Thyroid goiter

[Jangray12]

Hello I .need a throidectomy.but because I'm over weight and a little unfit.the surgeon is reluctant to opperate on me..I've spoken to my drs ,who will not prescribe T3....and I feel this would really help me with my under active thyroid

Problems ..

[Nanaedake]

If your thyroid condition is optimally treated on Levothyroxine you can lose weight if you need to. Perhaps your dose of levothyroxine isn't quite right? If you post your latest blood test results here then people will be able to tell you if you are optimally treated. You need to post TSH, FT4 and FT3 and any thyroid antibodies results. Remember to include the laboratory ranges along with the results.

[Jangray12 in reply to Nanaedake]

THANKYOU I certainly will try and get my last blood test results ...

[greygoose]

Would you mind if I ask why you need a thyroidectomy?

[Jangray12 in reply to greygoose]

Hi I have a growth growing down my windpipe..which is making it difficult for me to swallow ...it will get worse .but as I'm incapacitated and have some other health issues ,including essential tremors,atrial fibrillation and asthma.my surgeon,said I was high risk.....

[greygoose in reply to Jangray12]

I see. That's bad. But, it does sound as if you're under-treated for your thyroid. When did you have your last blood test? Maybe you don't need T3, maybe an increase in your dose of levo would be all you need.

[Jangray12 in reply to greygoose]

THANKYOU ,as I've only just been declined my throidectomy I have an appointment with my surgeon,in three weeks time ..is there any questions I should be asking ,as I'm in a fog and I'm shocked to be told I'm very high risk ....Oh and an aniethatist who I saw on my pre .opp at the hospital said you havnt got A.F.today ???. So what makes me so at hi risk ...I'm dismayed THANKYOU for much needed advise ...

[shaws Administrator in reply to Jangray12]

AF can be caused due to not having sufficient Free T3 in your body. I bet you are underdosed so make sure and ask GP for all those above. If not you may have to get your own tests.

If you don't have sufficient thyroid hormone (T3) our body cannot function and our heart and brain needs the most.

The medical profession are sure very ignorant of how metabolism works.

[Jangray12]

Ps I had my blood tests done at the hospital...could I ask for a copy ...

[Nanaedake in reply to Jangray12]

Yes, just ask for a print out and say it will be helpful so you can discuss with your GP.

Any blood tests done at your GP's you can get results by asking reception or doctor for a print out or you can register online to access historical blood tests and all future ones.

[Hidden]

It would be good to be optimal with your medication you could probably lose weight then it

would help your case. I had the same operation done. The operation can be difficult because the goiter is pressing on your trachea this can take longer to perform.

The people on here will help you and then you will be fine, don't worry.

[shaws Administrator]

If you have not had a recent blood test, or had one for TSH and T4 only. Ask GP to give you a thyroid function test.

Tell GP you've taken advice from the NHS Choices for info/advice on dysfunctions of the thyroid gland.

Ask for a Full Thyroid Blood test, i.e. T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3, and thyroid antibodies. B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.

All blood tests for thyroid hormones have to be at the very earliest, fasting, and allow a gap of 24 hours between your last dose of hormones and the test and take afterwards. This keeps your TSH at it's highest as that seems to be the only result doctors take notice of.

You can get a private blood test for those GP or lab wont do from one of our recommended labs (home pinl-prick ones) and members will respond if you post them.

Why do doctors/endocrinologists not understand that levothyroxine on its own can cause weight gain and blame the patient's eating habits instead of raising the dose of levo or adding some T3 .

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Your doctor should do a Free T4 and Free T3 blood test and I'll give you a link to see the reason. These are rarely done but you can get these through a private blood test from one of our recommended labs and are home pin-prick ones.

It is NOT your fault that you have gain weight but the method of treating patients. Weight gain is a clinical symptom due to our metabolism being so slow - also not being given optimum hormones to provide a optimum FT4 and FT3.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[silverfox7]

Sounds like you have met someone similar to my new chap! On our first meeting-I'm taking NDT-I got the suppressed TSH. AF and osteoporosis lecture. I said I disagreed and would be talk to Dr X who I normally saw. Got through that appointment and thought my expert had passed me on now he keen I was on track. But I wrote to him and asked if he could instruct this de. Hap on reading results. Unknown to me my expert had left and my mosning letter was given to the chap I was moaning about! Whoops! My next appointment he knew I'd had an unrelated operation since we last met but was shocked that I hadn't had AF during the op!!!! and was I absolutely sure I had ECG recording done then realised that was a stupid thing to ask! I'm sure loads of things can produce many things that may happen but it doesn't mean it will to that they don't know how to deal with it but he really believed my suppressed TSH would do this! In the days before automatic projectors I attended many medical lectures to show slides and with our prof you really had to listen as suddenly he would say in the dialogue 'and this next slide shows .........' and so it was expected that it was up on the screen before he turned around. But he did lectures on Statistics and Probability for medical students and I never heard any mention of 100% or anything like it!

[Ruby1]

Are you on Levothyroxine currently?

It sounds like you have complex health problems - more than just being overweight and a little unfit. Perhaps you could ask them what makes you high risk and is there anything you can do to lower that risk yourself?

Perhaps try and lose some weight before your next appointment. - smaller portions and cut out the naughty foods. If you can't and you know that you have been eating sensibly, then raise that with them - perhaps your thyroid condition is not optimally treated? If you manage to lose some, then they can see you may just need time to get to a healthier weight.

Can they help you lower your risk?

Wishing you luck in lowering your risk and getting the treatment you need

[Jangray12 in reply to Ruby1]

THANKYOU much, I must say I feel the same as you've said ,although it is true I'm not a big eater.and being incapacitated ,it's impossible to walk and run about.I've had two knee oops ,one not gone very well ,.I wondered about my tremors ,do you think they were reluctant to opp due to shaking xx

[Hidden]

The basic fact is that your goitre is pressing on your windpipe and preventing you from breathing properly. This condition does not improve if left alone, it gets worse, your breathing gets more difficult, the inevitable operation becomes more difficult and you become prone to pneumonia. Your endo/doctor may not tell you all these things but that really is the truth, it happened to me and my docs were useless, told me nothing and let me suffer until I complained through PALS, which had an immediate and very successful effect on them.

In your position it will be very difficult to lose any significant weight, this weight presumably being caused by your hypothyroidism. By the time you have enough your condition is likely to be far more serious than it already is, so you really need to be pressing for some action straight away, despite your existing problems.

Any thyroid operation is always high risk due to the position of the thyroid itself. At the moment you will require the services of a highly skilled surgeon, by the time you have lost any weight an operation may be beyond even his/her abilities.

My own surgeon admitted to me that as a result of the unnecessary 7 month delay in having my total thyroidectomy the operation had become the most difficult one he had encountered in 13+ years of thyroid surgery. 7 months earlier a different surgeon had abandoned the same operation and sent me home as it was even at that time beyond his abilities.