Thyroid cyst- need biopsy

[Patti D]

Well
There are as usual many bumps in this road but this is one I don't need.
4 weeks ago I felt or should I say saw a visible lump in my throat below my adams apple. No problems swallowing but felt like something was stuck in my throat. yesterday had an ultrasound and they found a cyst so was informed today I need a needle biopsy as part of the lump is solid and part fluid. I am a little freaked out. Any one have similar issues here? I don't need one more thing to worry about.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Patti

[Maz]

[user=287]Patti D[/user] wrote:

Any one have similar issues here? I don't need one more thing to worry about.

Hi Patti,

I hear ya there! Yes, I've got numerous thyroid nodules and have had them all biopsied. Fortunately, most of these things are nothing…benign and just a pain in the neck…literally! Lymies have a tendency to be predisposed to the devils. If they get beyond about 1cm in diameter, they usually want to go in and get them out. However, if they're not bothersome and benign, then why? Usually, once found, they want to do an ultrasound every so often to check on them.

Don't worry too much about the actual biopsy…just be sure that the physician doing it is experienced and uses local anesthetic. I've heard that on a number of occasions that docs don't use locals and it can be uncomfortable. Good family friend just had this done a couple weeks ago and they had not given him locals…said it was pretty unfomfy, so just make sure (demand, if nec!) that they do this. I believe Tiff said she was not given locals, either, when she had this done.

I had 4 or 5 nodules biopsied a couple years ago and it took about 45 mins…worst part, lying still with neck back on pillow and not swallowing when the biopsy (which I couldn't feel) was being taken! So strange how we don't think about swallowing until we have to not do it!!! :roll-laugh: At the time, the physician commented when done that the liquid drawn looked nice and clear, which was a good sign.

Patti, let us know how it goes for you! Will keep you in my thoughts, Lyme sista!

Peace, Maz

 

[linda]

I have no experience with this paticular problem (hard to believe, i know), but I'm sorry to hear of this news. Hopefully it is nothing but a cyst.

[Patti D]

Thanks Maz,
You always come through for me. This damn thing is about 1 inch in size another tiny one .5 cm right next to it. Of course being the hyper-hypo I am I right away think they will take my thyroid out.
So what is the connection to this. Is it the RA or lyme or my age and being post menopausal.
I am also a little bummed out. i put my youngest daughter on a plane today for Spain. She is majoring in international business/ spanish major and i won't see her again until the end of August. I am an emotional wreck today!!! Just need a little TLC. Thanks again.

Patti

[linda]

Ohhhh, I remember the day I sent my youngest off to college :crying:. It was very difficult, but I'm amazed 3 yrs later with the man he is becoming. My oldest majored in Intrntl Relations, very cool major. The MOST difficult part of parenting for me was switching from supervisor to advisor, but I kept telling myself that I survived those first yrs away from home and so will my son.

On the thyroid, about all I know is that lots of things can cause problems, from age to AI diseases. Hopefully they'll find out what caused them and you'll be able to keep your thyroid. As Maz says, fingers and toes are crossed!

[Maz]

[user=287]Patti D[/user] wrote:

So what is the connection to this. Is it the RA or lyme or my age and being post menopausal.

Probably a combination of “all of the above,” although Lyme is pretty notorious for thryoid nodules, so I understand. My best guess is that like RA nodules, it's the body's attempt to encapsulate the infections. If you google, “Lyme” and “thryoid nodules,” you'll find lots of articles on the subject.

When I saw an immunologist a few weeks ago, we discussed thryoid nodules and he said it was his belief that it was tied to a virus…didn't say which one. On Mary Shoman's thyroid info site, she has a Turkish study linking Hashi's to the infection yersinia enterocolita and this study suggests therapeutic treatment with doxy. Of course, one can have a mult-nodular goiter without having Hashi's, too.

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/yersinia.htm

Btw, meant to add…if they suggest an RAI scan, if I were to do this again, I'd avoid it and go right to ultrasound and biopsy. They're looking for hot and cold nodules (of which I had both), but the biopsy is really the confirming test.

Do you remember Amy (very pretty blonde lady)? You can look her up in the member list, but I haven't seen her around for some months. She had a thyroid growth removed last fall and said the worst part was neck ache when she woke up due to the position the neck needs to be in during the surgery. Other than this, she was glad she had it done and recovery was quick.

If you have to have the nodules removed, it doesn't necessarily mean total thyroidectomy. I think they try to leave as much thyroid tissue intact as possible…sometimes they can just nip them right out and I don't think it's a really huge procedure, especially if if can be done laproscopically, which doesn't leave scarring.

Ach…you poor thing saying adieu to your baby today….so hard! I don't know what I'm going to do when my youngest goes off to college Sept '10! She's pretty sure she wants to go somewhere hot and south. :crying: Don't blame her…I want to live somewhere hot and south, too!

Any chance you could schedule an impromtu vacation to Spain??? 😉 Flights are relatively reasonable at the mo!!!

Peace, Maz

[Patti D]

Thanks Linda!
Sometimes these things just happen and as Maz said are really nothing but a 'pain in the neck”. I will be the best worry wort you ever saw and until the pathologist tells me things are good, I will be a nut case.

I like the “advisor role ” as a parent. I just worry about her safety of course.She is my little cutie. She has traveled already quit a bit but not like this 6 weeks and living with a host family and studying in a spanish college about 2.5 hours west of Madrid. I am sure it will be a life changing experence,

It is good to hear from others who have gone through the same thing.Thanks for sharig1

Happier days!
Patti

[Patti D]

I had wished I could visit but with my huband looking for work and me in the middle of my slow month of work due to vacations, I cannot get to Madrid to visit.
Abbey is ok with it but I amnot of course.My other daught is here visiting for the weekend and we will have fun but will miss abbey.
Thanks guys!

Patti

[lynnie_sydney]

although Lyme is pretty notorious for thryoid nodules

 Patti – my AP doc is pretty focused on thyroid issues (including nodules) for ALL rheumatoid diseases, says they are extremely common across the board. I'm betting it's Lyme related. I can also understand your worry. Let us know how you go. Lynnie  

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[Kim]

Hey Patti,

Sorry about the biopsy. :crying: 

My thyroid has been on a wild ride ever since I got sick 4 years ago.  I also have nodules that have been biopsied (get the local anesthetic) and the worst part is the anxiety waiting for the report.   I get ultrasounds every six months to look for changes (they keep getting larger :X) and the one a couple of months ago showed new nodules and now a new cyst that has “irregular edges” that they want biopsied. :doh:  We settled on repeating the ultrasound in 3 months instead of 6, which I'll do in a couple of weeks.  I'm a little freaked out too because my neck feels very tight which makes me think it's gotten larger.  If you can figure out what it's going to take to get the thyroid to settle down, please let me and the rest of us know.  My LLMD sees a lot of whacky thyroids.

I so feel your pain about letting your daughter go.  I'd have both my children living back home again if I could ~ of course they could bring their spouses and children. :roll-laugh:  We live in a college town and our kids went to college here.  Just moving them from the house to dorms and apartments was traumatic for mom.
Really looking forward to meeting you and Trudi. :blush:

Take care……kim

 

[Patti D]

Wow,
Talk about taking a load off!! Thank you so much ladies. This kind of reassurance you cannot even get at the doctors. I am stunned that this too is related to that crazy disease called lyme.
Maz,
I do remember reading all of Amys posts and really liked hearing from her.

Amy if you are there check in and let us know how you are doing.

Also good information on this type of surgery, the needle biopsy and yes I will request a local. I used to joke with my students about looking like we have the “Milwaukee goiter” and point to all of the beer guts in my training. I was at the time training at one of our many breweries and let me tell you getting those guys on the floor was difficult to do CPR. Now my daughter tells me all those years of goiter jokes have come back to haunt me. Karma is a b—h.

Lynnie-
One more conformation that this is also part of this program. Who knew…

Kim,
Now we can chat about thyroid issues when we meet in 2 weeks. I will have just had the biopsy-July 9th so it will be fresh. The first thing they told me was it did not say irregular edges on the cyst so that must be the marker they are concerned about. I am sorry you too have these issues.

Maz,
I am sorry you have these things too.

Can they drain this thing?

I just added up all of the crazy bumps & lumps I have had and here goes: cyst removed from the breast, the cervix, the ovary, Now have ganglion cysts on the wrist under 2 toes, and my little finger. 2 new cysts on the thyroid.

I appear to be full of “cysts”

Also I realised how many typos I had in that last post, I was half asleep so I am sorry. I usually try to clean things up before I send them off.

I so appreciate all of your TLC on my behalf. I haven't heard from my daughter yet, but hope by now she has arrived safety in Madrid. Thanks so much guys. I can now go about and enjoy my weekend!

I am grateful!

Patti

[Maz]

[user=287]Patti D[/user] wrote:

Maz,
I am sorry you have these things too.

Can they drain this thing?

I just added up all of the crazy bumps & lumps I have had and here goes: cyst removed from the breast, the cervix, the ovary, Now have ganglion cysts on the wrist under 2 toes, and my little finger. 2 new cysts on the thyroid.

I appear to be full of “cysts”

Hi Patti,

Funny you should mention that. When they first found my thyroid nodules, I had the RAI scan, then ultrasound, then ultrasound with biopsy…what a palaver! Of course, they were saying that if the nodules got any larger they'd refer me to a surgeon (so I know how you feel :sick:). However, when I had a follow-up ultrasound a couple months later, after the biopsy, the nodules had decreased in size. By this time I had started doxy for my Lyme, so I always wondered if the doxy had caused the decrease in size or whether when they drew off the fluid from the biopsy whether it was that which caused them to shrink!

I think if it was as simple as draining off the fluid they probably wouldn't have talked about surgery with me, to be honest. Probably the devils fill back up again. Mine have been feeling bigger, too, just lately and I've been procrastinating getting them re-checked. Strangely, when I had my most recent thyroid work-up, everything was in range, including thyroid auto-antibodies, which had been elevated several years ago when all this started! So, I don't know if this is part of the Hashi's early cycling thing or whether AP  had brought it into remission. I guess I won't know until we follow this for some time with more bloodwork. An interesting aside…since changing from mino to doxy, again, my thyroid is feeling much, much better, all in all.

Patti, I'm right with you on the lumpy, bumpy side of things…I don't know if I'm just getting ropey in my old age or whether it's all Lyme-related…but I also have had these thyroid nodules, a breast cyst that needing draining, and a cyst on the underside of both my feet, too…like Morton's neuromas. Feels like I'm stepping on a pea. Maybe the same tick bit us both??? :roll-laugh:

It's all a crazy deal, isn't it?

Glad your eldest is home to be with you this w/e. Your youngest sounds like a real treasure, too, and my heart goes out to you….but what a fantastic opportunity you have given her to spread her wings and see a bit of the world. She will come back a much more “expanded” person with lots of growth in areas she may never have experienced before. Traveling and seeing the world really does open one's eyes to so much. 😀 You're a good Mom, Patti!

Peace, Maz

 

 

[Patti D]

Hey Maz,
I am getting a real education here. Thank you!! All of my thyroid tests were normal. On the ultrasound both lobes of the thyroid were normal but the valley between the 2 lobes,the isthmus has a 2.2 cm cyst.
I can't believe that the lyme is still evolving. Yes I can but no I don't want to think there may be more to come.

I am hopeful that the biopsy will take out some of this fluid but honestly this thing just appeared in the last 3 weeks. I have decided I am going to have the prolotherapy for all of the other lumps. The 2 on the base of my toes, the wrist and little finger cyst.
Pretty soon I won't be bumpy & lumpy just dumpy & grumpy (giggle)
I sure appreciate you, Kim & Linda & Lynnie responding and reducing my anxiety over this thing.

My daughter made it safely to Madrid and in typical style I might add, lost luggage, 2 hours late, missed shuttle which came 2.5 hour late and was exhausted and wanting to return home!!! She will be fine once she gets some sleep.

I will keep you posted.

Patti

[Maz]

[user=287]Patti D[/user] wrote:

On the ultrasound both lobes of the thyroid were normal but the valley between the 2 lobes,the isthmus has a 2.2 cm cyst.

Patti, I think we must be twins or something! :roll-laugh: That is exactly the location of my biggest nodule, too. Right over my windpipe. In fact, I didn't even know I had one there until the physician doing the biopsy had me tilt my head back and asked me to put my finger right there to feel it. Felt like a little marble. That's the one I have that I can feel getting larger, too.

Hadn't heard of prolotherapy for the lumpy bumpy stuff, just for helping to reduce joint inflam, so please let me know how you go with that…I might have a go, myself. Although, if they're injecting the underside of the foot, I might have to build up some courage! I had to have a couple planters warts removed some years ago and the anesthetic shot into the underside of my foot was absolutely excruciating! :sick: I can take loads of pain, but the memory of those shots in the sole still lingers….agh!

Your poor daughter! Nothing like baptism with fire when a novice solo traveler! Sheesh…sounds like a comedy of errors with all the things that went wrong…Murphy's Law, eh? Well, so glad she is safe and your heart is stilled now you know she is okay.

Happy July 4th!

Peace, Maz

[Kim]

Oh, now you two have me spooked about my new cyst with irregular edges.  The radiologist wanted an immediate biopsy and I talked them out of it and asked just to do another ultrasound in 3 months since I'd had previous biopsies of my nodules.  Now I'm rethinking that decision. 😯

That tiny little organ has way too much power in our bodies. :doh:

kim

[Author]

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