enlarged neck - large butterfly shaped bulge

[drwontlisten]

I have been experiencing symptoms of low thyroid:  weight gain, dry brittle hair, cold intolerance, fatigue etc. I told my Dr. and asked for a thyroid panel. She ran a TSH which came back as this:  TSH relative to Free T4 (0.89) which apparently is normal.  So she dismissed me and said I was fine. Today while looking in the mirror, I noticed a huge butterfly shaped lump in my neck, approx 3 inches wide and two inches tall.  It is even more apparent when I tilt my head back.  Am I crazy or does this look like a huge lump in my neck?

[drwontlisten]

Thank you.  I am glad it at least isn't all in my imagination.  I am switching Dr.s this week to figure out what is going on. Thank you so  much for feedback.

[1Kel12]

Hi,

I'm a newbie to all of this but I can see your lump, it isn't your imagination.

I have a swelling issue in my own neck and its been interesting how 4 out of 6 docs were like "wow, what the heck is that!?" and 2 looked at me and said they couldn't see a thing.

I would think another opinion is in order or just tell them to run and ultrasound on your neck (that's what they did in my case).

Take care, Kel

[drwontlisten]

Thank you.  Yeah even if my head is not tilted back that bulge is there. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy.  My doctor refused to run any other tests, since she did the one, she said nothing was wrong with me it was "the most accurate" even though I had asked her to run a complete panel.  I am calling my insurance company on Monday, and asking to switch Dr.s  I think it was about 4-5 months ago I saw this lady, and she just totally patronized me, gave me an anti-depressant rx, and dismissed every other symptom I had.

[Barb135]

It looks swollen; it may look larger because you have your head tilted back so far, it's not natural.  How long has it been since your doctor checked it?

Your symptoms, certainly indicate hypo... I'm assuming that she ordered TSH w/reflex to Free T4 and the TSH was 0.89 so they didn't run the Free T4... Is that correct?

The first thing I'd recommend is finding a doctor who will order the entire thyroid panel, including thyroid antibodies.  The thyroid panel includes TSH, Free T4, and Free T3.  You should also get thyroid antibodies, Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb) to determine if you have Hashimoto's.  

Quite often, with Hashimoto's, symptoms of hypothyroidism are present long before TSH goes out of range, which is why it's so important to test the Free T3 and Free T4, because if they are too low in the ranges, symptoms will be present.  TSH is not a thyroid hormone, it's a pituitary hormone and is affected by things other than thyroid hormones.