[jrusin70]

#1018132

Hi, I had surgery on Jan 4th and I’m having some issues with talking and getting out of breath. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks

[Bobbi]

#1062863

Issues with talking after surgery, yes, I’ve heard of some. The nerve that serves the vocal cords runs through the thyroid. Sometimes, the surgery aggravates that nerve, and there can be a period of hoarseness that follows. Sometimes the surgeon severs the nerve (but rarely). Anyway, damage of any kind to that nerve can result in voice issues.

[lhc11]

#1062864

I had some getting out of breath issues about 2 weeks after my surgery as well (and difficulty talking for too long, or raising my voice above a slightly-softer-than-normal level). The out of breath thing made me feel really panicky, which made it worse, of course. Here’s what helped with that: massaging my scar as per my surgeon’s instructions for post-op scar massage. Seems weird, but my surgeon’s assistant explained to me that part of what was perhaps going on (because I was actually getting enough oxygen, my airway wasn’t actually "blocked" — something you might want to ask your surgeon to check on if you are really worried) is that the tissue where the thyroid used to be was healing up, causing a kind of new sensation that my body "read" as being unable to breathe. If that makes sense–it did to me at the time.

So, if you can, I would try the scar massage that you may already be doing–but do it when you feel out of breath as well. Hope that helps!

lhc11

[jrusin70]

#1062865

Thank you!! Now I don’t feel like I’m going crazy! I will ask him about that. So you just massage your scar? I have been really stressed about this whole procedure and I’m not usually this bad. But I hate to feel like I can’t breath or I’m out of breath. It happened in the hospital about 8 hours after my surgery and I though my throat was closing so they had to give me steriods and a xanax- because they didn’t know if I really couldn’t breath or I was having a bad panic attack – which now that I hear what you have said its probably the panic attack. Thanks for you imput!!

[lhc11]

#1062866

Yup, I just massaged my scar (they should have given you instructions about doing this, for healing purposes, before you left the hospital — if not, definitely ask them. You can only start massaging about 2 weeks after surgery, though, not before). Don’t massage if you haven’t been told what technique to use! I didn’t do it *when* I was out of breath, I just started doing it more times a day…and the issue went away. I hope this works for you!

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