# Synthroid...Goiter...and Symptoms...



## prettynikki5 (Dec 9, 2009)

Hello and Happy Friday all arty0045:

I have been taking Synthroid (50mcg intitially for 8 weeks, now on 75mcg for about 3 weeks now) All my levels are normal, I just have high antibodies and lots of symptoms along with a goiter carrying 2 nodules.
I am really curious about my body's response to the Synthroid so far. I have been losing weight slowly but steadily, which for me is huge-just like many of you, I have been keeping and gaining weight for years inappropriately (very healthy diet and cardio 3x wk). So I am guessing that my Thyroid is working again? Also, if it is working at such an optimal level to cause this kind of weight loss, why do some of my other symptoms (unrefreshing sleep,body and joint aches, brain fog) along with my annoying goiter seem to come and go? 
I am wondering if something I am eating or doing is aggravating my condition? Like for instance, do I need to stop drinking coffee altogether, or alleviate something else from my diet? Is this kind of weight loss a good sign? 
Does anyone know what it will take to make my goiter go away? It is not huge, but you can see it and I think it causes me to snore quite a bit also.
Will I need to keep increasing the Synthroid dosage to get the goiter to stay down? 
Sorry for so many questions! It seems I never run out of them 
Thank you!!!


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

prettynikki5 said:


> Hello and Happy Friday all arty0045:


Well, hello back at you! 
Where have you been? Is all well?


----------



## prettynikki5 (Dec 9, 2009)

LOL! I hit "enter" before I finished the rest of my thread 
I am good! How are you Andros?


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

prettynikki5 said:


> LOL! I hit "enter" before I finished the rest of my thread
> I am good! How are you Andros?


Doing well; I am going back to read the rest of your post now.


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

prettynikki5 said:


> Hello and Happy Friday all arty0045:
> 
> I have been taking Synthroid (50mcg intitially for 8 weeks, now on 75mcg for about 3 weeks now) All my levels are normal, I just have high antibodies and lots of symptoms along with a goiter carrying 2 nodules.
> I am really curious about my body's response to the Synthroid so far. I have been losing weight slowly but steadily, which for me is huge-just like many of you, I have been keeping and gaining weight for years inappropriately (very healthy diet and cardio 3x wk). So I am guessing that my Thyroid is working again? Also, if it is working at such an optimal level to cause this kind of weight loss, why do some of my other symptoms (unrefreshing sleep,body and joint aches, brain fog) along with my annoying goiter seem to come and go?
> ...


As long as the antibodies remain high, you will be symptomatic. They will wax and wane throughout the titration process but eventually will quiet down. My immunologist and I have found that by keeping my TSH suppressed, the antibodies basically go to sleep. They are way low; barely detectible. TSH is usually @ 0.03 or even less.

As the titration process continues, goiter should continue to shrink. If it does not, the doctor would want to query this.

At a certain point, you should become euthyroid (feeling good) and level off on that dose for maintenace w/periodic labs, of course.

Let us just hope it is all that simple. If your doc is good, it will be.


----------



## prettynikki5 (Dec 9, 2009)

Yay! I love answers, lol! Thank you so much Andros, all makes much sense. You have an immunologist? Never heard of one of those! Do you see him/or her in place of an Endo?
Since my TSH isn't budging at all so far, do you think it possible for it to not be able to go down? And what does one do with a goiter that won't go away, if that turns out to be the case? I suppose I could wait and see, I am curious george


----------



## daisy_ysiad2002 (Aug 17, 2009)

Coffee is a big big no no. For me and my sister it really aggravates our symptoms. It forces your adrenals to work harder which of course sends messages to your thyroid and pancrease...its all connected. I KNOW ITS HARD> I love my coffee. I avoid pop, coffee and sugar as much as possible to even out the hi's and lows and other unpleasant symptoms. Tea is much healthier for you and of course good belgian chocolate is good too *WINK*.


----------



## hillaryedrn (Dec 14, 2009)

Hi there! I found this for you:

"Certain foods besides soy can also have what's known as a goitrogenic effect, or the ability to enlarge the thyroid and make it form a goiter. These foods can act like antithyroid drugs in disabling the thyroid, and causing hypothyroidism. If you still have a thyroid, you need to be more concerned about not overconsuming these goitrogens, particularly raw. What foods are goitrogenic? Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, turnips, kohlrabi, radishes, cauliflower, African cassava, millet, babassu (a palm-tree coconut fruit popular in Brazil and Africa) cabbage, and kale are all considered goitrogenic. Some experts believe that the enzymes involved in the formation of goitrogenic materials in plants can be destroyed by cooking, so thorough cooking may minimize some or most goitrogenic potential. Eating reasonable amounts of goitrogenic foods, raw or cooked, are probably not a problem for most people."

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/tsh-fluctuating.htm


----------



## hillaryedrn (Dec 14, 2009)

Me again! 

Also found this link interesting:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/334610/top_10_worst_foods_for_your_underactive.html


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

prettynikki5 said:


> Yay! I love answers, lol! Thank you so much Andros, all makes much sense. You have an immunologist? Never heard of one of those! Do you see him/or her in place of an Endo?
> Since my TSH isn't budging at all so far, do you think it possible for it to not be able to go down? And what does one do with a goiter that won't go away, if that turns out to be the case? I suppose I could wait and see, I am curious george


My doctor is a rheumatologist/immunologist. I was sent to her by my ophthalmologist many years ago in total exasperation as I had been to every endo in my town and hopelessly undermedicated and being treated like a 3rd. class citizen of some sort.

She is a blessing in my life. Got me up and running in no time.

So.............w/ the antibodies. It will take time for them to get the message as long as your doctor pays close attention to your levels and gets that TSH down.

Now the goiter, I don't know. You did have an uptake scan, yes? The theory is that if the patient has Hashimoto's and a goiter, thyroxine will shrink the goiter. Did you have FNA (fine needle aspiration) to determine if the Hurthle cells indigenous to Hashimoto's are present?

How are you feeling today? Any better? Are you having trouble swallowing? Do you have any swollen lymph nodes in the neck and cervical area?


----------



## prettynikki5 (Dec 9, 2009)

It seems I am not able to quote messages in my replies, what's up with that?!?!

@daisy- thanks so much for the input, after I drink coffee my brain feels all foggy. I thought there had to be some connection there. This will be hard, but time to 86 the coffee :sad0049:. I have already cut back on soda and sugars-this has helped me feel better.

@hillaryedrn-AWESOME info there! I eat just about all of the top 10 foods to avoid, yikes!!! Thank you SO MUCH, avoiding these will help me feel better, I thank you immensely for that info :hugs:

@Andros-what a journey and I am so thankful that you can use that experience to inform others  no uptake scan, and the FNA was worthless-doc was unable to get any results whatsoever. Ulrasound #2 scheduled for June to check for growth of the 2 nodules there. I have what I guess is a lymph node that has been swelling off and on, right under my jawbone in my neck. sometimes it hurts especially when I swallow. I thought this was due to allergies or a bad sinus/cold episode or possibly injury to that node recently. I am feeling in now-it is swollen- no other symptoms. Should I be concerned?
I feel good today-until I drank my coffee-feel foggy-going to do away with that now and drink a bunch of water  I can fit my "one day when I finally lose all this weight" clothes again after YEARS. arty0006: Thanks again for your time and your caring heart hugs1


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

prettynikki5 said:


> It seems I am not able to quote messages in my replies, what's up with that?!?!
> 
> @daisy- thanks so much for the input, after I drink coffee my brain feels all foggy. I thought there had to be some connection there. This will be hard, but time to 86 the coffee :sad0049:. I have already cut back on soda and sugars-this has helped me feel better.
> 
> ...


Gosh, it should be enabled. Lower right hand corner you should see QUOTE. Lower left would be REPLY. If you click the reply then you can't click the quote. Let me know.

Yes; I believe you should be concerned. Rule out teeth/gum problems first to be sure. You should not have swollen lymphs under the jaw line.

They sure know how to bleed the money. I swear. All this dancing around when an uptake scan would settle the issue once and for all. It is the best thing going when it comes to seeing what is going on with the thyroid.

That would be too easy; first they have to do this, then they have to do that. Meanwhile, the patient is sick and getting sicker.

Ultra-sound does not pick up everything.

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=us-thyroid

Hugs to my "friend!"


----------

