My 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes almost 3 years ago. Today she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I have been told that thyroid problems are common with diabetes but I would like to know more, such as why? I can find very little on the Internet connecting the two.

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Over twenty years ago it first came to be realised that what is now called Type 1A Diabetes was in fact a disorder of the immune system. In time too the enormous complexity of this process came to be better understood and at the same point it became clear that there were quite often other associated targets besides the beta cells in the pancreas. The commonest of these was the thyroid gland; but there were others like the mucosa of the upper bowel and the adrenal gland. When targets were grouped, this came to be called The Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome. Many centers now routinely test for these additional possibilities by looking for anti transglutaminase antibodies for the celiac syndrome and for anti 21-hydoxylase antibodies as an indicator of suprarenal involvement. If you are prepared to grapple with some technical jargon a good place to review all this is in www.uchsc.edu/misc/diabetes/oxch8.html

DOB