Thyroid Goitre & Breathlessness

[lauraloo09]

Hiya just looking to see if someone can help me.

I was told I have a goitre (cyst) on my Thyroid which is very large and is growing downwards into my chest. I am scheduled for a subtotal thyroidectomy on 23rd November. Over last weekend I became very short of breath and cant even finish a sentence without needing to take a deep breath. My GP is now contacting my surgeon about moving the surgery forward. I am now worried that I have been imagining my symptoms, I know I'm not but just how my mind works! I have been told that it should be a simple op carried out on my neck but if the goitre has grown too far into my chest he said a chest surgery team might need to come in and open my chest up :(

I was wondering if there is anyone else that has suffered this, esp with the cyst growing into the chest area, and wondering if you could tell me how the surgery went and how long you were off work for and what the recovery was like?

Thanks,
Laura x

Hi, bumping this for you as I haven't had surgery for mine because it goes up and down in size for some reason! I had the needle biopsy to check that it wasn't anything nasty last year, and the ENT dept. lost interest when it wasn't. They clearly felt that when I went for the biopsy that the lump wasn't that big - typical or what!

I can say that when it reaches it's largest point and is putting pressure on my clavicle it is very uncomfortable, and I cannot breathe easily if I lie down. The pressure feels as though someone is trying to strangle me.

IME, I don't think this isn't in your imagination. Hope the surgery goes OK.

I had a form of thyroid disease (Graves) for 5 years (luckily I am fine now) but when I was very ill I found thyroid.co.uk really helpful. They have support workers you can ring up and quiz (I used to be one). Hope they can help you. I never had a very big goitre or surgery so I cant advize. Good Luck and hope you feel better soon.