# Continued Symptoms 2 Years After Thyroidectomy



## cytotoxic

My name is Sydney and I'm a 23 year old female. I had a full thyroidectomy due to papillary thyroid cancer in June of 2010. I am on 20 to 40 mg of Adderall XR (daily, some days I take 2), 135 mg (2.25 grains) of Armour Thyroid (daily) and 5 mcg of Cytomel generic (daily) and I take them all in the morning. In addition, I also take 2 GNC Women's Ultra Mega daily vitamins, 2 Total Nutrition Psyllium Husk with 1000 mg acidophilus, 2 Yerba Prima Daily Fiber Caps, 3 Nature's Bounty Liquid Calcium softgels (total 1800 mg calcium carbonate, 1500 IU vitamin D3), 1 Nature's Bounty Super B-Complex (with Folic Acid and vitamin C) almost every night (sometimes I forget). I've tried to make sure to take the vitamins and thyroid pills at different times just in case there is any interference between my meds and my vitamins.

Since my surgery, I have not felt like myself pre-surgery at all. Despite the fact that I take Adderall daily and, therefore, do not eat very much and have tried to be at least somewhat active every day (barring the usual exhaustion that has been persistent since my surgery), I have gained extensive amounts of weight, somewhere around 30-40 pounds since my surgery. I am consistently exhausted, no matter how much sleep I get, my shoulders, wrists and back ache quite often, though the aches usually get worse when I forget to take my calcium or my thyroid hormone is low, my periods have been very irregular and I am depressed. Though I am starting to forget how I felt before my surgery, I know that I did not have any of these symptoms.

I have had several issues since my surgery with hypo and hyperthyroid symptoms-in January of 2011, on a dose of 175 mcg of compounded thyroid hormone, my TSH level was 32, my endocrinologist increased my dose quite a bit and then I chose to switch doctors. After switching to my current endocrinologist, they lowered my dose and switched me from a compounded thyroid hormone to Armour thyroid, 150 mg. I was on this dose until August of 2011, when I went to the emergency room for tachycardia. They lowered me to my present dose of 135 mg and I have been on it since.

Since lowering my dose, I have been depressed, I haven't cared about my schoolwork (I am a senior in college and have done very poorly since my thyroid surgery), my Adderall XR no longer has any effect on my focus, I ache constantly and I feel like going back to bed immediately after waking up. I had an IUD placed in October of 2011 and have not had a full period since then, but starting on May 19th (this past weekend) I have had a full period, which indicates to me that my hormone is definitely too low.

I had labs done on May 2nd, my TSH was 0.827, free T4 was 0.94 and free T3 was 7.6. I had taken my thyroid medication that morning, about 2-3 hours before the labs were drawn. Given how poorly I feel, I would love to have some advice or a direction to move toward with this. Hopefully someone has some insight, I feel like removing my thyroid has definitely ruined my life-I would love it if I could get back to normal again.

Thanks for any advice you may have and feel free to ask for more information,
Sydney


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## Lovlkn

Welcome Sydney,

Can you please post the lab ranges -

Just at a quick glance I would say you are overmedicated on your T-3 but without ranges it's hard to say for sure.

If you hang around we can help you get straightened out.

Do you have any lab history with ranges you could share along with doses of what replacement meds you were taking?

Keep the faith!!

It will get better. :hugs:


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## Octavia

Sydney, welcome! I'm sorry you feel so lousy. Unfortunately, I am not a lab test expert, but we do have some very knowledgeable folks here.

My first reaction when I read your post was "why so many supplements?" Just curious...and I wonder if all those supplements are somehow decreasing the effectiveness of your thyroid meds.

Also curious...did you ever try a T4 medication such as Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, etc.? If so, what was the outcome? Or did you start right away on the T3 meds you are on now?

What time(s) do you take your thyroid meds? And what time(s) do you take your other meds & supplements? The more info we have, the better we can help!


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## cytotoxic

Okay, first for the lab ranges! Mind you, the last labs I got done, I hadn't intended to get my thyroid levels tested as well, so I took my medication a few hours beforehand.

TSH--Result: 0.827 Ref. Interval: 0.450-4.500 (my TSH is usually around .04-.08)

T4, Free (Direct)--Result: 0.94 Ref. Interval: 0.82-1.77

Triiodothyronine, Free, Serum--Result: 7.6 Ref. Interval: 2.0-4.4

These results are the most recent--I am on 135 mg of Armour and 5 mcg of generic Cytomel.

For the most part, the supplements I take are just to help deal with my poor college student diet but I was told that the Calcium and Vitamin D are essential--if I forget to take them for more than a week, my shoulders start hurting and I get muscle twitching.
After my surgery I was placed on 175 mcg of Levoxyl for a few months and then switched to, supposedly, the same dose of compounded thyroid hormone. I ended up with a very low hormone level (my TSH was 32) from the compounded hormone, which had both T3 and T4. My endo increased my dose (I was on 175 mcg, she increased it to 300 mcg and then 275 mcg) and then I switched endos because I wasn't impressed with my previous endo's treatment.
After switching to the new endo, she switched me to Armour thyroid (T4 and T3) and Cytomel (T3) we've messed around with my dose a little but it hasn't changed very much. The reason we (my mom and I) wanted a natural hormone, since I'm going to be taking it for so long. I'd be willing to try a medication switch (honestly, I'd be up for trying anything) but that would be the reason I'm on Armour right now.

I take my thyroid meds in the morning when I wake up, which depends on the day. I take both my thyroid meds and my Adderall in the morning, and as far as I've looked into it, I haven't been able to find any interactions between those two. I take my supplements at night, before I go to bed.

Hopefully that gives some more insight into what's going on!
Thank you for the replies!


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## joplin1975

I don't know, but I was curious if you've ever tried straight up Armour with no Cytomel? Given that Armour already has T3 in it, it seems counter intuitive (to my naive eyes) why your doctor would add in Cytomel as opposed to playing around more with your Armour dosage. Again, the experts will have to weigh in, but given how high your T3 numbers are, I'm wondering if you aren't a bit hyper and just plain old exhausted?


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## cytotoxic

I was actually the one to ask my doctor to put me on a little Cytomel; I have the most awful sweet cravings without it. Of course, it's not helping nooooowwwww...but that was the motivation in the beginning. I'm actually seeing a new endocrinologist on Monday (yay!) in hopes that they'll have some idea what's going on, so I'll let everyone know what the outcome of that appt. is but I worry that I'm hypo because of the depression. While my TSH is nowhere near as high as it was when I had to increase my meds so much, I'm feeling very similar. Then again, minus the heart palpitations, a lot of the hypo/hyper symptoms are similar...


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## desrtbloom

Okay, looking at it all, are you taking Vitamin D daily? Vitamin D deficiency, which is VERY common after a thyroidectomy, can give you a lot of symptoms that you might think are thyroid related. I take 10,000 IU of Vitamin D a day (and I live in AZ where there is sun 350 days a year!). I also take 10,000 of Biotin (seems to help me with my metabolism as well which helps with fatigue, etc.) and 5000 of B12 (which also is common to be regularly depleted when you have had a thyroidectomy and can cause a lot of symptoms). Having said that though, I would get your Vitamin D checked along with your calcium because you might not be getting enough of either. But the below all go together and if your body is depleting them then you can easily have the symptoms you are describing. Been there. Also, I take quit a high dosage as recommeded by my doctor because I have both Graves' and Hashi's, but you would probably only need 2000 IU of each a day.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/NS_patient-vitamind

http://www.webmd.com/diet/vitamin-b12-deficiency-symptoms-causes

http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/b/biotin_deficiency/symptoms.htm#symptom_list

Also, I would not take ANY medication except your thyroid medications together and wait four hours before taking any other medication or vitamins. Also, make sure you aren't eating within two hours of your thyroid medications.

Good luck and check with your doctor and see if you can have blood work done to see if you are lacking essential specific vitamins that are naturally depleted when you have an autoimmune disease.


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## Andros

cytotoxic said:


> My name is Sydney and I'm a 23 year old female. I had a full thyroidectomy due to papillary thyroid cancer in June of 2010. I am on 20 to 40 mg of Adderall XR (daily, some days I take 2), 135 mg (2.25 grains) of Armour Thyroid (daily) and 5 mcg of Cytomel generic (daily) and I take them all in the morning. In addition, I also take 2 GNC Women's Ultra Mega daily vitamins, 2 Total Nutrition Psyllium Husk with 1000 mg acidophilus, 2 Yerba Prima Daily Fiber Caps, 3 Nature's Bounty Liquid Calcium softgels (total 1800 mg calcium carbonate, 1500 IU vitamin D3), 1 Nature's Bounty Super B-Complex (with Folic Acid and vitamin C) almost every night (sometimes I forget). I've tried to make sure to take the vitamins and thyroid pills at different times just in case there is any interference between my meds and my vitamins.
> 
> Since my surgery, I have not felt like myself pre-surgery at all. Despite the fact that I take Adderall daily and, therefore, do not eat very much and have tried to be at least somewhat active every day (barring the usual exhaustion that has been persistent since my surgery), I have gained extensive amounts of weight, somewhere around 30-40 pounds since my surgery. I am consistently exhausted, no matter how much sleep I get, my shoulders, wrists and back ache quite often, though the aches usually get worse when I forget to take my calcium or my thyroid hormone is low, my periods have been very irregular and I am depressed. Though I am starting to forget how I felt before my surgery, I know that I did not have any of these symptoms.
> 
> I have had several issues since my surgery with hypo and hyperthyroid symptoms-in January of 2011, on a dose of 175 mcg of compounded thyroid hormone, my TSH level was 32, my endocrinologist increased my dose quite a bit and then I chose to switch doctors. After switching to my current endocrinologist, they lowered my dose and switched me from a compounded thyroid hormone to Armour thyroid, 150 mg. I was on this dose until August of 2011, when I went to the emergency room for tachycardia. They lowered me to my present dose of 135 mg and I have been on it since.
> 
> Since lowering my dose, I have been depressed, I haven't cared about my schoolwork (I am a senior in college and have done very poorly since my thyroid surgery), my Adderall XR no longer has any effect on my focus, I ache constantly and I feel like going back to bed immediately after waking up. I had an IUD placed in October of 2011 and have not had a full period since then, but starting on May 19th (this past weekend) I have had a full period, which indicates to me that my hormone is definitely too low.
> 
> I had labs done on May 2nd, my TSH was 0.827, free T4 was 0.94 and free T3 was 7.6. I had taken my thyroid medication that morning, about 2-3 hours before the labs were drawn. Given how poorly I feel, I would love to have some advice or a direction to move toward with this. Hopefully someone has some insight, I feel like removing my thyroid has definitely ruined my life-I would love it if I could get back to normal again.
> 
> Thanks for any advice you may have and feel free to ask for more information,
> Sydney












Hi there!! Would you by any chance have ranges for those lab results as different labs use different ranges. If you do, could you re-type the results and ranges in a row please?

I do see to concerns. Cytomel and Armour do not mix well and generic Cytomel is also probably causing a problem. Yes; it is horribly expensive. When we had an Armour shortage here in the U.S., I had stockpiled some Armour so I was taking one grain of Armour and 20 mcgs. of Cytomel and trust me........................they don't mix well but what is a girl to do?

Did you have radiation after your surgery? When was your last examination in regards to this?


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## 702ann

I feel exactly the same way, Sydney!!! I'm 38 years old and my name is Ann. I had a total tyroidectomy on November 15,, 2011 due to Papillary thyroid cancer. I was in relatively good health prior to this. I was told the surgery was just a "procedure" and was not a big deal. It turned out to be quite the opposite. I woke up two days later on life support!! None of the doctors came to see me nor tell me what happened! They removed two parathyroids along with lymph node despite the fact that they claim my cancer was so small (5 cm). I was in the hospital for about a week. They were reluctant to release me since they could net get my calcium levels regulated despite getting IV calcium.

I originally had an HMO plan, and had to go to their doctors. Their endo put me on 150 mg of Levoxyl. I was having horrible migraines with that.

When the new year came around, my employer had open enrollment so I switched to the PPO plan where I could chose the doctors. I went to a highly regarded doctor which took me three months to get an appointment. He put me on 150 mg of Tirosint. I've read that people really like that thyroid replacement because they believe it has better absorption due to being a gelcap. That has not been my experience. I have been feeling beyond horrible. I informed the doctor, and since Tirosint's max dosage is 150, he has me taking two Tirosints. One is 150 mcg and the other is 13 mcg. This too has not helped. I fell like I'm losing my mind. I have put on even more weight and all I want to do is sleep all the time. My face is so broken out with acne especially on my chin . Even as a teenager I've never experienced acne like this. But the worst part is that I don't feel like i have my mind back, and I have severe mood swings. I have never been a moody person at all. Now all I want to do is cry all the time. I have a graduate degree in counseling (which I got with a 4.0 GPA) and I feel like I can't remember a darn thing. If I had to take those classes now, I would fail. The doctor just keeps putting me off.....ordering labs (which he says are all normal except for my calcium) and telling me to come back in a month. My family doctor wants to put me on Prozac due to the crying, but I don't know that that will solve anything. I feel like that will put a band-aid on the symptom but not the cause.

I really wish I would have never had the surgery to remove the thyroid. I have no quality of life now. And I'm supposed to move to another state in order to start law school. There is no way I can do this with my mind the way it is. For five months I have been begging this Endo to adjust my meds and he refuses. I even waited patiently as he went on a month and a half vacation. He came back and still nothing. I wish I would have know that he was highly regarded with others, but would not help me. I only have insurance with my employer for four more days.

As for my vitamins, I take D, Calcium, a one a day, Magnesium, B complex, and Biotin. I take them in the evening as to not interfere with my morning Tirosint. I also forgot to mention that I now have horrible heartburn!! Ugghhh!!! I wish I could be like Dorothy and click my heels and return to the way I was before the surgery.


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## Andros

702ann said:


> I feel exactly the same way, Sydney!!! I'm 38 years old and my name is Ann. I had a total tyroidectomy on November 15,, 2011 due to Papillary thyroid cancer. I was in relatively good health prior to this. I was told the surgery was just a "procedure" and was not a big deal. It turned out to be quite the opposite. I woke up two days later on life support!! None of the doctors came to see me nor tell me what happened! They removed two parathyroids along with lymph node despite the fact that they claim my cancer was so small (5 cm). I was in the hospital for about a week. They were reluctant to release me since they could net get my calcium levels regulated despite getting IV calcium.
> 
> I originally had an HMO plan, and had to go to their doctors. Their endo put me on 150 mg of Levoxyl. I was having horrible migraines with that.
> 
> When the new year came around, my employer had open enrollment so I switched to the PPO plan where I could chose the doctors. I went to a highly regarded doctor which took me three months to get an appointment. He put me on 150 mg of Tirosint. I've read that people really like that thyroid replacement because they believe it has better absorption due to being a gelcap. That has not been my experience. I have been feeling beyond horrible. I informed the doctor, and since Tirosint's max dosage is 150, he has me taking two Tirosints. One is 150 mcg and the other is 13 mcg. This too has not helped. I fell like I'm losing my mind. I have put on even more weight and all I want to do is sleep all the time. My face is so broken out with acne especially on my chin . Even as a teenager I've never experienced acne like this. But the worst part is that I don't feel like i have my mind back, and I have severe mood swings. I have never been a moody person at all. Now all I want to do is cry all the time. I have a graduate degree in counseling (which I got with a 4.0 GPA) and I feel like I can't remember a darn thing. If I had to take those classes now, I would fail. The doctor just keeps putting me off.....ordering labs (which he says are all normal except for my calcium) and telling me to come back in a month. My family doctor wants to put me on Prozac due to the crying, but I don't know that that will solve anything. I feel like that will put a band-aid on the symptom but not the cause.
> 
> I really wish I would have never had the surgery to remove the thyroid. I have no quality of life now. And I'm supposed to move to another state in order to start law school. There is no way I can do this with my mind the way it is. For five months I have been begging this Endo to adjust my meds and he refuses. I even waited patiently as he went on a month and a half vacation. He came back and still nothing. I wish I would have know that he was highly regarded with others, but would not help me. I only have insurance with my employer for four more days.
> 
> As for my vitamins, I take D, Calcium, a one a day, Magnesium, B complex, and Biotin. I take them in the evening as to not interfere with my morning Tirosint. I also forgot to mention that I now have horrible heartburn!! Ugghhh!!! I wish I could be like Dorothy and click my heels and return to the way I was before the surgery.


Sounds like you may not be converting. Is your doctor running TSH, FREE T3 and FREE T4 tests? If so, could you post your most recent results with the ranges?

Most of us w/o a thyroid do not convert. Please read the links I am providing.

Dr. Mercola (FREES)
http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis_comp.htm
FREE T3 explained by Woliner
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/freet3.htm


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## Lovlkn

Sydney and Ann,

First - you both need to get into the habit of asking for hard copies of all your lab work - the actual test results from the lab. My doctor tried to pull the "we transcribed them and don't have the copies" on me last time and I had a fit. Transcribers make errors. Anyhow... get copies and begin a log of doses, how you feel the actual lab result with ranges.

Sydney - taking Armour and Cytomel in my opinion is your issue and confirmed by Andros. Armour is already a high T-3 med and topping it off with more through a dose of Cytomel is crazy.

Although they are trying to suppress your TSH - you need to request they run the FT-4 and FT-3 tests along with TSH until it is suppressed. I wonder if changing over to a T-4 replacement (generics like Levoxyl work very well) and add some Cytomel if you need it may not work better for you since what you are on isn't.

You are dealing with replacement issues - this can be adjusted and you can feel well again.


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## Octavia

702ann said:


> I feel exactly the same way, Sydney!!! I'm 38 years old and my name is Ann. I had a total tyroidectomy on November 15,, 2011 due to Papillary thyroid cancer. I was in relatively good health prior to this. I was told the surgery was just a "procedure" and was not a big deal. It turned out to be quite the opposite. I woke up two days later on life support!! None of the doctors came to see me nor tell me what happened! They removed two parathyroids along with lymph node despite the fact that they claim my cancer was so small (5 cm). I was in the hospital for about a week. They were reluctant to release me since they could net get my calcium levels regulated despite getting IV calcium.
> 
> I originally had an HMO plan, and had to go to their doctors. Their endo put me on 150 mg of Levoxyl. I was having horrible migraines with that.
> 
> When the new year came around, my employer had open enrollment so I switched to the PPO plan where I could chose the doctors. I went to a highly regarded doctor which took me three months to get an appointment. He put me on 150 mg of Tirosint. I've read that people really like that thyroid replacement because they believe it has better absorption due to being a gelcap. That has not been my experience. I have been feeling beyond horrible. I informed the doctor, and since Tirosint's max dosage is 150, he has me taking two Tirosints. One is 150 mcg and the other is 13 mcg. This too has not helped. I fell like I'm losing my mind. I have put on even more weight and all I want to do is sleep all the time. My face is so broken out with acne especially on my chin . Even as a teenager I've never experienced acne like this. But the worst part is that I don't feel like i have my mind back, and I have severe mood swings. I have never been a moody person at all. Now all I want to do is cry all the time. I have a graduate degree in counseling (which I got with a 4.0 GPA) and I feel like I can't remember a darn thing. If I had to take those classes now, I would fail. The doctor just keeps putting me off.....ordering labs (which he says are all normal except for my calcium) and telling me to come back in a month. My family doctor wants to put me on Prozac due to the crying, but I don't know that that will solve anything. I feel like that will put a band-aid on the symptom but not the cause.
> 
> I really wish I would have never had the surgery to remove the thyroid. I have no quality of life now. And I'm supposed to move to another state in order to start law school. There is no way I can do this with my mind the way it is. For five months I have been begging this Endo to adjust my meds and he refuses. I even waited patiently as he went on a month and a half vacation. He came back and still nothing. I wish I would have know that he was highly regarded with others, but would not help me. I only have insurance with my employer for four more days.
> 
> As for my vitamins, I take D, Calcium, a one a day, Magnesium, B complex, and Biotin. I take them in the evening as to not interfere with my morning Tirosint. I also forgot to mention that I now have horrible heartburn!! Ugghhh!!! I wish I could be like Dorothy and click my heels and return to the way I was before the surgery.


Ann, welcome. I agree with Andros--there's a good possibility your body is not converting the T4 drug (Tirosint) to T3 like it should. Most of our bodies are able to do this effectively...some people don't. We have several posters here who switched to a T3 drug (such as Armour) or added a T3 drug (such as Cytomel) to their T4 drug, and they are doing much better. Naturethroid is another one people have had good luck with (it is a T4-T3 combo.)

Like others have said...it is important to get your Free T3 and Free T4 tested, along with TSH. Have you gotten both of those tested recently, and if so, what were your results (and ranges)? As long as my TSH is suppressed, my doctor doses me based on my Free T4 and Free t3, and doesn't pay too much attention to TSH (like I said, as long as it is suppressed).

Can we assume you've gotten your calcium under control?

Do you take your supplements on an empty stomach in the evening? I don't think that's a good idea...then they just sit there...that might be contributing to your heartburn.

I agree with you on the Prozac, unless you've been clinically depressed before. I suspect that when you get your thyroid stuff under control, that "depression" might magically disappear.

I try not to be a person who always recommends doctor shopping, but if this doctor is not willing to work with you to get you healthy again, then it may be time to move on.

Regarding insurance...can you do COBRA?

Oh...regarding your 5cm tumor...that's actually quite large for thyroid cancer. Quite large indeed. But it stinks that you ended up on life support...complications like that are very rare. You never found out what went wrong? Puzzling.


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## 702ann

Thank you so much for the wonderful information regarding T3. I wasn't able to open the first link. Do you know the title of the article so that I can look it up? Again, thank you so much. I've learned that being my own advocate is the only option.


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## Andros

702ann said:


> Thank you so much for the wonderful information regarding T3. I wasn't able to open the first link. Do you know the title of the article so that I can look it up? Again, thank you so much. I've learned that being my own advocate is the only option.


Yikes!

Here you go.

FREE T3 and FREE T4
http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis_comp.htm


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## 702ann

Thank you Octavia for your response. Regarding your calcium question. I take calcium supplements daily (with a D), but I'm still testing low. I'm close to being in the normal range, but that's only with supplements. I guess I'm just going to have to take vitamins for the rest of my life, just like the thyroid replacement. As for what happened during my surgery, I am not certain. My surgery was done by a 'surgeon', but he did not specialize in thyroid surgeries. I tried calling my insurance and asking for another doctor, but they said I would have to pay for that. (BS!). They told me my surgery would be at 9 am, and for me to show up 2 hours prior. I went to the hospital the day before in order to check in. They told me to check with my doctor since they didn't have my surgery scheduled till 4 pm. The surgery group said that was wrong, and to come in the morning as scheduled. I did that, and followed all instructions such as not eating anything the night before after midnight. Long story short (I know...too late , I was checked in and waiting all day for the surgery. They finally came and got me at around 3:30 PM. My family didn't get to see me until close to midnight. I woke up not knowing what happened except that I was on a ventilator which was breathing for me. It took three days for me to be removed from the vent. After being removed from the vent, one of the nice nurses (because there were jerks too) kept coming in and asking me questions. She finally blurted out that she has been a nurse for a long time and had over 11 surgeries herself, and has never seen anything like this. She was implying that the doctors did something wrong during the operation. I requested my medical records, but could not understand what went wrong. I went to a prearranged follow up appointment with the surgeon. He had the nerve to ask me what happened during the surgery and why they couldn't ween me off the vent. He said, "I went on vacation for three days to Reno. I left you intubated, and when I returned you were still intubated. You're supposed to be rather young and health. What happened?". I said, are you kidding me?? You're the surgeon and you're asking me, the patient who was sedated what happened? From what I can tell, when they tried to extubate me something went wrong. Oh, I forgot to mention that the surgery group that performed my surgery also takes interns. They swore that interns would not touch me, but I know that one was definitely there. I think that due to this crazy scenario, doctors afterward were hesitant to treat me because they didn't want to get involved (probably for liability), but I was not looking to sue. I just wanted to feel better.

The advise above to get in the habit of getting copies of labs is a great idea. I learned something new, and I will do that from now on. As far as the depression, I don't know what the answer is. I have never previously felt like this. It's always been the opposite. I originally thought it was my T3 too, but the doctor said my levels are all normal. I don't know exact numbers. So now I'm wondering if I have something else; i.e., autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue, or even a condition I found online called internal Candida (yeast). The last condition is not supported by doctors, but rather holistic practitioners. They claim that taking antacids (which I did in order to get calcium, but have since switched) can cause this. I don't know what the answer is. I know that I've had surgery before, and nothing happened. I know that my family does not have a history of thyroid cancer, yet I had it. So I'm just keeping my eyes and ears open and trying to learn as much as I can and be my own advocate. sadly, I don't trust these doctors any longer.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. I appreciate it more than you know.


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## Octavia

702ann, wow. I understand that mistakes happen...but the way they treated you after the mistake is mind-boggling. My guess is that many of the details are pretty fuzzy to you, but for the surgeon to ask YOU what happened???? Ugh!


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## joplin1975

Echoing Octavia...wow, that's awful. I might ask for a copy of the surgery notes just so you know what happened exactly. How scary!


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## 702ann

Exactly! I understand that things happen, but at least be a human being about it and talk with your patient. I was stunned that neither the surgeon or the anesthesiologist came to speak with me afterwards to explain what happened. I did request a copy of the surgical report, but it too was from this same wonderful doctor. It did not give me much insight, and I believe he was covering his own Apples. It was two pages of him stating that the surgery was "uneventful". He said that they did NOT remove my parathyroids or lymph node, yet obviously from the pathology report he did. Just the last two sentences state that after the wonderful surgery they tried to extubate and my throat closed up. One of the doctor's from the surgeon's group came and looked at me like a circus sideshow and told me that he has never seen someone go in for a thyroidectomy end up in ICU and he wanted to see.

The week I was in the hospital was beyond horrific. The ICU nurse was a man who had no business being a nurse. He actually left me alone as I was chocking in my own vomit because I had the tube in my throat and my hands were restrained. I overheard him talking with a friend outside the room about how he's a licensed real estate agent and waiting for the market to pick up. He would talk, and I couldn't answer him (duh...due to the tube in my throat), so he would get up close to my face and threaten me. Luckily my brother, who's had the misfortune of knowing me for all these years (ha) could tell what I was feeling due to my eyes. He said, "You don't want to be left alone with that guy?", and I blinked. From that point on while that nurse was on duty, a family member was with me. I tried calling the head of nursing and other administrators for the hospital after I was discharged. I wanted to make them aware so that no one else had to go through this nurse. I left detailed messages, yet no one would call me back. I know this is slightly off topic, but just be glad you're not having any medical services here in Las Vegas. I know you can't generalize, but my experience has left me skeptical. You never think of researching you anesthesiologist before the surgery (at least I didn't). I found out later through the fabulous online state medical board that the anesthesiologist has already killed one lady and settled for $750,000. It used to be that doctors would settle and leave to another state. Now they just pay up and stay! Horrific.

After I was released, I was so scared to even fall asleep because I didn't know if I would stop breathing (since they never told me what happened). I had heard that usually the first three months while meds are adjusted are the worst, and then people feel good as new afterwards. I keep waiting for that to happen. LOL. I'm now obese and can't lose weight for the life of me, have dull hair (but it finally stopped falling out like before), have a chin that could rival any teenager, mood swings like a raging bull, and memory like an etch-a-sketch (shake my head and it's all deleted). On the bright side, I am hoping that I'll get more answers with each day, and start to feel better and more productive.


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## Octavia

You are much more forgiving than I think I would be, with what you've described.

But I also understand wanting to just move on and feel better.


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## jenny v

702ann, I'm not usually a person to suggest looking into a lawsuit, but in this case, I think I would! Damn. What happened to you is unthinkably awful and the way you were treated infuriates me.


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## bigfoot

702ann said:


> I tried calling the head of nursing and other administrators for the hospital after I was discharged. I wanted to make them aware so that no one else had to go through this nurse. I left detailed messages, yet no one would call me back.


Good God! First call should be to your appropriate state board of nursing or medical licensing. Write a letter, make a formal complaint. The hospital is just hoping if they ignore you that you'll go away. Something in writing, delivered via certified mail, can't just be swept under the rug. Sounds like this guy makes a better real estate agent than a nurse. Unfortunately, bad apples do make it through the cracks...


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## 702ann

Excellent advice! Thank you. I have been so consumed with trying to figure out how to make my current doctors listen to me and try to feel "normal" again, that I completely drooped the ball on the nursing board. That will be my next step!!


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