my friend with a goiter

[tjkj69]

Hello you clever people, just a very quick post for a friend who is not on here.

She has had a goitre for 10 years and its getting bigger. The GP says her TSH is fine.

she has now been offered surgery to remover the goitre. she is over weight and tired all the time,

what advice can i give her please. i know nothing really about goiters. thank you

[rosetrees]

Well her GP would say that, wouldn't he? They all do. She has a goitre, so TSH isn't the only game in town. He can't say she doesn't have thyroid problems and he knows she has thyroid symptoms.

Tell her to get into the habit of always asking for a print-out of all her results. Make sure she gets her iron, ferritin, folate, Vit D and B12 levels measured. It's possible that if she goes on thyroxine her goitre might shrink. I don't have a goitre, so can't speak from experience, but I'd have thought it was worth a try before taking the step of operating to remove it.

[Allyson1 in reply to rosetrees]

I would add iodine and selenium to the list. I think in SOME cases iodine repletion may help shrink goiter.