Question from Richland, Washington, USA:

My 15-year-old son was diagnosed at the age of 12 and was switched to Lantus and Humalog about nine months into the disease. A number of things changed over the next two years. He is not as physically active as he was before and, even though he does get physical activity, there is room for improvement. Over the two years on Lantus, he has continually gained too much weight even when trying to control the issue. He is now overweight. He is also having issues with the Lantus working as it does for most. For him, it lasts 22 hours and has a quick plateau at around the five hour mark. Since he does a split dose, this happens twice and his Lantus need are increasing up to 90 units daily.

Due to the insurance company denying his insulin pump therapy, I have been doing some review of his medical records. I am finding a few things recorded that have not been mentioned or fully explained to us. I feel somehow they have been overlooked. He was diagnosed with chronic thyroiditis. The laboratory tests revealed that he has an elevation of the thyroid antibodies for both antiperoxidase and antithyroglobulin. His thyroid gland was not enlarged but palpable. Could you tell me what this means and is this something that requires medication to treat? Also, could this have anything to do with some of the weight gain?