He is correct. Hashi is autoimmune and so far medical science has not come come up with cures for all the autoimmun conditions, for now anyway - hoplfully someday in the future.
So once Hashi, always Hashi, for now. And Hashi like Graves', comes with its own symptoms.
Although, symptoms could be from other health conditions that share thyroid symptoms.
Therefore, each symptom migft have to be treated separately from each other and thyroid.
That is what my ENT dr said also. Once Hashi/ always Hashi. He said the symptoms for some after a total thyroidectomy become less or worse... but you will always have that disease. Mine have changed some already... before I was not as tired and I was always hot... not I am totally wiped out tired and I am cold all the time. So, I guess the disease is still there, but the surgery just changes things....? Good luck!
What?
WHAT???
I am going to have a TT and my symptoms are not going to go away? Is that what I am reading?
I understand the antibodies are not going anywhere. I figured getting the organ out would stop the symptoms once my hormones are back in balance. This is not the case?
That is correct. I can tell you from experience. However, I am able to treat many of my symptoms that I have now (after the thyroidectomy) herbally. Although, I am on synthroid, many of my "fibromyalgia-type" symptoms I can treat successfully with minerals and herbs. Some were even prescribed to me by an integrative (holistic-type) dr. at the Cleveland Clinic.
Besides all that to deal with, you are going to still have some thyroid tissue left behind.
Thyroid surgeons tend to leave some thyroid tissue to protect the parathyroid glands and also to try to protect the nerve that is responsible for the vocal chords. The nerve runs directly through the thyroid gland, and can get nicked, or cut, during surgery. Even with the most meticulous surgery, small amounts of thyroid tissue are often left behind to help preserve the integrity of critical structures that lie beneath the lobes of the thyroid.
With even the smallest amount of tissue left, antibodies can still attack, leaving the patient with many symptoms.
Thyroid can regrow after surgery - there are thought to be antibodies that can cause this as well.
We are not necessarily home free in any of the treatments.
You might ask doctor about doing RAI a few weeks after surgery to insure killing the remaining tissue, to avoid the antidodies attacking and symptoms.
My doctor said that nobody did a thyroidectomy for Hashi's. Just how dead does a thyroid have to be before it's dead? Doesn't it make sense to just kill it and then just replace the hormones?
That depends on the condition of the gland, the type of Hashimoto's, and the patient.
Some glands have cysts, polyps, goiters, cancerous tissue. The makeup of the gland has a bearing on how the RAI will help symptoms. If you have nodules storing up excess hormones, they or the thyroid itself can "leak" the hormones out even if it is dead, as it shrivels.
If you have cancer, RAI is needed to clean up cells floating around and eliminate the excess tissue not removed by surgery, as GravesLady explained.
Hashimoto's is a catagory, with subtle varieties, not a specific condition. My Hashimoto's is not treatment friendly. Removing the organ will assure I do not get extra doses of hormone when I don't want it.
In theory.
As you see by reading above, it is not the ultimate cure.
I was pretty excited yesterday. Now I see things may not go as I hoped.
Now I understand why my doctor told me to file for SS disability. He said I was probably retired. :(
I wasn't even given an option. He said that since my T4 and T3 levels were where they were supposed to be that the thyroid wasn't inflamed and my symptoms weren't from there, so there was no reason to take it out. That's the only reason I decided to go on the anxiety meds because he convinced me that was the only option. I
I say what you say, "sigh"
I'm only 34. I can't retire.
"sigh"
Surely I will stop going Hyper once my meds are right.
Mild Hypo symptoms I could live with, but the surgery will stop the Hypo/Hyper/Hypo/Hyper cycling and allow my body to start healing.
Yes?
I don't expect to have perfect health a month after TT, but I was expecting a marked improvement within three months. I won't have Hyper symptoms, will I?
I suppose the depression will take a while to go away.
I wish you all the luck and love in the world. I do know that any change in your body takes a while to stabelize. Everytime we go through something our bodies need time to adjust. We'll all be OK.
What Herbs do you use for Fybromyalgia?
Currently, I am on Magnesium Mallate, Zyflamend, something called Fibro-Response, and Fish Oil. These were the suggestions of a dr. at the Cleveland Clinic. I have been helped tremendously.
I have Hashimoto's and have recently been on chemo for lymphoma in the thyroid. I am nervous about the side effects of radiation to the neck/thyroid and am wondering if anyone has had a thryoidectomy instead of doing radiation to the thryoid?
Had my thyroid removed 3 weeks ago because of a huge nodule, was diagnosed with Hashimotos 2 months before that after years of symptoms and praying that the surgery would get rid of them. I am learning the hard way that this is not the case. I am still getting the hives from autoimmune antibody reaction that my body began a few months ago and the endo hoped Synthroid would help calm it down but it hasn't, I'm still exhausted, and I still feel like I'm in a fog sometimes and on top of it all I'm only 30. I'm a RN so I more or less knew what to expect, but this is more than one person can handle for another like 40 years....!!!!!
If you will re-post this message on your own thread, it will much easier for members to find and respond to it.
I am so confused on all this had a TT two weeks ago to then find out I had severe hashimotos the surgeon said it was cured but not sure what to think.
As gimel said above, please re-post your message in your own thread; it will be much easier for members to respond to.
You can start a new thread, by clicking on the "Post a Question" button at the top of this page; you'll get a new blank to fill in with your own information and when finished click the green "Post a Comment" button at the bottom of the page.
Please be sure to include current thyroid test results, with reference ranges, in any new thread you post.
Adding magnesium and b vitamins to your diet will help tremendously. Beets, high green foods, and whole foods with gluten free diet will eliminate most of the symptoms with hormone replacement.
My question is:
I had my thyroid completely removed because of thyroid cancer. I was diagnosed hasimoto's prior to. Like the rest of you, both doctors indicated I would always be hashimoto's. What exactly does the hashimoto's attack if there is no thyroid left?
You've attached to a thread that's over 8 yrs old and AR-10 hasn't been active on the forum for several years, so it's very unlikely that he will respond to your post.
I agree with your diet recommendations, except that there's really no need to go gluten free unless you're allergic or intolerant to gluten... gluten free is not an "across the board" requirement for those of us with Hashimoto's.
In answer to your question about Hashimoto's ... it's true that once you have it, you have it for life, but once your thyroid is non-functional, whether it be from removal or the autoimmune destruction is complete (as is the case with many of us here on the forum), the antibodies would go into remission and no longer be active, since they only attack thyroid components...
I am confused with it at times as well. I am functioning better on NDT instead of the synthetic hormone replacement. I have also gone gluten free. I am still not out of the woods.