can thyroid disease cause sore throat, throast discomfort and tension in neck/face?

[Bookminhoca]

I've had a feeling of a lump in my throat for 4 months now. This has been followed by muscular tensing in my neck and face on the left side, sore throats and an uncomfortabe feeling of fullness in my throat that is present all the time. I also have numbness/lack of sensitivity in my arms, legs and face. I posted in here asking about hashimotos a few weeks ago and appreciated the responses.

I had an ultrasound of my neck that said my thyroid had a hetergeneous ecostructure with increased vascularity and micronodular texture suggestive of thyroiditis. I had another ultrasound which referred only to a coarse texture and made no further comment on thyroiditis. As my blood results were in normal ranges (expect B12, D, ferratin, iron and folic acid which were all low), my GP said I can have a follow up in the future and gave me vitamin supplements.

I was still concerned so saw a ENT specialist privately. I had a CAT scan and apart from a calification in my throat which she said was much older and some nodules in my armpit, there was nothing to indicate a problem and it was stress-induced globus sensation. there was no mention of my thyroid in the report.I showed the results to my GP asking for anxiety medication and he was confused by the armpit nodules and sent me for a chest CAT scan. I got the results today and they found multiple right-sided lung nodules requiring a follow up in 6 months to measure any changes. The armpit nodules were deemed unremarkable.

Everything I read about hashimoto's referred to symtoms such as fatigue, hair loss, etc but there isn't very much about throat pain and discomfort. Do other suffers of hashimoto's experience similar symptoms to me or could my symptoms be more suggestive of thyroid cancer? I feel like it's so difficult to get answers about what is causing my symptoms.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Lump in throat sensation very common when hypothyroid

B12: 137 ng/l (211-911)

Folate: 4.7ng/ml (>5.4)

Vitamin D: 26.7 ng/ml (<20 deficient, 20-30 insufficient)

Iron: 49 ug/dl (50-170)

Ferritin: 13.8ug/l (10.0-291.0)

From your post 29 days ago

Your vitamin levels are terrible, almost certainly as direct result of being hypothyroid

Low vitamin levels tend to lower TSH

Exactly what vitamin supplements are you now taking

Have you been tested for Pernicious Anaemia

Likely to need B12 injections. Certainly daily B12

It will take many months to improve low ferritin up to at least 70. Look at increasing iron rich foods in your diet.

You also need testing for coeliac disease

[Bookminhoca in reply to SlowDragon]

They don't do B12 injections here in Portugal (I didn't believe my doctor so asked at a few pharmacies and they all said the same) so I'm on tablets. She put me on 1mg a day but I did a bit of research and took 4mg for 4 weeks and have now dropped to 1mg. I'm also taking vitamin d and iron (105mg) and folic acid (350mcg) daily. I asked about test for pernicious anaemia but was told I wasn't anaemic as blood count is normal.

I have an appointment with another GP tomorrow to show chest CT results so I'll ask about coeliac disease.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I've been so worried that this is something more serious and every test seems to bring up something else and I can't join all the dots. It's reassuring to talk here though x

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bookminhoca]

Get thyroid levels retested 2-3 months after working on improving low vitamin levels

After you get coeliac blood test, assuming test result is negative, it’s still worth trying strictly gluten free diet

[Bookminhoca]

I think iron deficency might be due to heavy periods which I've had for about 3 or 4 years now but I'm confused about the B12 and D. I eat really well and exercise 4 times a week. We cook nearly everything from scratch, avoid highly processed foods and eat vegetarian 4/5 days a week and meat on weekends. I live in Portugal so it's not a lack of sunlight.

Do you think I should enquire about a thyroid biopsy? I don't know much about thyroid cancer but I read that it can cause throat discomfort with normal thyroid levels. Now I have the results of the chest CT with lung nodules, I'm wondering if there is a connection.

[J972]

Hi,

The symptoms of numbness you mention may well be attributable to your woefully low B12. Have you joined the B12/pernicious anaemia forum on this site? It’s full of incredibly helpful information including advice on how to go about self sourcing and self injecting B12, if that’s something you’d consider.

All the best 🙂

[Bookminhoca in reply to J972]

I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!