My tummy hurts - a case report of abdominal pain and macrocytic anemia caused by hypothyroidism

Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Case Reports
Kewan HamidElna Saah

Abstract

A 6-year-old female presented with chronic intermittent abdominal pain for 1 year. She underwent extensive investigation, imaging and invasive procedures with multiple emergency room visits. It caused a significant distress to the patient and the family with multiple missing days at school in addition to financial burden and emotional stress the child endured. When clinical picture was combined with laboratory finding of macrocytic anemia, a diagnosis of hypothyroidism was made. Although chronic abdominal pain in pediatric population is usually due to functional causes such as irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal migraine and functional abdominal pain. Hypothyroidism can have unusual presentation including abdominal pain. The literature on abdominal pain as the main presentation of thyroid disorder is limited. Pediatricians should exclude hypothyroidism in a patient who presents with chronic abdominal pain. Contrast to its treatment, clinical presentation of hypothyroidism can be diverse and challenging, leading to a delay in diagnosis and causing significant morbidity. Hypothyroidism can have a wide range of clinical presentations that are often nonspecific, which can cause difficulty in diagnosis.In pediatric patients presenti...Continue Reading

References

Jan 6, 2009·Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics·Michael SchneiderJerome Perera
Dec 23, 2009·Gastroenterology·Christine Y HachemDevang Desai
Dec 24, 2011·Drugs·Deepak Khandelwal, Nikhil Tandon
May 23, 2012·Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry : International Journal of Experimental Cellular Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology·Mariela J CoriaMaria S Gimenez
Aug 14, 2012·Indian Journal of Pediatrics·Utpal Kant SinghNishant Verma
Jul 3, 2013·Indian Journal of Pediatrics·Anju Seth, Anu Maheshwari
Mar 26, 2014·Hormone Research in Pædiatrics·Juliane LégerUNKNOWN Congenital Hypothyroidism Consensus Conference Group
Apr 1, 2011·Medical Journal, Armed Forces India·Sanjeev KheraAmit Devgan
Mar 25, 2017·Lancet·Layal ChakerRobin P Peeters

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Methods Mentioned

BETA
X-Ray
biopsy

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anemia

Anemia develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells. Anemia of inflammation (AI, also called anemia of chronic disease) is a common, typically normocytic, normochromic anemia that is caused by an underlying inflammatory disease. Here is the latest research on anemia.