The sharp pains could also be cystic fluid leaking from one of the nodules.
Thanks for the information! Honestly, I can't tell if the other tests were done or not, I've always stressed so much about it being cancer that I ignored all the lab tests and their results and focused on the FNA.
You made me realize that they are in fact important. I'll dig them out to see what it's been tested.
So, do you think it's normal that over time, and with aging (I'm 45 by the way) that new symptoms show up and old symptoms get worse? The sharp pains started a few month ago, and they seem to be happening more often.
It sounds like you could benefit from a low dose of thyroid hormone. Has your doctor ever tested anything besides TSH? You need also to have Free T3 and Free T4 tested.
Have you had antibody tests to determine whether or not you have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis? Hashi's is an autoimmune disease in which antibodies attack and eventually destroy the thyroid. As the destruction process progresses, your thyroid is able to make less and less hormones, and you will become more hypo as time goes on.
Hashimoto's is diagnosed via the presence of nodular goiter and antibodies. You have the nodules; you need to get antibodies tested. It's not unusual to have pain in the thyroid area when the antibodies are raging. Scratchy throat is a symptom of hypothyroidism.
Ask your doctor to test your actual thyroid hormones - Free T3 and Free T4, along with TSH, as TSH is a very poor diagnostic for thyroid disease. In addition, ask for Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGab); those will tell you if you have Hashimoto's or not. The Free T3, Free T4 and TSH will tell you if you are beginning to go hypo. With your TSH currently in the upper end of the range, my guess is, you are.
While thyroid med (synthroid, levothyroxine, etc) won't shrink the nodules, it can certainly make you feel better; and there are other things you can do to help your symptoms.
I'm sorry I cannot answer your question as I have the opposite, an underactive thyroid. Thyroid problems run in my family on my father's side and I have a cousin and aunt who have thyroid problems. She had a goiter, but now takes meds for an undertative thyroid, so I guess she had treatment for this and now the situation has reversed and she has an underactive thyroid now.