[Brandon Tomachek]

#1186811

Hello,

33M and I am currently going through a lot of testing for my thyroid.

Symptoms:
– Fatigue
– Weight GAIN/inability to lose weight
– excess sweating
– insomnia
– thinning hair
– mood swings
– anxiety

TSH Levels:
.345 last week (tested again with additional testing antibody testing)
.239 week before
.526 (7 years ago when last tested)

T3/T4 – Normal
Thyroglobuln Ab – Normal
Thy Perox Ab – Normal

Just had the results of my ultrasound:

Multiple bilateral heterogeneous thyroid nodules with similar
appearance — measuring 1.5 x 1.4 x 1.0 cm in the right mid pole, 1.5
x 1.4 x 0.9 cm in the left mid pole, and 1.5 1.5 x 1.1 cm the left mid
pole.

My PCP does not believe Graves disease, ATM. Will not elaborate on much at the moment. A fine needle biopsy is ordered, waiting on scheduling. He did not prescribe me anything at the moment.

Is there anything I should be advocating for myself or asking? I’m starting to get anxious over the nodules found, and becoming hyper aware of the swollen thyroid.

[Kimberly]

#1186813

Hello and welcome – we’re fellow patients here, but in general, nodules are VERY common. They only become a problem if they are suspicious for malignancy (the vast majority are benign) or if they start overproducing thyroid hormone, which can cause symptoms of hyperthyroidism. If your insurance will cover, asking for antibodies specific to Graves’ might be helpful (TSI or TRAb). There’s also a more involved test called a radioactive iodine uptake & scan that can show how your thyroid is taking up iodine, which can also provides some clues on the cause.

Regardless of the cause, a good question for your doc would be whether they will recommend treatment now – or if they will wait to see if your T3/T4 go out of range.

[Brandon Tomachek]

#1186814

Thank you for the fast reply!

I do believe he is also trying to get the iodine uptake & scan approved by insurance.

I will ask about the graves specific testing at my follow up appointment.

My major concern after getting the radiology report was the size of the nodules (but could also be common size for most) along with all the other lab work coming back normal outside of the TSH.

It seems the size listed were in the range for concern, hence the biopsy being ordered.

[Brandon Tomachek]

#1186981

Hi Kim,

I wanted to give an update if anyone has any similar experiences:

– June had a failed biopsy (inadequate sample)
– Finally got in with an Endocrinologist. Thyroid levels are within range of what they were back in April. He did an Ultrasound of my thyroid at his office and confirmed I have (3) TRI-RADS 4 nodules
– He had me do the radioactive scan – results were all nodules came back cold, and thyroid has the appearance of graves even though I don’t have any of the other indicators. Just a little concern in the report the cancer risk percentage jumped up pretty significantly.
– I have a second biopsy scheduled with the Endocrinologist at his office that he will perform himself.

Looking to see if anyone else had similar testing results, and what the end results were to ease my mind as I await the next appointment.

[Kimberly]

#1186984

Hello – Hopefully, the second biopsy will be able to give you more direction than the last one. The waiting game is such a challenge! This forum is a bit of a ghost town, but I know that on our Facebook group, we have members who can share their personal experiences. If you are on Facebook, do a search for @GDATF and select “join group”. There’s another organization that is specific to cancer called ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., and they should have some good resources on testing and interpreting results. Take care!

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