Seriously, who knew the thyroid was so annoying?

[myneckistickingmeoff]

I randomly noticed a lump on my neck about two weeks ago.  Since I recently started work at a university as an adjunct, I have no health insurance so ended up at a walk-in clinic thinking maybe (ok, hoping) I just had mono.  From there, I have been poked, prodded and poked again as an ultrasound and several rounds of blood tests were done.  I have since been told I have an enlarged thyroid, multiple nodules on both side of my thyroid (ranging from 1.5 cm to  2.7 cm on the right) and that I must get a biopsy.  My blood work has all come back as TSH normal (1.108), T4 normal and T3 uptake high at 40.1%, as well as, a high Anti-TPO at 134.  In the interim as I search for both health insurance with a pre-existing condition (hahaha, that's funny even when I write it) and a medical professional who will biopsy a cash pay patient (almost just as funny!), I ended up in the ER with insanely high blood pressure / heart rate for a normally zen like person who previously could have had 110/70 stamped on her forehead.  They gave me metoprolol and said take these and call an Endo.  So while I'm waiting to navigate the medical system and find people who actually accept dollar bills as payment (forgive me if I'm snarky, I'm alternatingly hot and cold with a neck pressure somewhere around the amount of the GoodYear blimp), I'm curious to know what all this makes me.  With a normal TSH, I'm assuming I'm not hypo or hyper, yet with this lovely accessory to my neck, I'm guessing I'm not really normal by any stretch of the word.    

[CSmith2280]

Go to your local hospitals & ask if they do hardship cases. It's easy to fill out

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Looks like Hashimoto's thyroiditis with normal thyroid function (likely no need/benefit from meds) with multiple nodules that do require FNA.
Most of us take cash-pay patients, so not sure what the problem is there.  An endocrine evaluation is in order.  Even benign nodular goiter can cause symptoms and in some cases (depending on the size of the thyroid) surgery is needed.