# Maybe a dumb question,,,but I am gonna ask!



## sjmjuly (Mar 23, 2012)

For all us hashi people that suffer with it, why oh why won't doctors just take out our thyroids? I don't get it. We suffer with symptoms and meds, going hyper to hypo and back again, and watch the antibodies scream through our bodies. It seems simple to me: Remove the thyroid, nothing for the antibodies to attack, take meds and get on with our lives.
What am I missing here? It seems the only hashi patients I see that end up having their thyroids removed are the ones that end up with cancer or painful goiters and such. I would think the reasonable conclusion would be to remove the stinkin' thing when hashi's is confirmed. 
Please. Someone that knows something I don't chime in here. Why won't doctors take them out????????????????????????


----------



## abymom99 (Apr 15, 2013)

sjmjuly said:


> For all us hashi people that suffer with it, why oh why won't doctors just take out our thyroids? I don't get it. We suffer with symptoms and meds, going hyper to hypo and back again, and watch the antibodies scream through our bodies. It seems simple to me: Remove the thyroid, nothing for the antibodies to attack, take meds and get on with our lives.
> What am I missing here? It seems the only hashi patients I see that end up having their thyroids removed are the ones that end up with cancer or painful goiters and such. I would think the reasonable conclusion would be to remove the stinkin' thing when hashi's is confirmed.
> Please. Someone that knows something I don't chime in here. Why won't doctors take them out????????????????????????


Hmmm...I feel the same way as you about wanting mine out at this point. I've been through SO much since my hashi diagnosis back in 2009. I'm thinking they don't recommend TT because most of the docs we see are GP's or endo's, and not surgeons who always jump to the surgery option. But also because there are risks with the surgery, and they probably feel managing it with meds is the more simple solution. None of them have likely had hashi though. Lol.


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

If you take some history to a surgeon they will take your thyroid out.

That's how I did it.


----------



## hashimotocoaster (Mar 22, 2013)

What I don't understand is why no one even considers trying to interrupt the autoimmune process--I mean, it's not technically "thyroid disease" because our thyroids would be fine if our immune systems would just leave them alone, right? I've heard of plasmapheresis being done with other autoimmune diseases to clear the antibodies out of the blood. Has anyone tried this with Hashimioto's/Graves'?

Why isn't more research being done to CURE this disease instead of just do damage control with replacement/surgery? How on earth is it 2013 and the best answer my doctor can give me is "we just have to wait for your thyroid to die"?

Since autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect women, it's so much easier to call it a "simple" disease (one doctor told me that Hashimoto's was the best disease to have because all you have to do is take a pill!) or write off the symptoms as anxiety, depression, etc.--i.e., hysteria. I bet if I were a man going to the doctor with extreme fatigue, tremor, etc., I would've been less likely to have been summarily told I was nuts. Just saying.

I'm sorry--I know all that doesn't exactly pertain to your question but I just needed to get it off my chest!


----------



## KSUE (May 3, 2013)

What is involved in Thyroid surgery ...how is it done and how long does it take to recover and be able to resume your life. I would love to get rid of mine and the ugly goiter attached to it. 
explode


----------



## surge (Aug 15, 2012)

Hashi's thyroids are ugly: swollen and 'sticky' which makes them harder to remove, which can lead to larger scars, vocal chord compromise, parathyroid removal, etc. These are in addition to the complications that come from surgery in general. The risks are low, but if they happen, they are going to happen to Hashi's people more disproportionally b/c it is hard to wrestle that thyroid out of there.

I did get my thyroid removed. I didn't have much trouble convincing my GP, but I did have to interview two surgeons, both of whom told me they don't like the surgery on hashis people, and both of whom had said they have removed thyroids in hashis patients who didn't see improvement in their conditions.

My endo suspected my symptoms weren't all thyroid related but agreed that the surgery could be a good idea if only to eliminate the silly notion in my head that this was all thyroid related. Ha.

I would ask your primary care physician how s/he feels about just removing the thyroid and starting from scratch since you are having so much trouble being medicated.


----------



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

hashimotocoaster said:


> What I don't understand is why no one even considers trying to interrupt the autoimmune process--I mean, it's not technically "thyroid disease" because our thyroids would be fine if our immune systems would just leave them alone, right?


I have often wondered about this as well, especially for people with more than one autoimmune disease or people who have been unable to manage an autoimmune disease and get back to living their lives. Why aren't immunosuppressants more commonly used? I know they come with risks, but...well, let's just say I know MANY people (including a family member) who have had organ transplants and take immunosuppressants, and their quality of life is great--none of the pain and misery I see described here pretty frequently.


----------



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

sjmjuly said:


> For all us hashi people that suffer with it, why oh why won't doctors just take out our thyroids? I don't get it. We suffer with symptoms and meds, going hyper to hypo and back again, and watch the antibodies scream through our bodies. It seems simple to me: Remove the thyroid, nothing for the antibodies to attack, take meds and get on with our lives.
> What am I missing here? It seems the only hashi patients I see that end up having their thyroids removed are the ones that end up with cancer or painful goiters and such. I would think the reasonable conclusion would be to remove the stinkin' thing when hashi's is confirmed.
> Please. Someone that knows something I don't chime in here. Why won't doctors take them out????????????????????????


You are not missing anything in my humble opinion. They would not hesitate to do preventive mastectomy, yank out the uterus and ovaries, liposuction, stomach by-pass and the list goes on.

I have thought this for years!!! Glad to know someone else is on the same page.


----------



## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

> Hashi's thyroids are ugly: swollen and 'sticky' which makes them harder to remove, which can lead to larger scars, vocal chord compromise, parathyroid removal, etc. These are in addition to the complications that come from surgery in general. The risks are low, but if they happen, they are going to happen to Hashi's people more disproportionally b/c it is hard to wrestle that thyroid out of there.
> 
> I did get my thyroid removed. I didn't have much trouble convincing my GP, but I did have to interview two surgeons, both of whom told me they don't like the surgery on hashis people, and both of whom had said they have removed thyroids in hashis patients who didn't see improvement in their conditions.


 As a Hashi's patient, whose swings are getting harder and harder to control with meds, this is what I worry about. It's kind of like the devil I know versus the devil I don't. I don't really care about scars too much but the potential vocal cord and parathyroid damage scares me. I don't have the greatest quality of life right now, but I worry that it might be even worse if my thyroid is removed.


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Well, I know y'all are sick of my saying this...and I didn't have much of a choice (unless I wanted to leave the cancer in)...and my Hashi's was undiagnosed because I'm dumb and thought it was just part of the aging process...

All that said, my goodness, life is so, so, so much better now. I'm absolutely able to regulate my meds and am so very happy that I had the opportunity to remove the gland. It's really startling to look back and realize how much my quality of life was suffering.


----------

