Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient production of thyrohormone by the thyroid gland. There are several distinct causes for chronic hypothyroidism, the most common being Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism following radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Advanced hypothyroidism may cause severe complications, the most serious one of which is...

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scorpiogirl76 09/15/2010

Hello! Does anyone if it's possible to still have thyroid hormones in your body after it is totally removed. As most of you know, I had a total thyroidectomy on Monday and last night I started feeling a surge thru my body but not too often and it passed. Today, it has become more noticeable. I get this surge, feels like heat running thru my whole body for a split second, then I feel my heartrate dramatically increase. This lasts a few minutes then goes away. But it's been happening more today. What could this be?

Last year, after the storm, I'd get these same surges but was told by my endo at the time that it was my thyroid dumping hormones and that was the feeling I'd feel. Well, now that it's been removed, what could it be?

scorpiogirl76 09/15/2010

I called and paged the surgeon. Just waiting to hear back. Is a thyroid storm possible after removal of thyroid?

mmztcass 09/15/2010

Would you post the answer to what you are experiencing? I'd like to know what is going on. Hopefully everything goes okay.

{{{hugs}}}

P.S. Maybe you are not quite ready to take replacement med? But then I suppose you started on a very wee dose to gradually build up, right?

scorpiogirl76 09/15/2010

Hi MMZ, yes, I was started on 50 mcg of synthroid yesterday morning (day after surgery). Will be sure to post an answer once I receive one. Waiting on callback from surgeon. She is in OR but her Nurse Practiioner just went into OR to ask her possibilities and what to do. I don't like this feeling. Trying to keep positive.

deleted_user 09/15/2010

Hi again, you need calcium. Just wanted to make sure you saw my other posts, so you can get some relief right away.
Hugs! Let us know how you feel later on.

scorpiogirl76 09/15/2010

My surgeon had me go to ER for a thyroid storm evaluation. They were suspecting possible thyroid storm. It's very rare to have a patient return with a thyroid storm after thyroidectomy but there is a 2% chance. I had a work up and EKG and everything came back normal. My levels look FANTASTIC and I should FEEL fabulous but I don't :( Go Figure. Will post labs in my journal. i'm guessing that my body is adjusting. The surgeon said that it takes about 3 weeks for your body to clear all the hormones from your body but she believes out of the danger zone for thyroid storm. She lowered my synthroid to 25 mcg instead of 50 mcg and I will follow up in a week.

CK: The day of surgery and day after surgery I was put on Calcitrol twice a day, Tums Extra strength twice a day, and Celebrex twice a day . On the day after surgery, she added synthroid 50 mcg. Upon discharge, I was told to continue synthroid 50 mcg once daily and Tums twice daily.

ter1 09/15/2010

I've learned something from this thread. I thought the thyroid was the main organ to convert T4 to T3 and what Barbell said made sense -- it would be hard if all you got was T4 and you didn't have a thyroid. Well with a little research I found out that 80% of the conversion of T4 to T3 occurs in the liver. Here's a really good link explaining it.
http://www.altsupportthyroid.org/function.php

QUOTE from link:
The T4-to-T3 conversion process
About 20 percent of the body's T3 comes from the synthesis of T3 within the thyroid. The rest of the T3 is derived when an enzyme (called a deiodinase) removes one iodine molecule from T4. While T4 is converted to T3 in a number of locations in the body, the main place that this occurs is in the liver.

ter1 09/15/2010

Also the same article mentioned above says the T4 takes four days to peak in the blood, and the overall effects aren't reached for about six weeks. This slow, steady action is part of why most doctors prefer to prescribe it alone instead of with T3.

ter1 09/16/2010

I don't have a theory -- what are you talking about? I was stating a medical fact that I read -- nothing more, and gave the link I got it from. If you have any reason to think the link is wrong we are all interested in hearing it.

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