Advice/same experience please

[Wavinghello]

Hello, new here and just want to know if anyone can relate to my story.

During most of the summer hols I had a cold/flu and (self diagnosed) bronchitis. I took paracetemol and carried on! On the last day of August I woke up with a large tender lump on the left/middle side of my neck, it literally came up over night!! Amazingly I got a Drs appointment the same day. I was sent for blood test and ultrasound. All bloods were normal (including thyroid) except for esr which was very high (measures inflammation somewhere in the body). It was retested and went back to normal. During the last few weeks the lump has got smaller although can still be seen and isn't tender anymore. It does sometimes 'ache'. Had an ultrasound and have been told it's a non cancerous cyst, something was mentioned about a haemorrhagic cyst, does this mean that I had a thyroid nodule that haemorrhaged? (wasn't aware of any nodules). The cyst measured 2cm x 3cm (is that big or small for a cyst?)

I've got a consultant appointment on 17th October but want to gather as much info as poss beforehand.

My Dr said it will probably need to e removed, is she right?

I've googled (I know, naughty me) and I've read that part of the thyroid would need to be removed to remove the cyst.

Can I just leave well alone or would the cyst just get worse?

My thyroid is functioning normally.

What has caused this? Can shouting cause a haemorrhage? (I work in a school and have to shout in the playground when I cover break times!!).

Just a couple of things to mention, I can see my neck pulsating ALL THE TIME and right now it feels like the back of my throat is dry/sticking.

Any advice would be very welcome, thanks.

[cjrsquared]

I had multinodular nodules that were only diagnosed when I had a bleed into one and a lump came up over an afternoon. I then had an ultrasound which showed several small nodules and was offered fine needle aspiration (fna) on one which looked ambiguous. Thyroid function tests were fine and I felt ok. Was offered surgery but opted for a wait and see and yearly ultrasound. After 5 years was having problems swallowing and occluding airway when lying flat. The nodules had slowly enlarged but as I understand they don’t always. The suspicious nodule was also monitored and finally I had to have a total thyroidectomy due to the suspicious nodule and the swelling effecting my oesophagus and trachea. The haemorrhage only happened once and is a spontaneous event shouting or increased effort etc do not pre dispose to it happening. You should expect to have an ultrasound and perhaps also a radio isotope scan depending on the ultrasound if any of the nodules look suspicious. As a footnote up to 20% of the population has undiagnosed thyroid nodules that don’t cause any problems which are only found on post mortem, so it is not unusual. I hope all goes well for you. Please don’t worry so early before further investigations.

[radd]

Wavinghello,

Welcome to our forum and sorry to hear you have had these troubles.

How do you feel ? ? ...

Hashimotos is an auto immune disease that attacks the thyroid gland and can initially present with flu-like symptoms and a lump in your neck. Thyroid swellings called cysts may form and contain a fluid that is usually treated by removing the fluid through a needle (fine needle aspiration) but if this fails, then surgery may be advised.

Most lumps are benign and very often left untreated but lumps that suddenly enlarge due to hemorrhage or bleeding within a smaller pre-existing nodule may cause pain, trouble swallowing or compression of your vocal cords and should be monitored.

Ensure your thyroid hormones are tested again in three months time and ask for thyroid antibodies TPOAb & TGAb to be tested.

If you post your recent thyroid test results complete with ranges (numbers in brackets), members will comment.

[Wavinghello in reply to radd]

Thank you both so much for replying.

I feel ok (ish). I always feel tired but I put that down to lifestyle and age.

I'm a 50 year old single mum and don't get as much sleep as I should so that's probably why I feel tired.

I have gained weight but again I've put that down to age (peri-menopause).

Unfortunately I don't have a copy of my blood test results, will ask for a copy tho.

If I'm advised to have surgery can I 'opt out'. If I don't have surgery now will it be quite likely that I will still have to have to have surgery in the future in which case is it better to get it over and done with?

Is the pulsating in my neck a cause for concern?

Off to read up about Hashimotos.

Thanks for your help

[radd in reply to Wavinghello]

Wavinghello,

I had a multi nodular goitre but have not experienced haemorrhaging of any thyroid lumps.

However, I read that haemorrhaging is relatively common and usually contains no clinical significance.

Sorry ... meant to give you link for Hashi.

thyroiduk.org/tuk/about_the...

[Wavinghello]

Thanks for the link

[silverfox7]

I had an FNA on a cyst which I think was larger than yours-it was about 22 years ago now. So it was drained and I was told to press on it for a while before I went home and it never came back. Yourscould well be the same.

[Wavinghello]

Thanks for that, hope mine is as easy!