Please can I ask you a question and please be honest I won’t be offended!!
This bulge here on my neck which I’ve had for a while is it just excess skin/fat or thyroid related, I think maybe the first as I am 52 so things are starting to go south, but I have never noticed this on anyone else?! Thank you 🙏🏼 x
I do have an underactive thyroid and I’m on levothyroxine, have been for about 4 years
I think I'd want an ultrasound scan. To me, it looks sufficiently like a thyroid swelling to think it needs to be checked.
Do you have Hashi's? If so, it's pretty likely to be a goitre. But difficult to tell from that angle. 
It’s weird because if I pull my skin from the back of my neck it does go flat, but I’ve never seen saggy skin there before on anyone and looking back at my profile photo I had it then too?
It's not just skin, is it. I've just seen on your profile that you do have Hashi's, so your thyroid could be a bit swollen from that.
Thank you I will make an appointment to see GP, just didn’t want to waste anyones time if it’s just an age thing and a saggy neck if you know what I mean! Thanks again as always
I would ask for a referral to ent or make a private appt with ent to get a medical opinion and scan as necessary.
Looks like a goitre to me and I'd ask for a scan too. Mine looks similar and I have a large nodule so having my right lobe removed soon
Thank you x
Your bulge looks like my mother-in-law’s and the GP sent her for a scan after he spotted it when she was visiting him for something completely unrelated. She was told it was a goitre - no resulting issues but at least she knew. Definitely worth checking out.
Thank you x
If you have Hashimoto's as I do, then it could be a goitre. I have the same on the right side but the left side has been dragged down behind my sternum into a large retrosternal goitre which is pressing against my windpipe and gullet causing breathlessness, coughing, choking and silent GERD. It can only be seen on a CT scan and is sitting at the top of my chest. My surgeon reckons it has been growing for at least the past 20 years and I was diagnosed in 2002 Contact your GP and ask to be referred straight to a Head and Neck Surgeon who specialises in thyroid surgery. They will refer you for the scans. Avoid Endocrinologists - they don't operate. I'm having a complete thyroidectomy in a couple of weeks. Treating Hashimoto's with levothyroxine does not shrink a goitre. Surgery is the only answer.
I have exactly the same in the same place. Finally got a face to face with G.P. in June. At first she said she couldn’t see anything! Then when I moved she noticed and has requested an ultrasound, still waiting for an appointment. She said it wasn’t thyroid related as too low, however I’m not convinced.
How does it feel? Any pressure on your windpipe? Is there a lump or all flesh? Better to check it out.
There is no lump as such but definitely a bulge there if I press and it just feels constantly like I have a scarf on too tight or that Someone is slightly pressing on my neck x
Sounds like it is worth checking out. Be wary of GPs that don't know what they are looking and feeling.
It looks suspiciously like a goitre to me. Please ask for a scan / medical advice. x
Will do x
I too have a multi nodule goiter in my neck. I can feel the lump swelling against my windpipe, as though something is stuck in my throat. We could be thyroid twins 😂
Omg I thought that was me lol! I even have that necklace! Yes that’s exactly like mine. Have they suggested for you to do anything or have anything done or do you just have to just put up with it? Are you on medication x
Was told its not cancerous and to have regular blood tests to check my thyroid levels and to monitor changes. Sadly due to Covid and a less than proactive GP, I have been in limbo land for 2 years. Due to start challenging again this month for bloods and a referral due to numerous other symptoms.
Yes, it does look like a goitre low down. I have/had one which went down when I took Levothyroxine. I had a scan which showed a multi nodular goitre. The NHS normally only do a scan to rule out cancer, not detect a goitre. If they won't do it, there is an ultrasound scanning company in Harley St (advertised ont he Thyroid UK website and on posts here) who will do it for about £150/170. Press the swelling on each side to see if it hurts or you can feel any lumps. There might be nodules or a cyst there. It does not look like an age-related swelling to me as it would be all over, ie higher up.
Best of luck.
Thank you so much fir that, I will definitely arrange for a scan one way or another that’s very useful about that private place. It doesn’t really feel painful to touch but it just feels like I’m slightly being strangled LOL there’s a bit of pressure there! That’s what I thought about the age thing, just I don’t have it anywhere else so why would it suddenly just be there it doesn’t makes sense? X
I’m thinking it’s probably a goiter and not fat. Best to check with your doctor for professional opinion. Best regards.
Pre hypothyroid diagnosis I tried on a necklace that I had just got restrung. It was so tight it was impossible to wear. Swearing under my breath I thought bl..dy jeweller has got this wrong. However post diagnosis and ultrasound showing ‘inflammation’ and a years medication, I saw the necklace and tried again. Lovely. So depending on your cause, it might just disappear again.
I had a total thyroidectomy due to a large compressive goitre, probably twelve years ago. Long before it got so large I had what I could best describe as something looking like your neck, not sure what it was but did question it.
Gp dismissed it several times, so I stopped asking.
In hindsight I wish Id got an ultrasound and if need be Id of paid for one. Id also have done a full thyroid panel and nutrient blood tests as advised on this forum and Id of had those done myself, rather than just being dismissed out of hand by my gp.
Despite being told my gotire was not caused by hypothyroidism I went on to discover I have Hashimotos, and it had been found some time before my TT.
Please understand Im not saying you do have a goitre and at the very least you could rule it out but Id certainly be investigating this further.
To see if a goitre is causing constriction -
Arms up over your head. Slowly lower your chin down & try to talk ( and for some breathe and not choke).
This test by an endocrinologist changed my entire perspective on my multi-nodular goitre. I was content to monitor over time & had zero interest in any surgical options.
Information you might not need - hopefully, but just in case -
I had a thyroidectomy - total one due to the placement and size of the two of the nodules. It was very successful I could not believe the symptom changes and the feeling of it gone. And how its removal showed how much I had been suffering. Your brain often thinks over time that symptoms that you face are somehow normal, when they go on so long.
My medication journey has not gone well (yet!) but despite that have zero regrets about the removal.
My nodules could hardly be seen to the naked eye, but they were causing a lot of issues.
Like everyone has said - do get it checked out & don't rely on a medical professionals'naked eye observation if you have symptoms. Goitres are not uncommon and some do not need any intervention beyond monitoring - but even then they need to be fully checked.
Tilt your head back and swallow. See if it moves up and down. If it's just skin, it won't move like a goiter would.
'Arms up over your head. Slowly lower your chin down & try to talk ( and for some breathe and not choke)."
Highlighting this again LadyWard for those reading. In case it catches someone's eye that needs to read it.
I just did it, as I have only retested once after surgery. Just to see. Insane difference I could talk for hours in this position. Before I was gasping for air instantly & any words that could come out sounded like the devil. It was so shocking at the time I almost forgot I could merely just put my arms down. & head back up. Which is so ridiculous.
The brain is a funny thing, insert big smile.
My neck looked “ not right” for several years, to start with, it took a long time to cause compressive symptoms. However it did start to grow rapidly and that was why I got seen quickly but even then I was told “ not my thyroid making me ill or causing compressive symptoms. By this time I couldnt eat solid food or breath lying down.
Absolutely incredulous given how unwell I was, I told the doctor that and insisted they investigate further.
I was sent for an ultrasound there and then but soon as it was started I was told I needed a ct scan.
C.T revealed a huge retrosternal goitre, it had grown far down into my chest which were causing the compression symptoms.
My thyroid was removed shortly after, and I also lost my parathyroids during surgery so am now hypoparathyroid too.
I only found out Hashimotos had been found before this, and that was by accident.
Im not suggesting this is whats happening too you but Id most certainly investing this further.
At the very least you’d have peace of mind but just incase it is a goitre it needs monitoring, and in some cases they can even shrink.
Goitre
Goitre
thyroid or goitre?
multinodular goitre
Amusing or just plain sad.
