Chance of being benign??

[mshanson]

My grandmother (79) just had a CT scan done which found several nodules on both sides of her thyroid. She's been having many symptoms including pain in her neck, difficulty swallowing, almost charlie-horse like spasms sometimes in the throat, she also has some symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Cancer runs in her family, though not to my knowledge thyroid cancer. I'm just wondering, given her symptoms and the fact that there's several nodules, what are the chances that these are benign and not malignant?

[Barb135]

At the very least, your mother needs the following tests:

TSH,
Free T3            Make sure you demand FREE, not Total
Free T4            This one, too must be FREE, not Total
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) to test for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGab)  also to test for Hashimoto's  (need both TGab and TPOab)
Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulin (TSI)  to test for Graves Disease

Those are the most important, but the following are also needed

Vitamin B12
Vitamin D
Calcium
Magnesium
Potassium

There are many more that might be helpful, but try getting those to start with, and go from there.

Not sure what to think about the dizziness.  Thyroid can cause blood pressure to go out of whack.  What about blood sugar levels?  Have those been tested?  If not, add fasting glucose and a hemoglobin A1c to the above list (top one) of tests.

[mshanson]

Yes, send a list of tests they should be doing, that would be great. No the dizziness seems to be constant, regardless of her pressure. They've given her pills for vertigo, but they're hit and miss, some days they work, some days they don't.

[Barb135]

It almost sounds like she's going from hyper to hypo, as she has symptoms of both.  Thyroid issues can cause blood pressure and heart rate issues; fatigue and anxiety can be present in both/either hyper or hypo.  Does the dizziness coincide with the blood pressure plummeting or when she stands up?

Do you know when they are going to do blood work on her.  Without seeing labs for TSH, FT3 and FT4, it's really hard to say what might be going on.  In addition, they should do antibody testing as well; they need to test for both Graves and Hashimoto's.  We can give you a list of tests, if you 'd like.

Again, I'd like to reassure you that the majority of nodules are not cancerous.  I, personally, have a bunch of them on my thyroid; many of us do.  

[mshanson]

Sorry, her hyperthyroid symptoms are: frequent BMs, nervousness/anxiety, fast pulse, palpitations, a lot of fatigue. Other things she has going on that probably aren't related is her blood pressure is out of whack, goes really high then plummets really low, and she's having a lot of dizziness.

[MANmom]

Chances of cancer without any other information is only 5-15%.

[Barb135]

What specific symptoms of hyperthyroidism is she having?  Some symptoms of hyper, can also be present when hypo.  

[mshanson]

No, they haven't done much yet, they're sending her to see a specialist. If you look back at my original post I put what her symptoms are. She's quite worried.

[Barb135]

Can you please post her most recent thyroid labs, along with reference ranges, since these vary from lab to lab and must come from her own report.

Aside from that, I agree with goolarra -- many of us have multiple nodules, but that doesn't mean cancer.

Has she ever been tested for thyroid antibodies to see if she has an autoimmune thyroid disease?

[goolarra]

Nodules go along with many thyroid conditions.  The vast majority are benign, and a single nodule is more likely to be malignant than multiple nodules.  

If the nodules are large, her doctor may want to do an FNA (biopsy), otherwise, they are usually just monitored periodically for changes.

Has she had any thyroid blood work?

What are her symptoms?