Thyroid cancer - Cancer: Thyroid Message Board

momof2girlsaa · 04-01-2007, 02:08 PM

Hello, I am new here and was wondering if anyone can help me. I am 28 yrs. old and went to the doc for a regular check up and she said my thyroid was a little swollen. I went and had alot of blood work done a cbc, ths, ect. and everything came back normal. My lymp node in my neck is also swollen as well and sometimes I get this funny feeling in my right ear and a pain in my neck but it is not all the time. My doc is wanting to do a Thyroid uptake scan but isnt really telling me the reason for that. If anyone could give me any idea what might be going on or why she wanting to do this test I would really appriciate it .Thanks.

Skyye · 04-14-2007, 08:03 PM

Hi,

I was coming here to learn more about Thyroid Cancer as my 35 y/o sister was recently diagnosed with it. My sister began noticing she was losing a lot of hair and always felt drained of energy. She also complained of her body aching. She went to see her dr who noticed her thyroid was swollen. She had a scan then some fluid drained for a biopsy which came back positive for papillary type cancer. She is having surgery next Friday where they will also remove some lymph nodes and send for a biopsy as well to see if it spread.

My advice would be to undergo any testing the dr feels is necessary. The National Cancer Institute has some very helpful information on the four types of thyroid cancer and treatments available. Good luck to you...

CindyLL · 06-05-2007, 08:19 PM

To Momof2girlsaa: The scan is to make sure that if there is a problem with cancer that it isn't anywhere else. I've found out most of my information not from my dr. but from a book written by someone that had thyroid cancer. There is alot of factual information for anyone in books written by M. Sara Rosenthal, Ph.D. I have been suprised on how much more she knew that the ones treating me. I'd advise it to anyone. My husband got it from Amazon. For the ear pain... I thought it was an impending infection. What it turned out was an extremely low calcium level. My dr.s didn't know what it was but when I needed to go to Urgent Care due to the pain when I swallowed or ate they ordered calcium levels. This is not uncommon for people with thyroid difficulties as your parathyroids that control your calcium are right behind your thyroid and can sometimes be damaged. Your Nervous system is the #1 function of calcium in your body not bones. Someone forgot to mention that to me. Now take an extra 1000mg of calcium daily and levels are still low. A thyroid uptake test is to check to see if you have thyroid tissue that has traveled to anywhere else. If it's what I think you're talking about you'll have to go on an Iodine free diet for a couple of weeks then take a low dose of radioactive iodine, then come back within next two days and get a scan. Read up on requirements etc. on different cancer sites as they will tell you what tests are for. This is a precautionary measure it sounds like for you. Has your dr. talked about a biopsy? Quicker and results faster than the scan. That can come later if need be. Don't mean to scare you but being informed is better than guessing. I've been guessing for too long.

purpleglitter · 06-25-2007, 03:36 PM

Hey, just jumped in on this one. I just got done with my 1st RAI treatment and my endo is just as flaky as can be. I've only seen him once and have been dealing with diffuse sclerosing variant form of papillary carcinoma since the end of March. The only time I get a call from his nurse is after I leave several messages. The book you reccommended is appreciated. I will check it out too.

rosequartz · 06-25-2007, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by momof2girlsaa

Hello, I am new here and was wondering if anyone can help me. I am 28 yrs. old and went to the doc for a regular check up and she said my thyroid was a little swollen. I went and had alot of blood work done a cbc, ths, ect. and everything came back normal. My lymp node in my neck is also swollen as well and sometimes I get this funny feeling in my right ear and a pain in my neck but it is not all the time. My doc is wanting to do a Thyroid uptake scan but isnt really telling me the reason for that. If anyone could give me any idea what might be going on or why she wanting to do this test I would really appriciate it .Thanks.

you need a thyroid ultrasound first, and then a FNA, fine needle aspiration, sometimes caleld FNB, fine needle biopsy. I wouldn't do the uptake scan. It will only tell you if a nodule is hot or cold, and it won't tell you what that nodule is composed of.....you will still need an FNA. Skip the radioactive scan, it's just not necessary.