I first learned of this particular medication when my daughter was about 11 days old. Almost 14 years ago now.
You may be wondering how it is that I learned of that medication at that time. So I will answer that question first. My daughter was born without a thyroid. Not too long ago babies who were born without a thyroid faced many difficulties in life. These babies would become retarded, they would have facial defects as they grew older. (their eyes would become too far apart, also their tongues would hang out of their mouth.
These children would also be very short in comparison to what they should be, plus fat. Usually having a potbelly. Children who were born without a thyroid if they lived would become profusely retarded.
The reason why is because the thyroid is what is called a master gland. This is one of the glands that control everything from your height to your ability to learn well.
Severe mental retardation (cretinism), growth failure is what children faced before treatment became available.
For our daughter centroid was the first medication she received.
When she was born she did show signs of thyroid problems which is usually not seen so rapidly in new borns. Usually congenital thyroid problems are only found thru blood tests.
Thankfully are daughter was screened at the hospital for thyroid problems.
The symptoms that were most noticeable with our daughter was she did not really cry at all. She also did not really nurse well, she would fall asleep. In fact she slept a lot. Plus her eyes were a dull grayish color. Every day it seemed like her eyes were even more dull.
Okay, so now I am up to the part where the doctor discovered her thyroid levels were not normal. The doctors office called me on a Saturday telling me to bring her to the hospital. (she was barely a week old at the time). They practically scared me to death, they said she needed to be at the hospital at six in the morning, (They had called me late on Saturday, also as a side note if a doctors office calls you on the weekend about a test result wanting you to go to the hospital that is not a good sign, At least it has not been so far for me.)
So Saturday morning we took our daughter to the hospital as we were told to do.
When we got to the hospital she was admitted, for more extensive testing. The nurse drew blood from her arm, she never even cried. (Usually babies cry when someone does something like that, but she did not.) The reason she did not cry we later learned was because when your thyroid is not working or not there as was the case for her. Even if you do feel pain you are too tired to move, much less cry.
The testing at the hospital proved that not only were the thyroid levels off for our daughter, but she had no thyroid.
A person who does not have a thyroid will slowly die, because their whole body shuts down, one organ at a time.
Our daughter’s thyroid condition was very severe so the doctor started her on medication as soon as the results came back showing she was hypothyroid (the official diagnoses was congenital hypothyroidism).
Now I can tell you what our experience with this drug was, for our daughter when she was given the medicine it was like turning a light on. Her eyes brightened up, she started nursing a lot better, she even cried a tiny bit sometimes. (none of my children really cried a lot, but she did not cry at all not even if she was hungry or wet until after she was on medication)
For us synthroid medication was a good drug for our daughter.
There are some side effects of this medication that are not so pleasant though. As I was to find out later from actually taking this drug myself. As an adult I can tell you what an eleven day old baby can not. For a baby you just have to go by what you can observe.
Back to what I started to say for me I noticed that taking this medication caused me to start having very bad headaches, but at the same time it also made me feel more alert. My thinking or concentration became more clear. I also gained some energy. And my mood lifted.
If someone takes too much of this medication it can cause diarrhea or a rapid heart rate. Too much of this medication can speed up your system to the point it can kill you.
This medication is very helpful for those who need it but it is not to be confused with a weight-loss drug because it is not.
From my experience this has been a good drug, with the exception of the headaches, the headaches can be very bad.
