# Nervous - TT coming



## nan31 (Feb 7, 2016)

I met with a surgeon yesterday because out of the blue an xray for something else showed an enlarged thyroid and an u/s showed a 8.7 cm complex cyst covering the right lobe. The left side had nothing wrong with it. Since the u/s the cyst has gotten larger, growing downward towards my chest and I'm having trouble breathing and swallowing.

The surgeon has recommended taking out the whole thyroid because of fears of the other side becoming diseased in the future and repeating this whole process/ or the left being not being in good shape when he gets in there. I'm concerned because I take a medicine that will interact with synthetic levothyroxine.

Does anyone else have this issue and is it hard to manage? From what I read it's hard to manage medicine levels in general.


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

What medication do you take that interferes with synthroid? There are other options for medication!

It sounds like that thyroid needs to come out. The longer you wait, the bigger it will get and the harder it will be to remove. That does sound like one of the largest nodules I've heard of!


----------



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Bonus points to your surgeon for being proactive and suggesting to remove the whole thyroid instead of just half. One and done!

There are several options for thyroid replacement hormones. If Synthroid doesn't work for you, then you can try other meds. Most of the time, if someone is having a hard time getting regulated on thyroid meds, it's because they still have all or part of the thyroid gland (and often, they have antibodies that make things more difficult). If you get your whole gland removed, it will be easier to regulate your meds because hormones will be coming from only one source.


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> From what I read it's hard to manage medicine levels in general.


In your case it sounds like you may need to take an increased dose because of the issue with metabolization.

The good thing is - if they remove the entire gland then the issue of difficulty stabilizing due to having 1/2 a thyroid producing some and likely too little hormone is eliminated.

Be sure to have both FT-4 and FT-3 run when you have your labs to get the best idea of active thyroid hormone in your system at time for draw. Do not take your replacement med's prior to the draw either - unless you have at least 8-12 hours between last dose and lab draw.


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Ah, gotcha.

Well, from what I read, it sounds like you will just be put on a higher dose than normal, which isn't a big deal.

Also, you can take levo at night, as long as you haven't eaten in a while...that might help with the interaction.


----------

