Can anybody tell me why a thyroid condition (untreated overactive) is cause to cancel my knee op?

[William28]

Can anybody tell me why a thyroid condition (untreated overactive) is cause to cancel my knee op?

[Heloise]

Hi William, I'm not a medical person but being hyper means you are already stressed, the surgery is going to add more stressors no doubt. Specifically, I couldn't tell you what it means but it is probably not a good thing. Perhaps you could ask your doctor's to assess whether the stress of a bum knee is just as bad as having the surgery.

[William28 in reply to Heloise]

Thanks Heloise

[wightmouse]

hi William28.

Not sure why but when I was overactive I had to have a couple of shoulder ops, the Anaesthetist was not happy to give me a general anaesthetic so they did the op with a nerve block. I then later had to have an op shall we say lower part of my body and again the anaesthetist gave me an epidural so I could not feel anything below waistline.

I would ask if this would be an alternative for you. They give you a relaxant so you are not fully aware what is going on.

Take Care.

[William28 in reply to wightmouse]

Thanks Wightmouse thats a great help

[carly77]

Hi when I was over active with Graves I was also refused an operation, I was told it was because they could not take the chance I would have a good airway to breath, and also because of stress on the heart. x

[William28]

Thanks for Reply Carly, I spoke to my surgeon this morning & he said I have to fix thyroid issues before he will operate. I actually feel fine too.

Take care Carly

[rubyred in reply to William28]

Hi William28 I am a graves and before I was diagnosed if I had treatment at the dentist the anesthetic had worn off in about 50 minutes. I actually thought that the NHS had cut back on it to save money. I told my dentist this and it fell on deaf ears. Now after RAI my anesthetic. Lasts about 5 hours before it has worn off. This may be another reason. During an operation it's not just the strain on the body but also how quick the body will get rid if the anesthetic it's too unpredictable. X

[William28 in reply to rubyred]

Thanks for reply Rubyred,

Reading your post its no wonder my op was cancelled.

I begged the surgeon to operate but flatly refused to operate, i even offered to have an epidural.

Im in the encranologists hands now, my appointment is Friday 13th, same date as my cancelled op. Fingers crossed 😁

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Affects blood clotting and might increase likelihood of a blood clot forming. I do think that the surgeon and anaesthetist are probably right.

I am wondering how you could get almost to the trolley before anyone said anything. Assuming your notes mention thyroid I'd have expected to be picked up somewhat earlier.

J Endocrinol Invest. 2002 Apr;25(4):345-50.

Blood coagulation and fibrinolysis in patients with hyperthyroidism.

Erem C1, Ersoz HO, Karti SS, Ukinç K, Hacihasanoglu A, Değer O, Telatar M.

Author information

Abstract

Several papers concerning abnormalities of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis during hyperthyroidism, have been published. Increased von Willebrand Factor (vWF) activity and high fibrinogen levels have been reported. However, there is controversy concerning the presence of a hypercoagulable state in hyperthyroidism. We investigated various hemostatic parameters in 41 hyperthyroid patients and compared them to 20 euthyroid controls. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), fibrinogen, factors V, VII, VIII, IX and X activities, vWF, antithrombin III (AT III), protein C, protein S, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), as well as common lipid variables, were measured. The relationships between serum thyroid hormones and these hemostatic parameters were examined. Compared with control subjects, fibrinogen, factor IX, vWF, AT III and PAI-1 were significantly increased in patients (p<0.05, p<0.0001, p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.0001; respectively), whereas factor X and t-PA were decreased (p<0.05). We showed that free T4 (FT3) levels were correlated with factor VIII activity (r=0.35, p<0.05). FT4, FT3 and TSH did not correlate with fibrinogen, vWF, AT III, t-PA, or PAI-1. AT III was inversely correlated with factor VII activity (r=-0.48, p<0.01). Protein C and S were correlated with vWF levels (r=0.58, p<0.0001; r=0.55, p<0.0001, respectively). Protein C was inversely correlated with t-PA (r=-0.39, p<0.01). There was a negative correlation between triglycerides, LDL-C and F X (r=-0.45, p<0.05; r=-64, p<0.01, respectively). Mean platelet volume (MPV) was correlated with anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibodies (in Graves'disease) and F IX activity (r=0.57, p<0.05 and r=0.39, p<0.05; respectively). We found important differences in the coagulatory /fibrinolytic parameters between the hyperthyroid patients and healthy controls. Hyperthyroid patients may experience vascular endothelial dysfunction and decreased fibrinolytic activity in blood. This endothelial activation may represent a situation with a higher thromboembolic potential.

PMID: 12030606

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/120...

[William28 in reply to helvella]

Thanks Helvella,

I had underactive thyroid diagnosed and treated for a couple of years, my doc asked me to stop medication, i dont know why & during a blood test in Oct/Nov my results showed overactive thyroid. So much so he e-mailed my consultant asking for an appointment & also asked me not to fly to my winter holiday. That appointment came through for Friday 13th some 4 months later. Because i waited so long i figured there was nothing to worry about but the consultant HAS writen "must attend" in biro across my letter lol.

Fingers crossed 😁

[rubyred in reply to William28]

Sending lots of thoughts, hugs to you. Hope all is sorted for you soon x

[William28 in reply to rubyred]

Thanks so much Rubyred 😘

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to William28]

I encourage you to get hold of your blood test results for the past few years. That might help you to appreciate exactly what has been happening.

nhs.uk/chq/pages/1309.aspx?...

It is alarming how many hyperthyroid people we see who have to wait weeks and months for appointments - often without any medication.