# If my body's attacking my thyroid, why not just take it out?



## HashiGlobal (Jan 29, 2013)

Is this a bad idea? I'm still learning and learning but seems to me if my body is fighting with my thyroid, what would be wrong about a doctor just yanking it out?

I wanted to get a tshirt that said "F my Thyroid" (like those cancer tshirts) but instead if should just read "F My Genetics!" Argh...


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I, personally, think it is a fabulous idea and would strongly endorse it. You might, however, have a hard time finding doctors who agree.


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## surge (Aug 15, 2012)

I did just this. I had a hellacious few months (I know people have many bad years, in some cases, so I won't complain too much about a crazy 9 month spree of hyper and hypo symptoms). I asked my DO @ 6 months in if we could just cut it out and she said, "Oh yeah, absolutely. If we rule everything else out, that's what I'd suggest." So, she ran: heavy metal, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis panels, tested me for celiac's, and had me wear a holter monitor. All the tests came back normal and the holter showed strange runs of elevated heartrate, being at its worst b/w 4-10am. My bp had been slowly inching up all summer and fall.

My endo was a little hesitant to sign on, but my DO called her and explained that I wasn't crazy and we'd really worked to eliminate any other possibility for the cause of the problems.

Because I do have nodules and had high antibodies, my endo did agree, but it wouldn't have mattered if she didn't, since my DO could refer me to a surgeon-- you really only need one or the other on your side. I chose a general surgeon with a specialty in endocrine surgery. I've never had surgery before and I didn't take it lightly, but in the end, it was the right choice for me.

The first month after surgery with the flood of hormones initially and then the crash afterwards was pretty rough, but even still, I had patches of time without aching legs, palpitations, my hair slowly stopped its mad panic to fall out...over the past 3 months, I've been slowly but surely feeling better.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

surge said:


> I did just this. I had a hellacious few months (I know people have many bad years, in some cases, so I won't complain too much about a crazy 9 month spree of hyper and hypo symptoms). I asked my DO @ 6 months in if we could just cut it out and she said, "Oh yeah, absolutely. If we rule everything else out, that's what I'd suggest." So, she ran: heavy metal, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis panels, tested me for celiac's, and had me wear a holter monitor. All the tests came back normal and the holter showed strange runs of elevated heartrate, being at its worst b/w 4-10am. My bp had been slowly inching up all summer and fall.
> 
> My endo was a little hesitant to sign on, but my DO called her and explained that I wasn't crazy and we'd really worked to eliminate any other possibility for the cause of the problems.
> 
> ...


Thank you for sharing this. Hopefully it will help many. I am glad that bad bad thyroid is out. Expect a good 18 months for total healing. Stay on track and make life-style improvements.

If we can help you with med titration or other things, don't hesitate.


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## Brucergoldberg (May 23, 2011)

I did this. I didnt have nodules or cancer. I just had hashimotos, my ears rang like crap (and still do) and had horrible pain in my trachea area. They yanked that sucker out and honestly i feel no different hormonally than i did before the yanking.

I saw 4 sonograms taken 4 months apart that showed the rapid degeneration of the gland and told my gland to go "F" itself and had it removed. When the thyroid came out, when i woke up from surgery i had a hard time believing anything was even done because I felt zero different. I was expecting some major difference like when my wife had lasik surgery, but honestly the only difference was that the pain was gone.

4 hours after surgery i was eating a turkey sandwich with chips. 2 things that i missed because of the problems i had with the pain and swallowing.

This was a year ago today in fact (feb 16, 2012 was the date). I am on 300 mcg t4, still struggling with the afternoon wackiness and am not there yet. Not sure i will ever feel normal again, but i do know that having that piece of garbage out was the right decision for me, after trying everything else.


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## nvsmom (Sep 30, 2012)

I think it would depend on how much havoc it's creating in your body. My hyposthyroidism doesn't seem as excessive as many around here. My FT's are just at the bottom of the range but never out, my TSH hasn't gone above the teens, I never ever swing into hyper so it's easier to deal with just one set of (hypo) symptoms, and I don't believe I have a nodule (not tested) but my thyroid has never given me pain or swallowing issues. So, for me I think it would be a bad idea to remove it since it is still plodding (relatively) steadily away.

Good luck.


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