All Change on the meds front

Popped into my doctor's surgery today to get some forms filled in, and she decided to check my blood pressure whilst I was there.

I've been on Centyl-K since February, in an attempt to lower my blood pressure, but it was still consistently high.

She decided to stop the Centyl-K, and try me on another hypertension medication, Omesar Plus.
In her words, the Centyl-K isn't working, I may as well be popping Smarties!

Endo takes my Goitre seriously!

When I was getting my bloods done the other day, in preparation for today's Endo appointment, I mentioned to my doctor that nobody at the hospital had been too concerned, or even interested in my goitre, no matter how often I mentioned it. I also showed her how much the right hand side had swollen up in recent weeks. She laughed and said "one look at that, and they'll be *VERY* interested this time, trust me!"

She wasn't wrong.

Once again, I was given a consultation with another fresh-faced young intern, but I didn't stay with him for long. One look at my goitre sent him scurrying for the Consultant Endo, and the rest of my appointment was with the boss himself.

He has decided to refer me for a CT Scan to check out the goitre, and also to an ENT consultant...just to make sure they have that covered. He mentioned the possibility thyroid surgery again, but also reminded me of the RAI option - essentially the decision is mine, I just need to do my homework and make the decision, if it comes down to it, but in the meantime it was worth setting the wheels in motion in case I decide to opt for surgery. I guess the goitre is what is worrying them, more than than my malfunctioning thyroid. He reassured me that it all still could come under control with the meds, and all this is purely speculative, but bearing in mind waiting lists for referrals etc we may as well go ahead and make a start.

My bloods are still out, my TSH is too high, and my Free T4 is too low - indicating that I'm very firmly in the Hypo camp right now. So we've dropped my Carbimazole from 30mg/day to 15mg/day.

Hot or Cold?

I've always been *hot*...ha ha, no, not in that way!

But I usually love winter, and loathe summer. I overheat in summer, suffer from heat stroke and heat rashes regularly, and any prolonged hot temperatures always made me feel very ill. (well, as hot as it can ever get in Ireland and the UK)
Alternatively, in the winter, I could swan about in flip-flops all winter long, walking the dogs through frosty fields, simply washing mud off my bare feet before I came indoors, and wearing t-shirts and thin cotton trousers all winter long, only resorting to a jacket of any sort when it was raining.

Now I'm tipped over into hypO I've suddenly swapped thermostat, and I find I am permanently cold. NO matter what I do I can't get my feet warm. I go to bed with thick woollen sicks on, worn under my bed socks. Hot water bottle. Electric blanket on. Oil-filled radiator plugged in and t-stat turned up. Poor hubby is trying to sleep, dripping with sweat, while I lie there trying to get warm enough to drop off to sleep. I sit in the study (working) or lounge (lounging, ha ha!), in a fully insulated house, with the central heating on, and despite being fully dressed, several pairs of socks etc I've generally got a hoodie and or a fleece jacket on, often a woolly hat and scarf too, usually at the very least I've got a blanket wrapped around me and I just feel SO cold. Hubby keeps turning the thermostat up for me, the house is intolerably hot for him, yet I just feel constantly chilled. "

RAI or Thyroidectomy?

Hoping this remains a hypothetical question for me, but I'm curious to hear other folks opinions on it...

Its becoming more and more clear that my thyroid gland is becoming more and more unstable. The latest set of bloods have me very hypO, even more than I was a couple of months back.
TSH is 18.3 range 0.15-3.2
my FT4 is apparently "below absolute low"...which is interesting, surely the lab should be able to detect it somehow, no matter how low it has dipped.

I've had noticeable goitre on the left side of my neck for years, with nothing to show on the right hand side. But, suddenly, in the space of 7-10 days the right hand side has now swollen to larger than the left, and is incredibly uncomfortable...breathing, swallowing, neck movement, all compromised.
My neck looks like a bullfrog, and my voice is so hoarse I sound like bullfrog too!

Due to see my endo on the 19th of May, but my GP has advised me to think about the fact that my Endo will now very likely suggest either surgery to remove it completely or RAI treatment.
For the record, I'm 35, married, no kids, but would like to think about having children in the reasonably near future, if I can only get this thyroid to behave itself.

So, throwing this 'hopefully' hypothetical question out to blog-land...if you were given the choice of surgery to totally remove the thyroid gland, or RAI treatment which one would you go for, and don't forget to say why?

Thanks in advance