| During puberty, the entire body begins to undergo | | | | lead to an overall lack of confidence. Such 'weak' |
| some marked changes. Given the importance of the | | | | conditions have an effect on the child's mind and he or |
| role of the thyroid gland in the body, any thyroid | | | | she might also grow up with a complex. Low thyroid |
| disorder or disease might affect or alter growth during | | | | activity also means that the individual stands at a |
| this stage. However, it is also important to keep in mind | | | | heightened risk of contracting infectious diseases |
| that different people develop at different rates of | | | | because the immune systems, in such cases, runs |
| change and any so called 'lag' in one's growth doesn't | | | | below par. Many such children have their tonsils |
| necessarily mean that there is a thyroid disorder. | | | | removed and with this stop a host of infections and |
| In most cases, girls during their first year of | | | | conditions like earaches, sore throats and breathing |
| menstruation experience irregular periods. This | | | | infections. |
| irregularity is quite common with girls who have | | | | Thyroid deficiencies can however have a twofold |
| attained puberty and as such presents no occasion for | | | | effect on the body's growth. A deficiency may be |
| worry. Hence, irregularities in growth and physical | | | | experienced during puberty but after a while the |
| phenomena need not cause unnecessary panic | | | | person may grow to become quite tall. Growth |
| because various individuals mature at various times | | | | centers, located at the ends of long bones in the body, |
| and need not necessarily bear the same growth | | | | close after a while and hence stop growth in bone |
| trends that exist within one's initial family as well. | | | | length. The thyroid hormone helps in closing these |
| However children with discernible thyroid problems | | | | centers on time but a deficiency in this hormone will |
| need attention and they shouldn't be neglected. Thyroid | | | | mean that these centers do not close on time but |
| problems not only cause physical anomalies they may | | | | bone growth continues. That is why many people with |
| also impair a person's emotional state and mental | | | | thyroid deficiencies during puberty experience long and |
| prowess. | | | | sustained growth and development even after they |
| Many adolescents, who have under active thyroid | | | | have reached the age where such growth is |
| glands, do not have the same energy that the other | | | | expected to stop. |
| children in the class display and such situations often | | | | |