TT

[mummytina]

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of having a thyroidectomy in lay mans terms because my friends daughter is having trouble deciding what to do for the best

Thank you

Tina

[Hidden]

Sorry you've had no replies. It may be a complicated question...

A total thyroidectomy will render you Hypothyroid, you will be completely reliant on medication/thyroid hormone for ever- it may be difficult to control levels. Parathyroid glands should be left intact. RadioActive Iodine (RAI) treatment is often recommended if the TT is due to cancer.

If you have a partial thyroidectomy (like me) there is a chance the remnant can produce enough hormone. Or it will for a while then run out of steam - If it's an autoimmune disease it will attack the thyroid until it gives up.

Best advice is have a good look around the site and read up on experiences. Best wishes Jane

[Hidden]

What is her diagnosis? Why are they offering a TT? Honestly in a young person it should be a very, very last resort. I had a TT as I was misdiagnosed for a long time, also had thyroid cancer and couldn't have RAI as I had eye disease (I wouldn't have done RAI either).

In some very serious cases of cancer, late stage uncontrolled Graves or Hashitoxicosis then TT is the best option (in that it is less bad than the other option which is dying of thyroid disease) but I honestly wouldn't put someone through it unless their life depended on it.

People are offered TTs for all sorts of silly reasons like goitre, nodules etc and there are other things that can be done first to try and sort those. I would not condemn a young woman to a life without a thyroid. Some of the issues people suffer are:

uncontrolled weight gain

hair loss

muscle weakness

infertility and heavy periods (flooding)

constipation

brain fog and really impaired cognition

The fact that you will die without replacement hormones

Finding an endo who understands and b) to be blunt, gives a sh*t (rarer than hen's teeth)

Without knowing what's wrong its hard to advise you but even though I had no other choice I mourn the loss of my thyroid every day, it's removal ruined my life.

Rebecca

x

[mummytina in reply to Hidden]

The reason is because they can't get her levels stable enough on carbimazole for her to have a baby and that's what she really wants she already has one child and if she went down the route of radioactive treatment she would have to stay away from the baby for six weeks and he's only two and how can u make him understand that so she feels she has no choice.

Thanks for your help but since writing thus question she has decided to go ahead and have it done.

Tina x

[Peacefullbliss in reply to mummytina]

I hope your friend has really thought this through properly and knows what she is letting herself in for. I had a TT after having a goitre for about 15 years. My goitre kept growing and if I did not have my thyroid removed it would have started to compromise my breathing. Having a large goitre is not a silly reason to have a TT. I have read of cases where a goitre left too long has wrapped itself around the throat and started growing down the back.

I have struggled with my health ever since my TT. I have had one serious illness after another. Getting one's numbers stable post TT is a struggle as is feeling well on the replacement thyroxine which your friend will be reliant on.

Everyone fares differently post TT. It is a huge decision to have one's thyroid removed not a decision which should be taken lightly.

If there is no real medical need for your friend to have a TT I would advise her not to. I wish her the best in her decision making. I hope she chooses the right course of action for herself.

[Hidden in reply to Peacefullbliss]

I really feel for her, it sounds like a rock and a hard place but she should be aware that being without a thyroid might make the fertility situation worse. My sex hormones went beserk post TT and mainstream medicine has been NO USE WHATSOEVER. I've done it myself with bioidentical thyroid hormones and sex hormones but at one point I was not ovulating and in a real mess gynae wise. They could try her on block and replace and I believe PTU is the drug they use through pregnancy - but enough to shut the thyroid down with one drug and the the levo to replace it.

Also, whilst I understand the yearning for another baby, she is really lucky to have one child - thanks to medical incompetence and a long time getting diagnosed (ie being told my graves symptoms were mental and not physical) I have pretty much missed my chance to have kids, and its doubtful, for the reasons stated above, whether my post-TT body would sustain a pregnancy anyway.

But i do agree TT is better than RAI - in my opinion no woman of child bearing age should have RAI, I know a few horror stories there, one friend of mine was plunged into the early menopause days after RAI and all hopes dashed of having a child ..... 5 years on she has a hot flush every 30 mins day and night. Of course they told her it was nothing to do with her thyroid which is total rot of course ....

Please encourage her to very carefully do her homework and to be prepared to go 'off piste'. Something like the Marion Gluck clinic might be a place to help if she gets stuck after TT - IVF is bad news, flooding the body with synthetic hormones, you'd want to go the bioidentical route.

Good luck,

Rebecca

xxx