Anyone have thyroid problems and/or goiter?

[MOMINPANIC]

I was diagnosed with a multinodular goiter in December. A nodule was biopsied, but was found to be okay. I had blood work that consisted of TSH, T3 and T4, all which were within the normal range. I was told to come back in a year for followup, unless I had any problems to come back before that.
It's only been 2 months and some days I feel like that goiter is larger and other times smaller. I went to a thyroid message board and saw a couple people talking about how they had their goiter removed and it turned out there was cancer in the goiter!! I didn't know that was a possibility, so I'm now freaking out about this!! What if that is what is going on with me? Have any of you had or have a goiter? Does it seem to fluctuate in size or press against anything? I want to know what causes a goiter and if there is anything I can do to shrink it or make it go away!! Anybody?
I also have read that thyroid problems can really trigger anxiety, and I wonder if a lot of my anxiety problems are related to this. Even though the blood work they did was in normal range, I have a lot of symptoms of being hypothyroid, including hair loss, anxiety, fatigue. I have also read that having blood work to check thyroid antibodies can detect more thyroid problems. I am wondering if I should request these from my doctor.
I am just wondering if any of you out there have thyroid problems and/or a goiter, and what your experiences have been with all of this?

[randomworry]

hey dont get me started on the thyroid problems .......lol

i have an overactive thyroid and goiter I was also exposed to some radiation at my university laboratory <--this is the root of my current health anxiety.

I like you have been thinking I have or will get cancer because of this radiation exposure to my thyroid.

All i can say is try your best not to stress too much about it! my thyroid levels are normal now but still have a goiter and discomfort at one point i even had swallowing problems!

hey ho....cest la vie........im going to get some sneaking reassurance from the doc next week tho!

all the best

[JaneC]

Hi. I have a small, slow growing goiter but no nodules on it. I also have lots of hypothyroid symptoms but normal blood tests - very frustrating.

You've had a biopsy which was okay, so that rules out cancer. I've read that in 9 cases out of 10 with what you have there is no cancer involved, so the probability is very low.

You should have the antibodies test done though. That will tell you if you have an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's disease in which your immune system "attacks" your thyroid and will eventually, over time, cause it to stop working properly. I'm pretty sure your TSH etc levels can still be normal for a while even if you test positive for antibodies.

I don't think there is anything you can do to make the goiter go away. They are usually only removed if they get big and unsightly or press on your windpipe or make it hard to swallow things. If a person has their thyroid removed, they will on thyroid meds for the rest of their life.

Hope this helps x

[Kirst24]

Mominpanic,

Your story is scary similar to mine!!! I went to the doctors with a goiter a few months back. They did all the usual tests, T4 and TSH and they came back normal. I knew myself though that I just didn't feel right so did a bit of research and realised they should have tested for antibodies too. I went back to another doctor at same practice and she agreed they should have done this so sent it away for me to be tested. It turned out my antibodies were almost 1000 when normal level is less than 6 in my area. Now, the clueless doctors still maintained that all the various symptoms I had were coming from stress and not from my thyroid. The doctor referred me for an ultrasound anyway to check the goiter. They found one nodule, could not biopsy it because of difficult location but managed to get enough cells from around it to confirm that everything was ok and it looked typical of thyroiditis. I finally saw an endocrinologist who diagnosed me with hashimotos but said that because my TSH and T4 were within range they would not treat it at the moment. This was a month or so ago. The symptoms were gradually getting worse for me so I decided to do LOTS of research myself about hashimotos. There is a lot of evidence showing that firstly the ranges for TSH and T4 can vary from country to country and region to region and what is classed as normal here may not be somewhere else. I also learned that most people need their TSH to be at about 1 to feel ok, and for the T4 to be towards the top of the range, around 20. My TSH has been as high as 5.7 at one point yet this was still classed as within range. I spoke to my GP about all of this and explained what I had read and he finally agreed to give me a trial of thyroxine for 1 month. I am on this just now, and although I don't notice a big difference I definitely don't think I am as bad as I was a month ago. I will say that my anxiety/depression is quite bad and I definitely think it is related to my thyroid as it seems to be since the goiter has grown and I have had more symptoms, the anxiety and depression is worse. Could you ask your doctor for the exact numbers from your results? As it may be that you are within the normal range but not at the optimal number for you. It is such a relief to read about someone in a similar situation(as rubbish as the situation is).

Anyway, sorry for rambling and I really hope you start to get some answers soon.

Best wishes xxx