A daily dose of philosophical food for your noodle!
NoodleFood : RSS Feed | via E-mail | Recent Comments | Archives
NoodleCast : M4A via iTunes (MP3) | via Feed Reader | via E-mail
Diana Hsieh : Rationally Selfish | PhiloFiles | Explore Atlas Shrugged
OList Mailing Lists | FIRM | FRO | Secular Government

 Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thyroid Update

By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM

Last Tuesday, my thyroid nodule was repeatedly poked for a biopsy. (My neck wasn't happy about that, I must admit!) The biopsy went fine, and results weren't so bad.

Initially, the pathologist's reading was basically, "maybe cancer, maybe not." That wasn't terribly helpful! The odds were very good that the nodule wasn't cancer. Yet that couldn't be ruled out, based on the mere look of the cells. The standard of care in such cases is to remove the nodule, along with the half the thyroid. Then the pathologist can perform the much easier task of examining a whole slice of tissue to determine whether it's composed of evil mutant cells or not. I wasn't too enthused about that, as you might imagine: I'm eager to get back to work. ("Good news, you didn't need the surgery! Now enjoy your weeks of recovery to full strength!")

Happily, we were able to get a second reading from a pathologist specializing in cytopathology. He's reasonably confident that the nodule is merely benign goiter, so we plan to simply do a recheck ultrasound in six months.

I'm not sure if the nodule and the hypothyroidism are related. However, I'm leaning toward the hypothesis that iodine deficiency might be the underlying cause, as discussed by Dr. Davis in this helpful article.

As for my hypothyroidism, I'm not feeling quite as bad as I was a few weeks ago, but I'm not feeling terribly well. I'm lethargic; I tire easily. I'm having trouble concentrating -- or even remembering what I said five minutes ago. My body temperatures are still low, and I'm cold. I'm still gaining weight. My carpal tunnel is still bothering me. I've not had the depression of a few weeks ago, thankfully. I'm definitely doing a bit better -- but only a bit. I'll have been on the Synthroid for three weeks as of Tuesday, so I'm going to speak to my doctor about increasing my dose -- if not switching to dessicated thyroid.

So for now, I'm still on a reduced schedule. My primary concern is to keep churning out new episodes of Explore Atlas Shrugged. You should consider anything else to be an unexpected bonus.

Labels: , ,

Share |
   E-mail Diana Hsieh     PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)

  Subscribe to NoodleFood Blog Posts via Feed Reader   via E-mail
Subscribe to NoodleCast Podcasts M4A via iTunes (MP3)   via Feed Reader   via E-mail

 Comments

Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 9:14:01 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Mark Wickens
E-mail: noodlefood(at)wickens.ca
URL: http://randex.org/

Health problems suck. I'm glad yours are not as serious as they might have been and hope you get the hypothyroidism licked tout de suite!


Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 18:36:25 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: Darrell Hougen
E-mail: drphilosopher(at)yahoo.com

Health problems are no fun and you may feel lethargic, but I think you produce an incredible amount. I haven't been able to keep up with it all! Keep up the good work and I hope you feel better soon.


Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 22:40:05 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Tom Rowland
E-mail: atlasfan(at)earthlink.net

Health problems do suck. And you are certainly getting a goood bit more than your share (whatever the hell that means). I don't know you personally, but yours is the blog I read every day without fail. Get feeling better soon.


Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 7:45:52 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: v
E-mail: weilasmith(at)gmail.com

hi diana! i have been on art devany's ef program since aug 14 09. i've lost about 16 pounds. i'm 5 ' 3" and went from 142 to 126. i'm also feeling so cold at night, sometimes it's hard to get to sleep. usually in the middle of the night i warm up and have to take off a layer of clothes. the thing is, i have been like this in the winter for like the past 5 years, starting when i was 39. so my symptoms predated going paleo. but i have been eating low salt for years, so i am also thinking my symptoms may be related to iodine deficiency or maybe a combination of that and perimenopausal changes. along with richard's comment, these symptoms come with winter (i'm not freezing at night with the ac in summer), so maybe there is a seasonal component, also maybe related to a deficiency in vitamin d. my last blood word done in may 09 showed i was vitamin d deficient and had very low ferritin, but was not technically anemic. aside from the cold, my symptoms are different from yours in that my energy level and mood are good, and i'm still losing weight. i also have started to supplement withf vitamin d, fish oil, calcium, and vitamin k, but not iron. blood loss from my periods used to be extremely heavy, but this has resolved itself eating paleo. i will keep following your situation and tell you if anything improves mine.-v


Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 10:16:53 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Jeff Montgomery
E-mail: jamontgom(at)hotmail.com
URL: http://funwithgravity.blogspot.com/

I've been wondering how your situation is going. Glad to hear the biopsy results were (somewhat inconclusively) positive in the end.

The not knowing and waiting is difficult; I'm not a fan of either! It seems odd they are not able to make a conclusive determination from the cells; I thought cancerous cells had a distinctive look and growth pattern. There goes my hope of becoming a doctor by reading Wikipedia.


Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 11:44:44 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Engineer
E-mail: trknlg(at)yahoo.com

I've read that benign nodules with cystic components could be shrunk by PIE injection treatment. Best of luck!!!


 Post Your Comment

Name or Handle:
E-mail:
URL:
 Remember Me
 
Comment:  
No HTML is allowed. URLs will be automatically converted into clickable links.

Commenters are welcome to clearly state their own views, as well as to criticize opposing views and arguments. Unjust personal attacks are not welcome.

The NoodleFood comments are not a general discussion board. Do not post random questions or comments, except on the designated "open threads" posted on Wednesdays and Sundays.

To weed out spammers: 7 plus 0 equals 1009091503748262635