Guest guest Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Becca, Personally.. I'd go with removing the cancerous half. Using Radiation will kill thyroid tissue, possibly all of it and do nothing about ridding you of the cancer. If they go in and remove the affected have, the other half will continue to produce hormone. You'll still have to supplement, it probably won't be able to produce enough.. but it will still be there to help you out... I didn't have cancer, I had a genetic defect that cause my thyroid to storm, they killed it off with RAI and now I have no thyroid function left at all... I'm TOTALLY dependant on meds... Not a great situation to be in, in my opinion.. If they tell you, however, that the radiation is going to take care of the cancer and leave you free of the dependance on meds..... I, personally, would get up and walk out... RAI is NOT that exact. They 'guess' at how much to give you and 'hope' that they are right.... Follow that up with incorrect testing and dosage of thyroid meds (or no meds at all because they are ONLY testing TSH and nothing else and just calling your 'normal' and not treating symptoms... and you end up going hypo and that flat out sucks. You'll want to know what testing they will be doing after treatment (whether you choose surgery or RAI, this doesn't matter). You want the TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 checked. You want to know that those lab tests will be a guide line in your treatment and dosing and that the doctor will also consider your ranges, not just proclaim you 'normal' because you fall within the ranges and not optimize your meds so that you feel human and healthy. You will want to know what medications the doctor prescribes. If he says Synthroid only and is not open to others types or brands of thyroid hormone replacement.. You should be strongly considering another doctor. Not to destroy your faith in your doc... but we have seen a strong tendency that docs that will only test TSH, do not consider symptoms and the level of the Frees (T4 and T3) to fine tune dosage, and are not open to other brands of synthetics or the use of Natural thyroid glandular... tend to not be the best docs to be treating someone with a thyroid disorder, they simply are not knowledgeable about thyroid disease to be helpful. Take plenty of notes... so that when you get back you can ask questions about what you didn't understand... there are plenty of folks here that have a lot of research under their belts that will be willing to help fit the puzzle pieces together for you.... Chin up... You've got all of us standing right beside you! Topper () On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:38:12 -0800 (PST) Bell writes: I'm headed to the doctors office tomorrow to talk about how we are going to go about handling my thyroid cancer. I'll be checking my email before I go, since i'm not very educated in this please help me if you can by letting me know what to ask, for and about. This help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!! I've already been told that we are going to discuss either surgery to take the other half out and be on thyroid medication for the rest of my life, or radiation which has a possibility of it coming back Any help wwould be great! becca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 I second all that, and, if your thyroid IS removed, TSH does not affect the stance of how much hormone your body needs, even if it says .0. Only the Frees testing shows how much hormone is available for use by the body, and that's after you are treated. Tx Re: Ok Ladies....... Becca, Personally.. I'd go with removing the cancerous half. Using Radiation will kill thyroid tissue, possibly all of it and do nothing about ridding you of the cancer. If they go in and remove the affected have, the other half will continue to produce hormone. You'll still have to supplement, it probably won't be able to produce enough.. but it will still be there to help you out... I didn't have cancer, I had a genetic defect that cause my thyroid to storm, they killed it off with RAI and now I have no thyroid function left at all... I'm TOTALLY dependant on meds... Not a great situation to be in, in my opinion.. If they tell you, however, that the radiation is going to take care of the cancer and leave you free of the dependance on meds..... I, personally, would get up and walk out... RAI is NOT that exact. They 'guess' at how much to give you and 'hope' that they are right.... Follow that up with incorrect testing and dosage of thyroid meds (or no meds at all because they are ONLY testing TSH and nothing else and just calling your 'normal' and not treating symptoms... and you end up going hypo and that flat out sucks. You'll want to know what testing they will be doing after treatment (whether you choose surgery or RAI, this doesn't matter). You want the TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 checked. You want to know that those lab tests will be a guide line in your treatment and dosing and that the doctor will also consider your ranges, not just proclaim you 'normal' because you fall within the ranges and not optimize your meds so that you feel human and healthy. You will want to know what medications the doctor prescribes. If he says Synthroid only and is not open to others types or brands of thyroid hormone replacement.. You should be strongly considering another doctor. Not to destroy your faith in your doc... but we have seen a strong tendency that docs that will only test TSH, do not consider symptoms and the level of the Frees (T4 and T3) to fine tune dosage, and are not open to other brands of synthetics or the use of Natural thyroid glandular... tend to not be the best docs to be treating someone with a thyroid disorder, they simply are not knowledgeable about thyroid disease to be helpful. Take plenty of notes... so that when you get back you can ask questions about what you didn't understand... there are plenty of folks here that have a lot of research under their belts that will be willing to help fit the puzzle pieces together for you.... Chin up... You've got all of us standing right beside you! Topper () Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 I did leave out that part.... thanks for covering that, ! Topper () On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 09:08:41 -0600 " " writes: I second all that, and, if your thyroid IS removed, TSH does not affect the stance of how much hormone your body needs, even if it says .0. Only the Frees testing shows how much hormone is available for use by the body, and that's after you are treated. Tx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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