Enlarged thyroid and goiter

[Guest guest]

Hi,

After an enlarged thyroid showed up on an unrelated xray, I had an

ultrasound today and was told the thyroid is so big the technician

could not accurately measure it. My doctor was out of the office today,

but I left the pictures with his receptionist for him to examine

tomorrow. In the meantime, I would like to know if anyone has any idea

what this means and what can be done to bring it back down to size.

Thanks,

Joyce

[Guest guest]

>

> Hi,

>

> After an enlarged thyroid showed up on an unrelated xray, I had an

> ultrasound today and was told the thyroid is so big the technician

> could not accurately measure it. My doctor was out of the office

today,

> but I left the pictures with his receptionist for him to examine

> tomorrow. In the meantime, I would like to know if anyone has any

idea

> what this means and what can be done to bring it back down to size.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Joyce

>

I know it sounds fancy, but a goiter is the medical term for an

enlarged thyroid so you do not have both..goiter is the medical term

and enlarged thyroid is the layman term.

What can be done about it really depnds on why it is enlarged. You

need Thyroid function testing, antibody testing etc.. and being that

large it will also depend on symptoms such blocking the

airway..difficulty breathing, swallowing etc.

Has the doctor said anything or run any testing yet or is this your

first test? Besides size the main thing an ultrasound is looking for

is nodules or growths and those you will want biopsied before making

any decisions.

Kats3boys

[Guest guest]

Hi Joyce,

It would depend a lot on what is causing it to be enlarged... depending

on what part of the world you live in and diet, it's likely not iodine

deficiency goiter.... so then you need to run the tests... is it

genetic, autoimmune, physical damage... other gland dysfunction? Illness

of some type.... ?

Once you determine the why.. then you have a better idea of what to do...

How obstructive is it to your breathing.. swallowing? Those two will

determine how quickly/radically action must be taken.

Treatment could vary anywhere from hormone supplementation, to surgery,

to radiation.... Don't freak... just laying out all the possibilities so

that you are aware that they exist and can think through things and do

some reading before you have to answer the docs questions on what is to

be done... the more you know ahead, the clearer your own thoughts of

options and such, the less scary the decision making and the better

choices you will make.... I think...

I'd suspect that the first thing your doc will do is run some tests to

find out what is going on...

Have you heard any thing from your doc yet??

Topper ()

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:12:05 -0000 " jfine39 " jfine39@...> writes:

> Hi,

>

> After an enlarged thyroid showed up on an unrelated xray, I had an

> ultrasound today and was told the thyroid is so big the technician

> could not accurately measure it. My doctor was out of the office

> today,

> but I left the pictures with his receptionist for him to examine

> tomorrow. In the meantime, I would like to know if anyone has any

> idea

> what this means and what can be done to bring it back down to size.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Joyce