Worried

[smjbedford]

Growing Goiter

I have had underactive thyroid for about 15 years and have had a small goiter too. Last month I went for my yearly checkup and my blood work came back with TSH and T3 slightly low...I requested a scan of my thyroid as I noticed difficulites breathing when trianing for Ironman Canada as well as difficulties swollowing....
Scanned my thyroid and ultraound showed - right lob 5.9 x 1.9 x 1.8 cm and left 3.9 x 1.6 x 1.4 cm - multiple benign appearing subcentimeter thyroid adenomas within both lobes.

we re-drew my blood and now TSH is 7.337 and T3 91 FT4 .8

Have been on medications for this condition for at least 15 years

What should I do and what should I expect when I go to the doctor this week
Does my thyroid need to come out?

[smjbedford]

Interesting thanks - similar to the start of Bikrum yoga

[hava]

Do this pranayam daily to boost your hormone levels.See how you feel in 3 weeks, and continue the pranayam.
Build up your timing gradually.If you feel tired or dizzy, stop and resume after one minute.
Kapalbhati pranayam -(Do it before eating) Push air forcefully out through the nose about once per second. Stomach will itself go in(contract in). The breathing in(through the nose) will happen automatically. Establish a rhythm and do for 20 to 30 minutes twice a day. Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
Not for pregnant women. Seriously ill people do it gently.

[smjbedford]

thank you - I am currently seeing the doctor and we completeing a bibosy and a CT scan of my throat....

[goolarra]

I should also have mentioned that when you are undermedicated, your thyroid attempts to work harder to compensate for the low levels of hormones.  This might be contributing to the swelling of your thyroid and the nodules and causing your breathing/swallowing problems.  An increase might help to reduce the goiter and nodules.  In addition, many of us find that selenium helps with the swelling of the thyroid.

[goolarra]

Your TSH is high (0.3-3.0 is the currently recommended range according to AACE).  T3 is total T3 (as opposed to FT3, so is of limited use).  However, it looks low to me also.  FT4 at 0.8 also looks low.  When posying FT3 and FT4 levels, please include reference ranges from your own lab report as ranges vary from lab to lab.  All this indicates that you are undermedicated.

Life events, including aging, general health, stress, etc. can cause changes in meds requirements.  So can a more aggressive exercise program.  Are you experiencing hypo symptoms?  Do you have Hashi's?  Your U/S is unremarkable, except that you have an enlarged right lobe (goiter) and nodules (adenomas) that appear to be consistent with Hashi's (most of us with Hashi's have nodules).

I would expect a meds dose increase, nothing more.