Okay, I am in my fourth day without a thyroid. The pain from the operation is over. As far as that's concerned, I feel fine. My throat is little sore, probably from the intubation tube, but that's much better than it was a couple of days ago. However, I wake up each morning with a slight (very slight) headache, mid-forehead. I don't feel tired really, at least not in the sense that I want to stay in bed and sleep, but there is a sort of a blah feeling. Since I don't think there's anything else going on with me, I'm thinking this relates to the absence of a thyroid.
Glad to hear all went well, Ken. Prayers for a speedy recovery and good results as your body adjusts. A picture of your thyroid is on a milk carton.
Not having a thyroid or a low thyroid will make you fell blah all the time. Fortunately that is why there is thyroid medicine. Glad you sre doing so well.
What kind of medications will you have to take to make up for your missing thyroid @Ken Anderson? I hope your mood and energy return to normal as your body adjusts. I am going to the doctor on the 30th, as I think I have mentioned. One of the things I want to have checked is my thyroid. Although I feel fine, my hair is dry and brittle, and that is supposed to be an issue with thyroid problems. Thyroid problems run in my family..so I need to get it checked at least.
It's good to hear that the surgery went fine and you are okay now, @Ken Anderson. The thyroid is alien to me. All I know is that it is connected to goiter. I have an acquaintance who had a thyroid surgery which was found to be malignant. But after the surgery, he had undergone a procedure which I forgot if it's chemotherapy or radiation. But anyway, from the last we heard of him, he was doing well and it seemed that the cancer did not prosper.
Are you feeling better @Ken Anderson? Thyroid meds take awhile to kick in, they are more like vitamins in that respect. You won't feel the effect in one day, not even a week sometimes.
I'm still feeling kind of blah, which is really the best way that I can describe it. I don't hurt, and I'm not particularly tired, but I could easily lie in bed all day. I don't do that because there are things that I have to do, but a month ago I couldn't stand wasting time on nothing. Sometimes I find myself sitting at my desk, not sleeping, not working, not paying much attention to the movie that's on, and not even thinking about anything in particular. If I were single, I probably wouldn't be eating because I'm not hungry. When I eat, I can enjoy the taste but that wouldn't be enough to encourage me to do it. It turned out that there was no cancer in my left thyroid.
I'm sorry to hear this, Ken. Thyroid controls a lot of things and if the dose isn't right you'll feel it. It really does take time to adjust. I've felt like you many times when my meds were off except for the not hungry...I'm always hungry! Give it a month then if things aren't better, tell your dr. One time I was taken off my meds for a month to see if maybe I had a tumor because bloodwork was coming back weird. At first I felt no different but by the end of the month I didn't even want to get out of bed. It wasn't a tumor and my my meds were adjusted and slowly I got back to normal, well as normal as I can be. If you could bottle the lack of appetite part, you'd be rich. Enjoy that and take advantage to lose a few lbs. I would call that a definite perk and I'm jealous.
Yeah, I think I'd like to keep the lack of an appetite, given that I am perfectly capable of eating and enjoying a meal. I have a follow up with my doctor on the 17th, and I haven't seen the endocrinologist yet. Perhaps I'll learn more then.
Most likely. After I get my bloodwork done and my results from the parathyroid test, I might be seeing one too. Maybe my thyroid is off. Depression and low thyroid are common. In fact so many problems and illnesses can be traced back to a low thyroid. It's very important.
Given that I see that I never followed this thread up, and it's been seven years, I should mention that the blah feeling didn't last all that long. My Levothyroxine was increased from something like 80 mcg to more than 200 mcg per day until about six months ago when my doctor agreed to try cutting it back. Now, I'm taking 100 mcg and my levels are fine. I am not feeling or experiencing any lasting side effects from the loss of my thyroid.
The surgeries were easy, as was the recovery. The scariest part was, while I was lying on the couch after the second surgery (the same day of), Ella decided she needed to jump off the top of the couch, using my neck as a springboard to reach the floor. She landed directly on the point where the surgery was, and I thought for sure that I would be bleeding. But, there were no problems and, except for the initial shock, it wasn't even painful. The lack of appetite didn't last, darn it.
So what happens to your parathyroids when your thyroid is removed? Do you have to take meds to compensate for the loss of those as well? Thyroid issues run on the female side of my family. My mother and both sisters were/are on synthroid after having their thyroids irradiated.
Competent surgeons do intra-operative PTH levels when doing thyroidectomies to make sure they leave at least one in place. I don't know what they do if they remove them accidentally; perhaps re-implant at least one. Synthroid only works if you still have the ability to de-iodinate the T4. Most people do, but those who don't or whose process doesn't work well have to take some kind of balanced thyroid supplement or drug.