, it's less frigid unless they get a cold blast from Canada. I'm looking to move back there, but it's going to take some time, gotta settle things (like debts) her in Ohio, and also gotta look for a place to live up there, and program or facility that my son can go to. That's about it.


This discussion is related to i was born without a THYROID GLAND, WAS ANY ONE ELSE BORN without one?.
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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
We've, actually, had numerous members, both male and female, who were born without a thyroid gland.  Thyroid hormones are necessary for growth and development, both, as a fetus and as children.  It's good that your mother realized, early on, that you had an issue.  

It's quite normal for those of us with thyroid conditions to be intolerant to extreme temperatures, particularly, intolerant to cold, when we have hypothyroidism.  Typically, if medications are adjusted properly, the cold intolerance is not so bad.  

I'd have to ask what your actual thyroid hormone levels are.  If you could post your most recent lab test results, we could better assess your situation. You should be getting tested, regularly, for Free T4, Free T3 and TSH.   300 mcg of Levothyroxine is a pretty hefty dose that we don't see very often, even in one with no thyroid...
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I forgot to mention - please be sure to include reference ranges with any lab results, as ranges vary lab to lab and have to come from your own lab report.
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