thyroid problem

I have a thyroid problem. All of the treatment
options contraindicate breastfeeding. Am I stupid
for wanting to put them off until Rocky weans? He's
16 months old, so most people think weaning is not
a problem. But, he loves nursing. We still nurse
at least 5x a day.

-- Anita --

i guess it depends on the nature of the problem.
i had thyroid cancer and, you're right, even though the prognosis is
excellent, the treatment contraindicates breastfeeding. my cancer was
well after our breastfeeding days so i didn't have to decide which was
more important. but even though my daughter was older, my continued
presence in her life was my major concern. i did everything i could to
ensure my treatment was as successful as possible, some of which was
very difficult in the short term. (low iodine diet, isolation after
radioactive iodine, expensive drugs for scans)
have you checked in with any thyroid groups? they might be able to give
more info from a thyroid point of view. not all thyroid problems are
cancer, so there may be a lot of flexibility that will accommodate your
need to continue breastfeeding.

nancy
thyroid cancer 1999


Irrational Number wrote:
I have a thyroid problem. All of the treatment
options contraindicate breastfeeding. Am I stupid
for wanting to put them off until Rocky weans? He's
16 months old, so most people think weaning is not
a problem. But, he loves nursing. We still nurse
at least 5x a day.

-- Anita --

NBennett wrote:

i guess it depends on the nature of the problem.
i had thyroid cancer and, you're right, even though the prognosis is
excellent, the treatment contraindicates breastfeeding. my cancer was
well after our breastfeeding days so i didn't have to decide which was
more important.

It's probably hyperthyroidism and I'm not taking
the propranolol at the moment. I'm waiting for
my doctor to get back to me re BF (the websites
say not to BF with propranolol).

i did everything i could to
ensure my treatment was as successful as possible, some of which was
very difficult in the short term. (low iodine diet, isolation after
radioactive iodine, expensive drugs for scans)

Yeah, these are all in my future. I'm just hoping
that putting them off by 6 months will not jeopardize
my well-being.

have you checked in with any thyroid groups?

Yeah, they think I should wean... ;( I can see
all sides. The emotional side is leading.

Thanks for responding!

-- Anita --

I have a thyroid problem. All of the treatment
options contraindicate breastfeeding. Am I stupid
for wanting to put them off until Rocky weans? He's
16 months old, so most people think weaning is not
a problem. But, he loves nursing. We still nurse
at least 5x a day.

that surprised me that there is nothing, I hope there is someone active on
here who has had thyroid issues, but certainly it seems to come up from time
to time, can you access to a copy of Hales and look up the suggested drug?
The good thing about Hales is he gives the data of how much of the stuff
gets into the milk and thus how much dose the infant would be getting and
what effect that dose would have on the infant and what to watch out for.
There are lots of things where I'd be happy to take them whilst nursing for
a 16 month old, but not for a newborn, not all nursing is the same, whereas
most practioners just give a blanket NO.

If that still draws a blank, then you've got to look at the symptoms you are
having and what is the likely effect of not bring things back under control
sooner rather than later, only with the answer to that can you make a
decision as to whether you need to treat now, or it can wait. Even if you
decide to treat now you could still investigate alternative/complementary
methods of treatment.

Cheers

Anne

It's probably hyperthyroidism and I'm not taking
the propranolol at the moment. I'm waiting for
my doctor to get back to me re BF (the websites
say not to BF with propranolol).

see http://66.230.33.248/discus/messages/45/3463.html

specifically this post from Dr Hale himself "For the thyroid storm,
Propranolol is ideal for breastfeeding mothers. For treatment of
hyperthyroidism, propylthiouracil or methimazole are fine for breastfeeding
mothers. As for nuclear scanning, suggest they use I-123, NOT I-131, but
avoid this if you can unless your physicians really insist" saying that
propranolol is fine and also giving a couple of others, ideally you'd get
copies of the relevant pages of his book to wave in front of your doctor!

Also see http://www.kellymom.com/health/thyroid/index.html, on the page on
treatments she seems to suggest that propranolol is ok with the AAP for
breastfeeding mothers, "Some moms with hyperthyroidism are also prescribed
beta-blockers (such as Propranolol/Inderal) or calcium channel blockers to
relieve the neurological and cardiovascular symptoms of hyperthyroidism.
Many of these drugs (including Propranolol/Inderal) are approved by the
American Academy of Pediatrics for use in breastfeeding mothers."

Cheers

Anne

I don't think it's stupid to want to put it off, but I think you should
consider how it will affect your thyroid long term by delaying, and also how
bad the symptoms are for your daily life (and how it affects you as a mom).
My bil has overactive thyroid, and he said the first few months on the meds
were REALLY bad. He went from barely needing sleep (useful as a mom to a 16
mth old!) to needing lots of sleep, and just feeling sluggish (basically
symptoms of underactive thyroid) for a long time while they played with his
meds to get the dose right.

On the flip side, it may also depend on how long you are planning on
nursing. My DD was nursing at least as much as your Rocky at that age, and
at 4.5 years old she is STILL nursing once a day (and she'd nurse a LOT more
than that if I would let her). I was a firm believer in child led weaning
until I got pregnant with DS and then I realized that sometimes you just
have to put yourself and your own needs (ie sleeping through the night)
first.

It's a VERY tough call. I have just discovered I have high cholesterol and
meds for lowering it are not compatible with bf'ing either. There's no way
in h*ll I am weaning both my kids (DS is now 17 mths) so I am really cutting
down on the bad food in the hopes that it will go down on its own. I know
that's not really a possibility with thyroid issues, but maybe you could
look into homeopathic remedies (if there are any??) until you wean? Just a
thought...

Good luck...
CY
"Irrational Number" wrote in message
link.net...
I have a thyroid problem. All of the treatment
options contraindicate breastfeeding. Am I stupid
for wanting to put them off until Rocky weans? He's
16 months old, so most people think weaning is not
a problem. But, he loves nursing. We still nurse
at least 5x a day.

-- Anita --

It's a VERY tough call. I have just discovered I have high cholesterol
and meds for lowering it are not compatible with bf'ing either. There's
no way in h*ll I am weaning both my kids (DS is now 17 mths) so I am
really cutting down on the bad food in the hopes that it will go down on
its own. I know that's not really a possibility with thyroid issues, but
maybe you could look into homeopathic remedies (if there are any??) until
you wean? Just a thought...

ah CY, I was wondering how you were doing on this issue, have you thought
about any of those cholesterol lowering foods? I don't know if they are
available in the US, but in the UK some of the names I recall are "benecol"
and "flora pro-active", I can't recall off hand how they work, they come as
spread, yoghurts etc. My dad has been doing it for a while now and it's
brought his cholesterol back down to just in to the normal range, rather
than just out, not a dramatic change, but diet alone wasn't doing it and
he's nowhere near overweight (I suspect he's actually underweight). I've
also learnt from him that it's not just the amount of fat, there are some
foods that are particularly bad, such as scampi. I expect I'll have to get
myself better educated on it, his tendancy is clearly genetic!

Anne

Anne, THANK YOU THANK YOU! I don't know why I
did not check kellymom, that's where I usually
go first. But, thanks for the information!

-- Anita --


Anne Rogers wrote:

It's probably hyperthyroidism and I'm not taking
the propranolol at the moment. I'm waiting for
my doctor to get back to me re BF (the websites
say not to BF with propranolol).


see http://66.230.33.248/discus/messages/45/3463.html

specifically this post from Dr Hale himself "For the thyroid storm,
Propranolol is ideal for breastfeeding mothers. For treatment of
hyperthyroidism, propylthiouracil or methimazole are fine for breastfeeding
mothers. As for nuclear scanning, suggest they use I-123, NOT I-131, but
avoid this if you can unless your physicians really insist" saying that
propranolol is fine and also giving a couple of others, ideally you'd get
copies of the relevant pages of his book to wave in front of your doctor!

Also see http://www.kellymom.com/health/thyroid/index.html, on the page on
treatments she seems to suggest that propranolol is ok with the AAP for
breastfeeding mothers, "Some moms with hyperthyroidism are also prescribed
beta-blockers (such as Propranolol/Inderal) or calcium channel blockers to
relieve the neurological and cardiovascular symptoms of hyperthyroidism.
Many of these drugs (including Propranolol/Inderal) are approved by the
American Academy of Pediatrics for use in breastfeeding mothers."

Cheers

Anne

CY wrote:

I don't think it's stupid to want to put it off, but I think you should
consider how it will affect your thyroid long term by delaying, and also how
bad the symptoms are for your daily life (and how it affects you as a mom).
My bil has overactive thyroid, and he said the first few months on the meds
were REALLY bad. He went from barely needing sleep (useful as a mom to a 16
mth old!) to needing lots of sleep, and just feeling sluggish (basically
symptoms of underactive thyroid) for a long time while they played with his
meds to get the dose right.

This is one of my worries. Right now, I kind of
feel like I'm on speed. I do get aches and
fatigued, but I have good energy during the
day and I can do a lot of stuff after the kids
are asleep.

On the flip side, it may also depend on how long you are planning on
nursing. My DD was nursing at least as much as your Rocky at that age, and
at 4.5 years old she is STILL nursing once a day (and she'd nurse a LOT more
than that if I would let her). I was a firm believer in child led weaning
until I got pregnant with DS and then I realized that sometimes you just
have to put yourself and your own needs (ie sleeping through the night)
first.

My guess is that Rocky will wean in the next
6 months. Or at least, that's my plan... Pillbug
self-weaned at 17 months because I got pregnant,
but he was only nursing once a day for the
last month. I'm hoping that postponing any
treatment for 6 months will not hurt anything.

Of course, I do realize that mommy needs to
survive, first of all. I would not jeopardize
my children's well-being. I'm just trying to
work out options.

It's a VERY tough call. I have just discovered I have high cholesterol and
meds for lowering it are not compatible with bf'ing either. There's no way
in h*ll I am weaning both my kids (DS is now 17 mths) so I am really cutting
down on the bad food in the hopes that it will go down on its own. I know
that's not really a possibility with thyroid issues, but maybe you could
look into homeopathic remedies (if there are any??) until you wean? Just a
thought...

I wish you the best with the cholesterol!

-- Anita --

"Irrational Number" wrote in message
link.net...
I have a thyroid problem. All of the treatment
options contraindicate breastfeeding. Am I stupid
for wanting to put them off until Rocky weans? He's
16 months old, so most people think weaning is not
a problem. But, he loves nursing. We still nurse
at least 5x a day.

Um, what thyroid problem? If you're hypothyroid, replacement is using the
same hormone your thyroid would be releasing on its' own. If it's hyper and
they're talking RAI, you'd probably want to ask your endo about surgery.

Jess