Hypothyroidism in Teens??? Do I have it??

I fear that I may have hypothyroidism! First of all, I've ALWAYS had cold hands and feet, brittle hair etc... and i used to weigh 115, then dieted and went down to 95 (i'm only 4'11.5")...ANYWAY, i haven't eaten THAT much more...but i've gained 10 pounds of fat. i'm 110 now. Is my metabolism just slow? I also have a 59 bpm heart rate.. is that kind of low? AND i've developed a swollen gland under my chin..it's not noticeable, but.....it's there and my dentist asked if i've been sick recently.. and i haven't! Could it have been from the excess salt i've been consuming from tons of chips, junk food? because i'm USED to eating healthy, but now i eat like...terrible processed stuff. could that swelling have been caused by that?? my parents don't think i have hypo...and won't take me to the doctor. could i get some opinions or....what it may be??? I'm kind of freaking out here..because i would hate to gain more weight if i did have hypo......

I really don't think it's hypothyroidism. If you're eating a lot of junk foods and processed stuff, that could account for the weight gain even if it doesn't seem like you're consuming a large amount of it--that stuff is just full of fat. I'm not sure that the excess salt in junk food would necessarily affect your thyroid like that. 59bpm is not too slow for a resting heart rate, especially since you have a small frame and say you've been in good physical shape. I've always had cold hands and feet, too, but decided I don't have enough symptoms to count as hypothyroid...

The easiest thing to do to really see what your metabolic rate is doing is to take your temperature first thing when you wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed or move very much at all. I am not sure exactly how low it should be, but I've read online that down to 98.0 degrees F is normal, but if it's much below 97.5 for several days consistently then you may have more to worry about.

As far as the weight gain goes, balance your diet and exercise regularly and see if that helps you out. If nothing else, it should help convert your fat to muscle, which will give you a more slim/trim body contour than if the excess weight is stored as fat.

I'd probably wait to have more symptoms be made more obvious before I worried too much, especially if your main concern is the weight gain, because a lot of factors can influence that. Research it out online, and if you still feel like you have a good case, then present all the facts to your parents and see if they'll take you to the doctor. I've heard that even a lot of doctors won't test for hypothyroidism unless they feel like you have enough symptoms for it to be a probable thing--so I'd wait and make sure so you don't waste an office visit.

Man this almost sounds like the kind of thing a doctor would know about...

dont be scared everything is gonna be alright~!go live your life and enjoy your time~~~~~~~~

The symptoms you have could be thyroid problem..the salt and fat intake could cause the gland swelling also. I would like for you to go into Mayo Clinic.com and look up thyroid. Teens can have thyroid problems. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This is Hypothyroidism Symptoms Checklist,

http://www.thyroid-guide.org/hypothyroid...

You can use this Hypothyroidism Symptoms checklist to bring to your doctor to help aid in getting a proper diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or as background information in your discussions regarding finetuning your dosage