I had an ultrasound in April which showed two nodules. I have Hashimoto's. I'm supposed to get another ultrasound probably in Oct. Should the nodules shrink? What will happen if they are still there. I'm very nervous about having a biopsy on them. Also I seem to have gone hyper. Could this be from the nodules? What should I do?
I am glad you are having another ultrasound and nodules should be biopsied if they are over 2cm. Usually that is the number dr's use.
Nodules sometimes shrink or they enlarge or they can change in cellular structure..........that is why it is important to have a biopsy. They are not painful and they only take about 20 or 30 minutes. It is far better to know what kind of nodule you are dealing with than let the worry of a biopsy keep you from knowing. Honestly they are not bad at all. They give you a shot of lidocaine to numb your neck and you feel nothing but pressure.....................no pain.
Hashimoto's causes swings in hyper and hypo as well as nodules can sometimes function on their own producing hormone in addition to what you are producing. I had my thyriod removed about a month ago due to this same thing................2 nodules, hashi's and swinging from hypo to hyper all the time. Meds just don't regulate hashi's. Have you had your antibodies tested? They can make you quite ill as well. When mine would rise very high I would be having terrible hyper symptoms. Alot of dr's don't think monitoring antibody levels does any good, but my dr always did and it sure helped us determine my patterns.
Make sure you keep that ultra sound appt and see about getting them biopsied if they are large. Get copies of your ultra sound reports. They are good to have and those of us on the board who have had them can help you understand what they say.
When I had my biopsy done I honestly never felt it. I kept waiting for pain but never felt a thing. Please don't worry about this, you will be fine if you have to have it done.
The endo doc just told me they were small and she thought we should wait 6 months and do another one. That was in April. I do have a report but I forgot the size.
I haven't been on the board in a while. I finally decided to have surgery and I'm about 10 days and counting, Oct.17th. I couldn't stand the back and forth indecision, hearing one thing then another. So finally, I went to my endo, and asked her opinion. It took her about 3 minutes after loooking over my reports, and she said to have it OUT! She also is a gyn-reproductive specialist in fertility, and I was surprised to learn what she told me. She said that after breast, uterine, some ovarian & cervical, the next cancer that her patients come in with is thyroid. And, alot are our age, 34. In fact she had just had one of the women our age come in earlier that week, and it was only Wed. when I went. Anyway, once I had made my decision, I tried to stay away from all info. thyroid, because it was just making things crazy and I have a sick compulsion to read and read way beyond just researching. Anyway, what I wanted to say to you was that I hope that you have had an ultra sound again since it has been 6 mos, or atleast have an appt to do so. If you had one, write me and let me know how it turned out. It sounds like if it is still there, or has grown you should do a biopsy. And I'm sorry to be probably the first one on the board to say this, but my biopsy was not completely painless like apparently EVERYONE else's. They had a really hard getting to mine b/c of its location & they used ultra sound guided as well. So, it kind of scared me about surgery. I'm just one of those people that needs to know there may be a little pain involved, but everyone said no pain, no pain, so I went in thinking that I could go to work afterwards, hah. I had to call and cancel my client, b/c I had to keep ice on my neck for awhile. I don't want to scare you, but I felt like someone on the board should know that not everyone barely feels it. After all that, it was not excrutiating either... I feel like after having my tonsils out, my gallbladder out(the old fashioned way-not lap), and 2 children via c-section that I qualify as not being a wimp.
I'm so sorry, I just realized that I just went on and on. I must have needed to talk. I'm sorry that you had to be on the receiving end. May be something in here with be of use. PLEASE feel free to vent, ask questions, or whatever. I also noticed that you had written about wrist cysts and pain in your throat and ear some time in the past, how is all of that now? And anything happening with ovulating, losing weight, or anything else?
I really hope things are going better for you,
Hope to hear from you soon!!!
Hey tab,
Good to see you around. I am glad you said that the biopsies aren't painless for everyone. I just talked to a gal I just met and she said hers was very painful. If those nodules are rock hard I bet they are very painful. I am sorry yours was.
I agree with your dr, I have met 5 people that have had thyroid cancer!!! That is NOT so rare is it? That is why I had mine out. I was SO sick of the worry and the back and forth, I just got it out and said to heck with having to worry anymore! I am almost 9 weeks post-op and feeling great, better than I have in over 5 years.
It is so good to hear from you, hope Kathy is doing well too. That is so fantastic that you are doing SO well. It's stories like yours that keep that light at the end of the tunnel for me. Thank you, for all your support, not just for me but to every new comer to this board. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I'm getting kind-of emotional today realizing that this time next week, I'll be preparing for surgery. The waiting will be over, the not knowing will be answered. Whew! And, hopefully like you, I'll start feeling better, although I'll not be getting the whole thing removed, who knows? I'll just hope for the best!
So, what's going on with your energy, weight, and doses of your meds? & anything else???
Oh, also, how long did it take for your biopsy to come back after surgery, just curious?
Tab,
I only had a weeks notice before surgery so as you can imagine I was a bundle of nerves. I was also so glad to be getting answers and getting that mess out of me.
I was in for 3 days and the day I left the biopsy was still not back so I just waited til I saw the surgeon like 7 days later. He was pretty sure though in the hospital that there was no cancer because the nodules were so full of water and my thyroid had turned so stickey which he said is all usually just hashi's.
I am doing great on meds.........up to 175 of synthroid and taking 5mcgs of Cytomel. My surgeon was a God-send and knew to get me up quick instead of that s-l-o-w titrate that my endo wanted to do. He said if we didn't bang it up I would be so hypo it can be hard to get out of so he did the big bump and I never did have any hypo problems. I gained some weight but 5 pounds is already gone now that I am on a great dose. He also told me to monitor my bp since it is a great indicator of where you are with meds. He did a super job and in fact he is still doing my meds. I am using my pcp to do my labs because she runs everything so I don't know if I will even go to the endo long term . I don't see him til November anyway.
Tab, when is your surgery, day and time so I can keep ya in my prayers and thoughts...................you will do fine. Don't sit around biting your nails.........if you have ANY questions or concerns, just ask and I can tell you my experience with it. That is what I did to KCthy before my surgery because she as a few weeks ahead of me. She was so much support for me and it helped me so much to be able to question someone to death
