Hello,
Thanks to those who have given me guidance previously.
is anyone able to tell me the size a thyroid usually is in a woman? I’ve read each lobe should be around 4cms.
I recently had a scan privately and my lobes measure 8x7 and 8x5mm respectively. To me this is extremely small and it appears my thyroid is that of a small child!
I have been hypothyroid for 15+ years but surely my thyroid shouldn’t have got that small due to this alone?
Any help appreciated! Thank you
According to wikipedia :
It weighs 25 grams in adults, with each lobe being about 5 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 2 cm thick and the isthmus about 1.25 cm in height and width.[4] The gland is usually larger in women than in men, and increases in size during pregnancy.
People can be born with a small thyroid (possibly because the mother is hypothyroid and untreated or under-treated or iodine-deficient??? I'm not sure about this) or it can atrophy during life.
There is a condition called Atrophic Thyroiditis which some people think is not a separate condition in its own right but is the later stages of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.
cancertherapyadvisor.com/ho...
Another site with a lot of info on atrophic thyroiditis is this one :
thyroidpatients.ca/?s=atrop...
The person who runs that site has a tiny thyroid and mentions it quite often.
many members have Ord’s thyroiditis
This is autoimmune thyroid disease where thyroid shrinks and shrivels up
ada.com/conditions/thyroidi...
svarlifescience.com/knowled...
In Europe, an atrophicform of autoimmunethyroiditis called Ord's thyroiditisis more common than Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
Thank you, an interesting read.
I’m starting to think I don’t have Hashimoto’s and actually have a different type of auto immune. Possibly Ord’s
Many of us in U.K. have Ord’s not Hashimoto’s
When I had a thyroid ultrasound last year, I was told the volume of a healthy woman´s thyroid gland is 12-15 ml and <5 is considered atrophic.
I recently read an interesting article on the subject by thyroid patient and advocate Tania S. Smith . Here, it is nicely summarised by Paul Robinson, another thyroid patient and author of several books:
paulrobinsonthyroid.com/cou...
Thank you, had a read through last night! Very interesting.
I was originally/officially diagnosed in 1996 at age 45. I started having ultrasounds in 1999. The first one I can actually find is 2000 and my thyroid measured R: 4.1 x2.0x2.0 cm L:4.3x1.7x2.5 cm In 2019 R: 2.7x1.1x1.2 cm L: 2.6x0.65x0.9 cm. Atrophic So it has steadily shrunk in size since my diagnosis. I have s nodule which has stayed about the same size I believe all these years.
I remember when I was in my late 20's or early 30's I got so that I could not wear anything tight around my neck as I felt as though I was choking, most likely there was swelling that no one noticed. I had my gallbladder removed when I was just 23 years old and feel that I have had thyroid issues for most of my adult life for sure but wasn't diagnosed until I complained of fatigue and very sore hands. My TSH at diagnosis was 57. I had more issues in 2015 and in 2016 was finally given T3 added to T4 and finally got a life.
A shrinking thyroid is possible!
Thanks so much for your reply! Sounds like you’ve had a time of it with your health and I’m glad to hear you’ve finally found something that’s working for you. Great news.
Yes reading articles etc a shrinking thyroid is normal and can happen. It just looks like mine is the size of a newborn baby’s now as the measurement are so small it’s in mms. Still, I’m getting under control now, hopefully, under the care of endocrine and not my gp.
It sounds like you suffered needlessly for years. I am so happy you finally found treatment that works for you!
The information about Hashimoto´s vs Ord´s (atrophic) thyroiditis is somewhat conflicting as some claim they are not the same, that Ord´s is not end-stage Hashimoto´s, that Hashi´s results in a goitre but Ord´s doesn´t, that Ord´s results in atrophied thyroid but it remains of normal size in Hashimoto´s. It also seems you don´t have the same antibodies with Ord´s as you do with Hashi´s. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they are both autoimmune. But you seems to have had a goiter and you ended up with an atrophied gland, so anything seems possible.
I'm not real sure I ever had a goiter but I was very uncomfortable wearing anything like a turtle neck top and that lasted for years. I've had very high TPO but have never been tested for the others. The TPO is back down now to under range and has been there for quite some time. I might add that when I was 5 years old a growth of sorts was removed from the thyroid area but they (doctors) determined it was nothing related to thyroid. Wonder since this 'growth' was removed if they damaged or caused trauma to my thyroid at that time. Guess anything is possible. I do know that thyroid both hashi and graves runs in my family.
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