Thyroid coming out June 27

[danie17075rm]

I met with the surgeon.  I went over every symptom I have had.  He said I can very well have a pituitary problem, but my endo needs to deal with that, as it is not what he specializes in.  The doctor was nice.  It's a teaching hospital so I also had to deal with students.  He said that even though I might have a pituitary problem, most of my tests and symptoms are completely consistent with hashimoto's.  I am positive for 2 types of antibodies (that was new information).  He said that the thyroid has to come out, even if I have other problems.  My thyroid is causing too many issues and he said it felt all rubbery.  He actually made all the med students come in and feel my thyroid as it is apparently the "perfect" text book hashimoto's thyroid.  You can even feel the edges of mine. YAY, at least my thyroid is good for something lol.  I said I'm glad it can be of use to someone and they said, "hey we will get to see it when it comes out too" lol.  He said that radiation would not have been a good choice for me.  My hashimotos is so bad that different parts of the thyroid uptake the iodine at different rates.  He said this would have been really bad for me, and surgery is definitely the best option.  He can just remove it, and I will finally have a steady dose of thyroid hormones.  He also said that I should not be too expectant that this will cure everything.  He said it plays havoc on the nervous system, and sometimes it doesn't get entirely better.  He is going to examine the parathyroids while he is in there, but he really wants me to try and raise the vitamin D before surgery.  They had an opening June 1 for surgery, but I really wanted some time to take this in.  My surgery is schedule for June 27.  A few weeks before that I have a pre-op appointment and a few weeks after surgery my post-op appointment.  He said since I have an autoimmune disease, getting rid of the thyroid doesn't always help the autoimmune problem.  UGH.  I'm kind of scared that it won't make me feel better after what he said, but I do know it will give me a constant flow of hormone rather than too much or too little.  SO, that is the news.  The thyroid is going bye bye.  I don't know how to feel about it yet. At least I have some time to think. I hope this is the right decision!

[danie17075rm]

Yep, I have the rubbery thyroid, although I wouldn't consider 4 years the beginning stages of my disease (unless it started to feel that way years ago).  I had a bad endo at the time, so he would have never noticed.  Maybe when they take it out they can bounce it around.

[Brucergoldberg]

This talks about rubbery thyroid.  http://ehealthmd.com/library/hypothyroidism/HYO_causes.html

[Brucergoldberg]

Barb,  

Then why don't we just have rai and be done with it?

[jmamie1]

im glad your feeling better..thats good to know if i have the RAI that i will be better..Dani best luck to you..we all have battles we have to fight..life is full of them..we have to make our choice as to what right for us..and its good to have people helping you to give you advice ..im so glad to have found this site..it helps me so much and gives me hope..thank god for this site..

[danie17075rm]

20 years, what a nightmare!!!  I don't have that kind of dedication lol.   If I'm gonna have antibodies, I wish they would chomp it away all together instead of torturing me!  In the past I had hashimoto's with short periods of hyper (feelings anyway, my endo at the time never tested me for anything).  It wasn't until the last year that I developed the almost constant hashitoxicosis.  Thank you so much for the well wishes.  I really appreciate all the feedback.  It really does help to talk about it!

[Barb135]

Antibodies are not what make a person go hyper or hypo....... antibodies are those nasty little critters that are chomping away at your thyroid, killing it off cell by cell (what a horrible picture --- lol) ...... The thyroid is what makes you hyper and hypo, by either producing too much hormone or not enough......

Thyroid medication does not suppress antibodies...... thyroid medication simply replaces the hormones that the thyroid no longer produces.  Antibodies go into remission (don't go away, just become inactive) when there is no "live" thyroid tissue left to chomp on....

I spent about 20 yrs swinging back and forth, between hyper and hypo, before I finally went hypo and have stayed there.........

Thyroid removal is hardly ever done, simply because a person is hypo; it's done because of Graves Disease, cancer, Hashitoxicosis, etc........

Dani -- wishing you the best of luck.......