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...
Hi everyone -
I had my routine physical today and my doctor said my thyroid was enlarged. I currently take 50 mcg of Synthroid for hypothyroidism (T4 abnormal) and he thinks it may be a goiter and wants me to have an ultrasound done. Well, the remainder of the day, I've had this cough and it feels like something is around my neck. I'm not sure what the treatment is for a goiter and if it can be treated with meds? If I had this kind of reaction with him just feeling my neck, I can't imagine what an ultrasound is going to do to me :-(
Thanks in advance for your responses.
I had my routine physical today and my doctor said my thyroid was enlarged. I currently take 50 mcg of Synthroid for hypothyroidism (T4 abnormal) and he thinks it may be a goiter and wants me to have an ultrasound done. Well, the remainder of the day, I've had this cough and it feels like something is around my neck. I'm not sure what the treatment is for a goiter and if it can be treated with meds? If I had this kind of reaction with him just feeling my neck, I can't imagine what an ultrasound is going to do to me :-(
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Sorry for the reason you're here but glad you found us.
And, so sorry to hear your thyroid is enlarged and you're having other symptoms.
All of these issues indicate that your dose is too low. In fact, 50mcg Synthroid is a started dose so I must admit I wonder what's going on with your care.
If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been under treatment? Is your doctor checking your actual thyroid hormone levels - FreeT4 and FreeT3?
Please know that having levels that fall within the normal range just doesn't work for thyroid patients. Our levels need to be at certain places within the normal range if we are to be without symptoms.
If you're not familiar with how to interpret your labs, feel free to post them here (with reference ranges) and we'll gladly show you how.
And, you might want to review the symptoms list on the link I'm providing below....I suspect you have more symptoms than you might realize.
http://hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypothyroidism-symptoms-yes-really/
I've been under Synthroid treatment for several years now and started out at 25 mcg when first diagnosed. I had my ultrasound this past Monday and it came back normal and my TSH blood work came back as 0.783 (ranges 0.300 - 5.000)
I didn't see a Free T4 and Free T3 on my results. I'm thinking about calling and asking him to do those. When I was originally diagnosed, they found it on my Free T4. I've had this feeling of fullness around my throat ever since he felt my neck/thyroid. Thanks for posting the link for me to check out.
Thanks again!
Have a great day!
Sorry to tell you this but, 50mcg is rarely a therapeutic dose.
It obviously got your TSH back into the normal range but, that doesn't tell us anything.
TSH is a pituitary hormone and an indirect indicator of thyroid function.
Once we start taking thyroid meds, TSH is completely unreliable to evaluate thyroid function.
You see, our bodies have a feedback loop between the brain, the pituitary and the thyroid.
Well, if we take thyroid meds, that feedback loop is interrupted so, how can the level of a pituitary hormone reliably confirm what's going on with the thyroid? It can't.
Most of us take *much* larger doses than you are taking.....and many of us also take T3 (you are taking T4).
For example, I take alternating doses of 125/137mcg T4 and 10mcg T3.
Many people take even higher doses.
Here's some info about the right way to be treated for hypothyroidism (with an extensive bibliography at the bottom):
http://www.thyroidscience.com/hypotheses/dommisse.feb.2008/dommisse.feb.2008.pdf
Best of luck to you getting the right tests done and, even more importantly, getting the right dose(s) of meds.