My teen daughter is very sick, help !

[hluongo]

My daughter is hyperthyroid with vomiting, high BP and her pulse is 155 at rest. She is taking tapazole and propranolol. She is home on bedrest as her T4 levels are rising despite taking her meds.Could this be a thyroid storm or another underlying medical problem ? The doctor feels she isn't taking her meds but I have watched her for the last week. She at times has chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue. WE will see the doctor next week and she may be admitted to hospital. Any advice for a worried mom? her T4 levels are 65. :( :(

[NastyHashi]

Hi. "Thyroid Storm" is very rare, but it is also very serious if it happens to be the case.

With a T4 at 65 and 155 resting heart rate, personally I would take a trip to the ER where they have Endos on call and remove that sucker if the meds are not doing it - that thyroid is pumping out tons of hormone it appears.

Yes, I would take a trip to the ER and if and when you do, be adamant about skipping all the heart attack tests they will want to do and TELL THEM its her thyroid and she is hyper along with exactly the meds she's taking. Also let them know she needs an endo if they have one available.

The good thing about the ER is that they usually do labwork right there and can find out exactly what's going on.

If there is an adrenal tumor, they can test for that as well in the ER. Pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor) would cause a similar reaction while the tumor (usually non cancerous) dumps lots of adrenaline into the system causing rapid heart rate, vomitting, dizziness, etc.....hard to tell really hyper from an adrenal problem but with a T4 that high, I would bet on the thyroid.

Here's a link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Pheochromocytoma&spell=1


Adrenals are easy to test. Some tumors can show up on MRI's. Cortisol should be tested as well as the adrenal components. Get tot he ER to play it safe.