Living without a Thyroid Gland

[sophiesudane]

Good afternoon. This is my 1st time on this site.  I had a total thyroidectomy 3 weeks ago.  They suspected cancer, but It ended up being benign.  Yeah.  

To back up a bit, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism at the age of 22 and then figured out the cause of the hypothyroidism was Hashimoto Thyroiditis at the age of 28. Well, over the years nodules were found on both sides of my gland and were monitored. About 6 months ago during my annual exam they noticed my gland was extremely enlarged and my nodules were abnormally large. Well, we ran all the tests and did a needle biopsy. The report came back as suspicious. At that point I met with the surgeon and the rest is history.

I am pleased to be through the scare, but now need to find out about living without the gland.  Over the last 3 weeks I have found myself to be very weepy and emotional. I am also very tired during the day, but struggle to get a good nights rest. I have also woken up with the feeling of panic attacks. My guess is that my dosage is off. Right after the surgery they put me on the same dosage of thyroid replacement medicine (150 mcg) I was on prior to the surgery. I have 3 weeks to go until I have my levels tested.

So, I am 31 and struggling with all the chemical changes in my body.  Sometime I feel as if I am going crazy with all the emotional lows I have. I should be elated that I am cancer free and able to move on with life as normal. But I do not feel that way. Help.

Can anyone offer me tips on how to cope and any suggestions on a healthy lifestyle (diet/exercise) regimen I can incorporate into my life. Any idea of some the hurdles I might need to prepare myself and my loved ones for??

Thanks

[jennymarie30]

I found your thread this morning whilst trawling the web in desperation. I know that sounds dramatic but right now it is how I feel. I had my thyroid removed with papillary cancer six years ago and can identify with everything you say. I feel a sense of relief that I am not alone (although so sorry that you too are going through this awful thing) but right now I just don't know how to cope.
The initial relief following the cancer treatrment has gone for the most part and of course while  I am so very grateful for the medical support I have had I constantly feel that I am struggling. I see my oncologist on the 13th Sep (Friday13th unfortunately!) for my yearly meeting and I just want to be able to communicate how I feel without coming across as some neurotic - which is how I seem to make myself look! My blood results seem to indicate all is as it should be yet I still have these awful 'episodes' that I can't predict or control. Extreme fatigue, sometimes with uncontrollable yawning, anxiety and a feeling I am losing myself ( I just can't put it into words but when I feel it I just want to end it all because I feel lost and helpless) Then I can feel fine for a while and try to make the most of these times but it is never far away.
I am a teacher about to return to work next week which I am absolutely dreading - I used to love my work but now I feel trapped and panicky at the thought. I don't know how to deal with things, do I let work know just how I feel and run the risk of losing my profession or keep quiet and struggle on? After all in many ways I have already lost the profession I used to know. But I need to work, I need to pay my bills, my home...live!
Lots of decisions that I can't seem get my head around.
I just needed to rant...so thank you for listening!!!

[gimel]

I'm a bit confused about some of those test results you posted.  Please post the reference ranges for each, so we can give you the best response.  

[rivechapman]

I took radioactive iodine back in 1989. Every month a week before a woman's special time I broke out in welts all over my body. This went on till about less than two years ago. I still get a few here and there. I told my endo. he said it could not be from my thyroid. They still I believe after all this time do not have my levels right. Come to find out I'm allergic to the synthedic thyroid meds. They diagnosed me with hypothroidism way back then. But I'm still sluggish moody dry skin . Anyways here are my levels--tsh 0.48L --t3 uptake 26.70-- normal , t3 total 1.54 normal, t4 ( thyroxine ) 0.93 normal but on low side, t4 free 1.71 normal but on low side. I now take two Armour Thyroid 90 mg. Help me to talk to Dr to get on right path to feeling better after all this time

[zena0]

Hi my name is zena i just removed my left thiroyd 3 weeks ago and it was cancer the doctor want me to do the right side now but the during the surgery they damage my vocol cord so if i do the right side now thewre is chance they damage the right vocol cord and i end up haave holl in my throw to talk and breath this waht the dr says.  But i said  i see scond opinion so i saw this dr he said we wait tell my vocol cord to heal and them we do it but at time we can do ultrasound for the right one to see if there any lump cancer in it  i have that 5 more days butmy cancer was encapsulated so i hope i have no more lump ijust given birth to 8 weeks baby im so depressed what youguys thing i need so one wont ture this befor help

[lydisy]

good to get a second opinion with something that serious ALWAYS! Any physician that doesn't get this is not looking out for your best interests!

[fromnvtoaz]

It was really nice to find these posts.  I too had my thyroid removed and I have never felt the same.  I was relieved to see that so many people are having the same symptoms as I am.  I wasn't sure if my problems were due to the removal of my thyroid or just the fact that I am getting older.  The only thing I know is that I can not take generic drugs.  I was having a lot of heart palpitations and anxiety...I ran out of my generic drug and my doctor gave me  three months of synthroid samples.  After two months I started feeling better and my heart palpitations started to go away.  I still have anxiety (which I never had before surgery) from time to time but I rarely have heart palpitations anymore.  The biggest change I have found in myself is that I have really low self esteem and I don't deal with stress nearly as well as I used to.   If you have not had the surgery yet I was just strongly suggest that you research your surgeon and symptoms.  They are starting to link a lot of thyroid problems to the auto-amune system.  I was told that there is a doctor at Stanford that is the thyroid doctor of all doctors.  

[Momof3boys74]

I just had my thyroid and 50 lymphoids removed on July 2. My thyroid and 20 of the lymphoids came back as cancer.  The surgery was a lot longer than expected because they mass was over 10cm and entangled in the nerves of my neck.  My surgeon was awesome.  I didn't have much pain in my neck.  Most of my pain was in my left arm from the nerves regenerating. I really cant complain much since it has only been two weeks.  After reading all of the post I feel much better know what I may run into with the meds. Thank you.