Thyroid Nodules

[sillymama]

Hi... I've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's for some time now. But it's been acting up since I had my son six months ago. Last Jan 2008 I had a CT scan with no abnormalities in the thyroid. My TSH levels were normal throughout my pregnancy and also normal at my post-natal check-up. I just had blood drawn two months ago which also came back normal. Two weeks ago, I switched my PCP and she ran TSH and it came back 99.570. She doubled my synthroid and it went down to 48.9 and also scheduled me for an ultrasound. The results from that showed "Sonographic examination demonstrates an enlarged heterogeneous thyroid
gland. Right lobe measures 6.0 x 2.9 x 3.1 cm. The left lobe measures
5.2 x 3.1 x 2.4 cm. The isthmus measures 1.1-cm in AP thickness. The
gland is diffusely heterogeneous. There is a coarse calcification in the
mid right lobe and a 5 mm cyst in the mid right lobe. There are several
complex cysts in the mid left lobe, each measuring approximately 1 cm. " Also a note from radiology that correlation with nuclear medicine may be helpful.

My PCP asked that I follow up with my endocronologist who said well, lets check in a year. The same endocronologist told me it would be okay to go and have surgery on my arm for a nerve impingement (of course my PCP said "NO SURGERY! (until levels are normal again)"  My trust of course lies more in my PCP than my endo since she seems a little more concerned with my well being.

Would I be doing the right thing asking for more testing on this even if it's for piece of mind? I know the risk of cancer is low, but this seems pretty messed up to just be put off until another year?

Thank you!

[sillymama]

Ha ha I like the endummy and endiot too.  There's no family history of cancer that I know of... unfortunately. Although a strong family history of thyroid issues- my mother, sister and I all have Hashimoto's.

It's crazy too because I was doing more research online too and calcifications play a big part in research of thyroid/parathyroid cancer. Even though they state mine is coarse... I don't know it's so confusing and stressful! I am going for an MRI for my pituitary tomorrow, my PCP ordered it when I told her I was getting tunnel vision/ocular migraines - which I though might have been a side effect of the doubled synthroid meds.

Strangely, my Free T3 and T4 came back ok, free T3 was 123 and free T4 was .9. My PCP also ordered prolactin levels which came back normal.

What ended up happening with your pituitary tumors, did anyone end up going in and remove them?

I'm definitely going to ask my doctor for another referral even if its for someone outside of their network!

[goolarra]

I don't know which I like better...endummy or endiot...too funny, but totally appropriate in too many cases.

[rumpled]

Is there a family history of cancer?

Points in favor of waiting - multiple cysts, calcifications usually mean no cancer

Points in favor of doing the nuclear radation (which, BTW, is a pretty easy test), complex cysts (means they are mixed, hence, need to be looked at), also your thyroid is large, and your TSH is pretty out of control.

I think you need another endo as that one is an endummy. There is absolutely no reason why you should be left with such large cysts or even without testing for a year. You need medication changes. Also, TSH is a pituitary test, not a thyroid test - what are the other thyroid tests saying - is the endummy running free T3 and free T4 - you may need some T3.

All of that mess in your neck is not going to go away. Find another doctor. Preferably not another endiot.

I had a pretty messed up thyroid and had mine out - my problem was a bunch of cysts and oh yeah, two pituitary tumors that everyone said to ignore.