Blood test advice needed

[steven777]

Hi all

Following the discovery of an egg-sized tumour on my thyroid (which turned out to be benign) I underwent a hemithyroidectomy 6 weeks ago. As a result of the operation I feel considerably better, but I still suffer from various problems. My ENT consultant had a blood test done 2 weeks after the surgery, which apparently came back "normal", but he also recommended to see my GP if problems persisted. I am seeing him the day after tomorrow, and suspect I will be sent for (at least) another blood test. I would be very grateful for any advice on what to ask for specifically. Any suggestions for other sorts of tests are also very welcome.

My problems are:

1. Something that I can probably best describe as adrenalin rushes, or a cross between those and hot flushes, only without the sensation of becoming very warm. I feel them mainly in my head, rising from my neck to the top of my head. Sometimes they appear to start a bit lower, around my midriff. They only last about half a second, but I often feel short of breath for several hours afterwards, sometimes even until the following day. These rushes happen a few times every week. They come completely unexpectedly, e.g. when I'm reading on my bed, or doing a bit of work on my computer -- i.e. not when I'm particularly stressed. (I am generally not a very stressed person.) When I told the ENT consultant about these symptoms during my check-up he was surprised, and he told me that if anything he would expect the opposite to happen, what with half my thyroid now being gone.

2. The feeling of being short of breath is often there for at least several hours every day, even without the rushes. It seems to be especially bad when I've not eaten for several hours -- I often also feel weak and energyless at the same time. I notice that my HR is often low when I feel this, around 50. Eating something often does help to some extent but once I ate a big bar of chocolate, thinking it might improve the way I felt, but it actually made things worse.

3. I sometimes get some chest pains. On the whole I wouldn't call them very bad, although on one occasion, two weeks ago, for about a minute there was a stinging pain in the left side of my chest  that made me a bit dizzy and was serious enough that I felt I had to sit down for a bit.

4. I feel an almost constant pressure on the area around my voice box. My tumour was much lower than that, growing behind my collarbone and chestbone, but it has occurred to me that perhaps a nerve has been slightly damaged during surgery. I also feel as though my windpipe is a bit constricted, which of course does not help the feeling of being short of breath.

I regularly BP and that seems fine, at about 110/70.

Thanks very much for any advice you can give me!!

  

[steven777]

Thanks a lot ifupleze. Checking adrenal levels had occurred to me as well but thought I might be jumping to conclusions. Good to hear it confirmed.

Incidentally, in relation to the chest pains, I forgot to say that I'm 32, male, not overweight and a non-smoker. I've had a few ECGs done before. One of them suggested possible arrhythmia and bradycardia, but after the thyroid tumour diagnosis the GP told me that this might be the underlying cause of the seemingly heart-related problems I was experiencing.

Another potentially relevant bit of information that has occurred to me is that my brother has for many years undergone treatment for a serious growth hormone shortage. By contrast, at 6'7" I would appear to be pretty much the opposite. I wonder if this may somehow be related as well.

Any further advice I'd be very grateful for.

[ifupleze]

Have you been checked for diabetes?  You might ask about your blood sugar level being tested.  Also, your adrenals should be checked, too.  Ask for a full panel blood test including metabolic panel, DHEA, cortisol, B12 and Vit D.  These could be low or high.