PROBABLY JUST ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE BUT...

 

In July 2021, after having Lyme's Disease, Jonah's TSH level came back at 44!  The normal range should be .5 to 4.50!  

His endocrinologist suspects having Lyme's must have thrown his TSH off, so she upped his levothyroxine dosage from 66 mcg to 100 mcg.  

Starting in Aug into Sept, we started to notice more aggressive and angry behavior from Jonah: defiance, rude, hitting, throwing, kicking. This is not normal for Jonah.  His appetite and sleep stayed normal.

Starting the school year, this odd behavior continued and was even noticed by teachers.

So on 9-15-21, we contacted his endocrinologist to inquire if the higher dose was causing Jonah's irritability.  This is listed as a side effect of too high of dose of levothyroxine.  The doctor order TSH labs.  His TSH was <.10.  Normal range should be .5 to 4.50.  This showed the doctor that his medicine dosage was too high and so she reduced him to 88 mcg.

For his 10-11-21 6mth checkup, his labs were .53 which means he is in normal range.  

But the even better news is Jonah's behavior has evened out since going on the 88 mcg instead of 100 mcg.

However, I am not going to assume the medicine dosage was the only thing affected Jonah's behavior.

  Things were changing in our household starting in mid-August.  Stephen was preparing to go back to college, and Lydia was preparing to start college.  There is a chance that Jonah picked up on these changes and felt some sadness/frustration/stress.  

The boys also started with a new team at school due to being in middle school.  But probably to make things a little confusing for them, they continue to meet up with their old team from elementary school.  So this transition could also have been the cause of sadness/frustration/stress for Jonah.

The other factor we had to consider was with Jonah turning 11, hormone levels may be starting to change which can cause changes in behavior.  

When your child is non-verbal and can't express his thoughts and emotions, it's like a guessing game or process of elimination to figure out why he's having behavior issues.

I'm very grateful Jonah's endocrinologist listened to me and helped us out in this one possible cause.

But I'm suspecting Jonah's behavior dive was the result of all these different issues coming together for the "perfect storm". 

I'm very happy for Jonah (and us) that his behavior evened out again.  He is back to his silly mischievious self which is a whole lot more fun to be around!