Re: Frustrated and need some direction

January 3, 2012

PCPs can be good physicians for treating thyroid problems. Yours at least was

willing to do an ultrasound - good news that the nodules are non-cancerous.

Even if your antibodies are within range, you can still have autoimmune thyroid

disease and the nodules and the nodules are one symptom thereof. There is

medical research that shows that treating the thyroid to the point that the TSH

is 1 or less can result in the nodules shrinking.

What thyroid tests did your PCP originally run? Do you have copies of the labs?

My guess would be that it was only TSH which isn't particular accurate if you

have autoimmune thyroid disease since it's a pituitary hormone that signals your

thyroid to produce T4 and T3. If you have autoimmune thyroid disease you don't

have a normal response to levels of TSH. You really need to know levels of

Free T4 and Free T3 to know what might be going on. Reverse T3 can also be

helpful. If your PCP will run these tests, you should make sure to get a copy

(really you should always keep copies of all labs as that's helpful if/when you

change docs - you don't have to pay the $25+ for record requests, etc.). If you

can post the results, we can give you some ideas of what might be happening

based upon what some of us have dealt with.

Swollen lymph nodes can be a sign of viral infection or just poor

detoxification. You might also ask your PCP to run some viral panels (e.g, EBV,

etc.). If you have low levels of WBCs as well as lymphocytes that's also a sign

of a viral infection. Your PCP should have run these tests (part of a CBC

(Complete Blood Count)) - you might ask for a copy of those if you don't have

them.

B.

>

> Went to primary care physician (PCP) fall of 2010 for thyroid symptoms.

Bloodwork came back " normal " . I pushed PCP to check thyroid further. Did

ultrasound and found thyroid nodules on each lobe. Referred me to Endo because

he wanted Endo to biopsy. Endo did biopsy but results were questionable. Went

to 2nd Endo and he agreed results were questionable. Had biopsy slides sent to

MD to be re-read. Local pathology lab screwed up and not sure if it

was even my slides that were sent to MD! PCP agreed that I needed to go

straight to MD and start over. The entire above process took one full year. I

just went to MD last month and had thyroid nodules biopsied as well as

multiple enlarged lymph nodes on the right side of my neck biopsied too. All

biopsies came back as non malignant.

>

> MD did test for Hashi's and said it was negative. I do have

antibodies present on both TPO and Ab tests, just not " elevated " .

>

> So here I am, thankful I'm not dealing with cancer but not sure what my next

step should be. I'm currently on low dose of Synthroid. PCP originally agreed

to put me on Synthroid to hopefully help symptoms. All it's really helped is to

slow my hair loss from two handfuls per day to one handful per day. Out of a

list of 82 possible hypo/hashi symptoms I have 54 of them.

>

> Why do I have multiple thyroid nodules, enlarged lymph nodes (only on one side

of my neck)and multiple dozens of symptoms if there isn't anything wrong with

me?

>

> Should I go back to square one with my PCP and see if he will start over and

test for other things or should I try another Endo, Rheumatologist or other kind

of doc?

> HELP! I just know I've gotta get some relief soon.

>

January 3, 2012

,

Thanks so much for your response! My PCP only ran TSH. One Endo ran TSH and

TPO. I don't remember what my TSH was when my PCP started me on Synthroid. I

will check into getting those records. I do know that my TSH was .0915 and the

TPO was 14, this was last June at the Endo.

Here are my labs from MD in December...

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 0.66 uIU/mL (0.27- 4.2\

0)

THYROGLOBULIN 31.5 ng/mL

Reference ranges:

Intact gland <55 ng/mL

Post-Thyroidectomy <0.9 ng/mL

THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODY <20 IU/ML (\

-< 40)

T4 (THYROXINE),FREE 1.33 ng/dL \

(0.93- 1.70)

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES 14 IU/mL (-< \

35)

Free T3 or any Reverse haven't been run to my knowledge.

My lymph nodes have been enlarged for at least 7 months, possibly longer, so MD

said they didn't think it was from anything bacterial.

If I had to guess, I would say Hashi's is causing my symptoms as well as the

nodules and the lymph node enlargement. But since my antibody test results

aren't " high enough " I'm afraid the docs will say I'm dealing with something

else....and maybe I am???

Any insight is GREATLY appreciated!

> >

> > Went to primary care physician (PCP) fall of 2010 for thyroid symptoms.