Hypo symptoms

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2006
Hypo symptoms
2
Fri, 05-05-2006 - 3:08pm

My GP discovered my thyroid was enlarged about 6 years ago and referred me to a General Surgeon at my local hospital for further testing (ultrasound and FNA). He always told me things looked ok and my TSH have always been normal. The last couple years I felt that it was getting bigger and would question him about as I saw him twice a year for ultrasounds. His only comment to me was this "Do you want to remove it for cosmetic reasons because there is nothing wrong with you?" Well of course I didn't, I'm not that shallow. Last fall I moved to a different city and it was time for my 6 month TSH test/ultrasound so I found a new doctor who was very understanding and said he wanted to refer me to an ENT. My ENT is a wonderful doctor. He sent me for bloodwork/ultrasound and contacted my old doctor for my records so he could do a comparison. He said his limit for removing a thyroid is that it is borderline when it is around 4 cm. After doing the comparison mine was over 8 cm. His recommendation was removal because it was constricting my windpipe. All other blood work was normal still. On March 28 I had a near total thyroidectomy (90% removed). The pathology report revealed Hashimoto's even though my antibody levels were normal according to the blood work.

I can't help but feel angry at my original doctor whose only comment was removing it for cosmetic reasons. What about how I was feeling? I was going through choking episodes several times a day because it was so big and I told him so but he said there was nothing wrong with me.

I am thankful for finding a doctor who would listen and willing to treat me. I haven't been back to see him since the surgery but I go in 3 weeks to have TSH checked as he put me on 75mg of Synthroid right after my surgery. Since my TSH levels were always normal, hypo symptoms are a new thing for me. I have to say it sucks quite a bit. I am bone tired and achy, constipated, my periods are screwed up, my hair is falling out and I am so cold. Its a beautiful day outside today and I'm wearing a fleece jacket.

Does anybody know how long synthroid takes to kick in or maybe my dose is too low. 3 weeks seems like a long time to wait when I feel so yucky.

I'd love to hear from others and how to cope with hypo symptoms.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-24-2003
In reply to: kdd0
Sat, 05-06-2006 - 7:48am

My feeling from talking with other people is that many GPs do not handle thyroid conditions/symptoms very well at all. I'm sorry you had such a lousy experience with that doctor!

It took a couple of months for me to start feeling better, and close to a year to get my els right (BTW - they wanted to see if it was working by testing my TSH, which had always been normal & the reason I walked around for a LONG time undiagnosed -- LOL! So stay on top of what they're testing).

I hope you start feeling well soon!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2004
In reply to: kdd0
Sat, 05-06-2006 - 8:58am

Hi kdd,


The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes...