Thyroid scan vs Endo - who’s right?

[Chantal75]

Hello all, strange question here.

I am diagnosed hypothyroid and take euthyral (a combo pill t3/t4) as prescribed by my old endo, and everything is ok in that area. However, my old endo is unavailable and I am seeing someone new. I find some of her statements already very strange/questionable and would like to know your thoughts.

I went for a thyroid ultrasound a few months ago and it came back with the result that while my thyroid is a little on the small side of what is considered normal, it looked healthy and fine. No nodules, no goiter.

This new endo laughed when I tried to hand her the ultrasound results for my file with her. She (ironically) joked she will send me for my next one when I am 110, saying that they are useless. She then examined me and said that I have a goiter.

I told her that was strange because my old endo had put me on iodine previously (my lab results had been very low so he had me supplementing but since then they’ve been fine so no further supplementing). She insisted that I have a goiter in any case. (Personally, I don’t see it or feel it but she claims to feel it during the exam.)

When I google search the effectiveness of thyroid ultrasounds there doesn’t seem to be any question about their usefulness. But often the group here has the best advice about what is useful and what isn’t.

Is it possible that the thyroid ultrasound is really such a useless tool, and that this endo is correct and that her hands have picked up what the scan never did??

She said several other “interesting” (aka questionable, to me anyways!) things so I’m not entirely sure that I’m with the best new Dr for me. Any advice or thoughts is appreciated.

PS it’s probably worth noting that my old endo also did a physical exam previously and said that there was no goiter.

Edited: fixed it to say hypothyroid instead of hyper.

[Rmichelle]

Ooh I hope you get some answers, how frustrating for you, I've had 2 ultrasounds and both show chronic damage and nodules, I would have thought you could see a goitre on a ultrasound, sure I would be corrected on this but can you not see a goitre as they are quite big!! and you would know? Good luck.😊

[Rmichelle]

Is it possible you have someone else's scan!! It happened to me a few years back.

[greygoose in reply to Rmichelle]

Oh, that sort of happened to me, too! Not the actually scan, but the doctor's order for the scan, so they scanned the wrong bit! lol They were supposed to scan my bladder, but scanned my gallbladder! When I pointed out the mistake, they also scanned my bladder, so I got two scans for the price of one. And, as it turned out, it was a happy mistake because they found I had gall stones! So, that worked out well.

Chantal75 , a goitre isn't something that grows on your gland, it is your gland, only swollen. If they said that your thyroid on the scan was smaller than average, then I really don't see how you could have a goitre. Unless, as Rmichelle said, they muddled up the scans.

[Rmichelle in reply to greygoose]

Hey that worked out well for you then, 10 years ago I had a ultrasound on my bladder to check for abnormalities as I was getting a lot of uti's, did not hear anything for 4 weeks and I had a phone call from the gp to say please would I come in asap, well you can imagine what I was thinking, got to the appointment and he says he wanted me to go for further investigation has there was some shadowing and scarring on the bladder which could indicate cancer, well you could have knocked me down with a feather😢 it was only when he was making the request referral via a recording Dictaphone that he said the date of the scan- mine was the 20th Aug the date he had was 16th Sept!!! It was looked into I had some 80 year old ladies scan!! Massive error😬 but just think what could have happened. Not good enough really.xx

[greygoose in reply to Rmichelle]

That's terrible! And that old lady that had your scan didn't get the treatment she needed, and thought everything was ok!

At least in my case, it was caught before the other lady even had her scan, so she would - presumably - have got the right one.

[Rmichelle in reply to greygoose]

It is sad gg, what did happen to the old lady?? I had to repeat my scan! Look at the money wasted there too😐 and most importantly a possible death. X

[greygoose in reply to Rmichelle]

It's truly awful!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Rmichelle]

Oh good grief, the mind boggles at the sort of problems that mistake could bring!

[Rmichelle in reply to SeasideSusie]

I bet there are loads of people with stories to tell of medical mistakes, luckily I was quick to notice a little thing Like the date of my scan was incorrect!!😊

[Hidden in reply to SeasideSusie]

It reminds me when my partner Jesse arrived in hospital years ago ( he is a man be the way) . The surgeon when taking with him prior to the surgery was amused as he was put firmly on the women's ward to start with they refused to listen although it clearly started on his note that he was a male patient.

[Chantal75]

Definitely the scan and results weren’t mixed up. The new endo just seems to have her own very firm ideas about what’s what. She’s decided that thyroid scans are not reliable and so that’s just how it is. I’d just wondered if anyone had heard of enlarged thyroid (goiter) not showing up on a ultrasound, or that they were unreliable for some reason. I can’t understand why she is so against them. And, in all honesty, I don’t think I have a goiter. I don’t see it. The last endo didn’t see it. The radiologist didn’t see it. She does though. I don’t know. I can’t sort out whether she is the crazy in the bunch or the genius. Lol

[humanbean in reply to Chantal75]

Your current endo doesn't sound logical at all. If you have a goitre your thyroid would be larger than a normal thyroid. If your thyroid is smaller than average then you don't have a goitre.

Your endo sounds patronising, smug and useless to be honest.

Another point - you'll confuse doctors (and us) if you say that you are hyperthyroid while you are taking T3 and T4 (unless you're also taking anti-thyroid meds and are on Block and Replace for hyperthyroidism, but you haven't mentioned that). You must be hypothyroid not hyperthyroid.

[Chantal75 in reply to humanbean]

Oops. Yes sorry. Hypo!

[Rmichelle in reply to Chantal75]

I do not think she is the genius, the woman sounds a power crazy Endo. 😕

[Chantal75 in reply to Rmichelle]

I think you are right!! She said that the lab I went to was the worst in the neighborhood and to redo all my labs at the place she recommends. 🙄

[Rmichelle in reply to Chantal75]

Um I would be ditching her!!😐

[Chantal75]

Ok thanks everyone. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t some knowledge about thyroid ultrasounds that I wasn’t aware of. It was just odd to hear and I needed the reassurance. Thanks again to all for replying

[Hidden]

I had two ultrasounds prior to my thyroid being removed one in the UK and the other in France they both showed up the same problems I wonder if your Doctor knows anything about the thyroid?