shortness of breath and upper chest tightness after total thyroidectomy

yes I'm experiencing this as well and no one will listen, my shortness of breath is so bad I feel at times I will stop breathing. My surgeon will not take me serious.
Tammy
Please if you get results I'm desperate for help and I feel I'm close to death

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I had surgery 3 weeks ago and having problems catching my breathe, swallowing etc., have your symptoms gotten better?

Friends, hearing that I am not alone with my post-thyroid removal issues is both comforting and terribly frustrating! My thyroidectomy happened in March and when I awoke from surgery, I felt like I was being strangled. They put me on oxygen and ran myriad of tests/x-rays/ultra-sounds while I was in the ICU. With no answer in sight, an ENT was brought in and yep, I agreed to a tracheostomy. Honestly, living with a trach for 3 months while my vocal chords became un-paralyzed was hell, compared to having thyroid cancer. I'm now 6 months out from surgery and the hole in my neck from the trach has healed and yeah, I had a speech therapist but still, my breathing isn't right. My speech is back but the frustration at being frequently out-of-breath is maddening! Like all of you, I've been to many doctors. My ENT says my vocal chords are so healthy, you could drive a truck through them so, why, I asked him, am I still having breathing difficulties? He felt that I was still healing but I see him in 2 more weeks and I will insist on a scope down my neck/x-ray(?) because the scar on my neck is mutated - I'll need plastic surgery but that's another story - and I'm afraid possibly scar tissue is obstructing my breathing passage. Anybody else deal with anything like this? On top of it, I just returned from Europe with pneumonia and when I have coughing fits (I'm on anti-biotics) I feel like my airways are completely impacted, reminiscent of waking up after surgery and not being able to breathe. I know this makes me anxious, which can't possibly help the situation but I never had breathing problems prior to thyroid surgery and I have seasonal allergies and I'm asthmatic. Those conditions were managed the couple of times/year they became inflamed. Now, I hear myself wheezing faintly at night, I worry I'm going to asphyxiate and while it's less bad than it was months ago, it endures and doesn't appear to be resolving itself. I just saw a pulmonologist and they ran a series of breathing tests, Pulmonary Function Test, and of course, the results were normal. Of course, right? The next step is a sleep study - didn't hear anybody mention that on this loop - to see if I have sleep apnea. Good grief, I don't know what that has to do with labored breathing when I'm not fully exerting myself but I'll do it, as long as the insurance continues to pay. In the meantime, I try to force myself to do deep-breathing exercises and to try and get my heart-rate up, to force myself to breathe deeper and hope this damn irritant resolves itself. As you've all said this is unbelievably frustrating and I'd take back my low energy levels to have a thyroid and not fear that I'll never feel normal again. For those of you that suggested a neurologist, that will be my next step. For the record, I'm on Wellbutrin as well as hormones, so my mood is pretty good most days but any sniffle - and now, this pneumonia - only makes the breathing worse and like the rest of you, I am scared and pissed off. Thanks for letting me vent, friends. Breathe easy....

I have the same issues. Are you any better?

Hello I am 62 years-old and I had a nodule on my thyroid that had to be removed I had surgery on August 29,2017 I started having berthing problems the same day of surgery I stayed in the hospital for three days went home on steroids calcium pills and vitamin D because of the breathing problems. I was home two days and was readmitted for breathing problems this time they put me back on steroids IV ,breathing treatment oxygen and everything they could think of stayed in the hospital another 3 days doctor's could not figure out what was going on with the breathing i stayed on oxygen a couple of days they took me off i went home again the same week i went to the doctors office had a test done were they put a tube down your noise with a camera on the end of it my doctor said everything looked ok he said that i had some swelling but that was normal due to the surgery but everything else looked okay but he needs to recheck it because it was still too early after surgery. I went back to see him 3 more times after that before my 6 weeks checkup I could not breathe I could not sleep every time I swallow. Choked everytime I swallow I feel like I had a big lump in my throat I was having a hard time not getting any rest at all I have seen my PC doctor my heart doctor and my lung doctor my family has to come over and help my husband prepare meals for me I'm not able to drive right now takes me longer to put on my clothes it takes me longer to shower because I'm out of breath every few steps I take I am out of breath, it's heard for me to get words out for people to understand me that had gotten better but i can not sing anymore they say it may come back my heart doctor thinks my vocal cord may be paralyzed. I go back tp the doctor's office tomorrow October 13,2017 I will let you know what they find I did not ever see a ENT doctor but i know my vocal cord was affected by this surgery.

Hi Cherokee, "better" is a relative word, isn't it? My pneumonia is long gone, so my breathing is better in that regard but it's still not where it should be. When I met with my ENT a couple of weeks ago, he scoped me again (hate that thing rammed up your nostril, you know?) and this time, went past the vocal chords to my esophagus (very bizarre sensation, your body wants to cough it up). Determined there is stenosis - narrowing - on one side of my throat, so I will be having throat surgery this Wednesday, in an attempt to open in up. He'll go in with a laser and even it out so it's rounded and open like the other side, possibly add a steroid injection... all in an attempt to assist breathing. While I TOTALLY dread another surgery, after the complications of the last, I'm willing to try. Doc feels like the narrowing could potentially be scar tissue from the trach. Promise to report back. I'm attempting to remain optimistic but the fact that so many of us are dealing with this, post-thyroid removal, is really discouraging.

Jami,
I am going to the same thing right now as we speak and it is now December of 2017. I had my TT August 3rd 2017. The doctors are telling me that all my tests are normal but I know something is wrong! How are you feeling now did the doctors find out anything?

its been over a year now since i had my thyroid remove, and my voice has not return, and now i am having problems sleeping, am wheezing and suffer with dry throat at nights.

hello i know this was a min ago but r u doing better with ur calcium r do u still take supplements

I absolutely believe your vocal chords were affected by your surgery. Everything is connected and they are so sensitive. My experience: thyroidectomy on 3/13/17 for thyroid cancer, woke up unable to breathe, 3 days in ICU while they scratched their heads and tested and tried to figure out what the hell happened. I agreed to tracheostomy on 3/16, which helped breathing but my vocal chords were paralyzed. This lasted 3 months. 3 bloody months with a trach, which was messy and breathing was labored and exhausting and it took forever to complete the simplest of tasks, like you said, getting dressed. I was on pureed foods and thickened beverages for a month and a half, at which time I couldn't speak at all, even with a trach and speaking valve. I didn't feel a lump in my throat like you, the chords were paralyzed but I failed the swallow test in the hospital - have you received a swallow test? Your choking makes me think of this. After a year spent trying to exhaust miracle cures with a range of medical pros, it was my pulmonologist who proposed Paradoxical Vocal Chord Dysfunction - maybe look into it? This was useful to me: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC164364/. I am NOT an athlete, not even close, but this is what I've been experiencing, aggravated by physical activity. He prescribed a CPAP machine - I have very mild sleep apnea, not enough to warrant the machine but given my complications from thyroidectomoy and tracheostomy, he got it approved by my insurance. Don't like it but it ensures the airways remain open while I sleep. This could help! Anti-anxiety meds were recommended b/c not being able to breathe is anxiety-ridden but I haven't taken my Efexor (sp?) yet. Let me say that every breathing test I've had - PFT, a 2-hr deal with a speech therapist, a separate test w/my allergy doctor - all proved my breathing function was normal. You KNOW when something is wrong with your body, keep advocating! I've had 2 ENT's (they scope you every bloody time) but even with my continued breathing issues nearly a year later, they say everything looks good. Like you, I can't sing anymore. My voice cracks & I run out of breath. Post-surgery, I, too, was on calcium supplements b/c I was thyroid-less and waiting for the hormones to kick in but re: breathing, they do nothing. Working on deep breathing with speech therapist, as is explored in the article, has helped. I've also been recommended the acid-reflux diet, b/c spice, caffeine, fatty foods, etc all generate acid, which inflame the vocal chords, so I don't know if this would be of benefit to you? Nebulizer treatments (Borvana and Bedesonide) were useful when I had a trach but not after, you could try. What I've learned this year is that drs don't know everything! They say vocal chord paralysis takes time to loosen themselves up (mine was bi-lateral, both sides) but re:vocal chord dysfunction, there's not a lot out there, beyond breathing exercises, and it's incredibly frustrating. I hope you find relief and I apologize for the length of this but hope my experiences might help in some way. Take care.

I honestly believe the best thing you can do is to try to get your doctor, or go privately, or buy on the internet some NDT which is Natural Dessicated Thyroid. Synthroid is synthetic and NDT is made from dessicated pig thyroid hormone and seems to alleviate more symptoms. It sounds like you’ve really had a tough time, I’m so sorry. Brain fog and tiredness do seem to be inevitable at times. I have read many thyroid patients are gluten intolerant so you could perhaps see some improvements without gluten. There is alot about NFT on the net - read Dr Barry Peatfield’s books; web pages Stop the Thyroid Madness who are campaigning for patients to be allowed NDT. I wish you luck. I still have a weird swallowing sensation and have phlegm pretty much continuously. Important supplements are selenium and zinc. Have u tried taking your meds first thing on empty stomach around an hour before food? Best wishes, Fee

2 years post TT. Exactly my experience! I'm sick of coughing and being short of breath. It was better when I smoked! Puffers aren't helping much.

You cannot have thyroiditis after a total thyroidectomy unless your thyroid grew back. Which does happen, but not very often.

I don’t know if you actually read the original post, or ANY of the posts, but all of us here had TOTAL thyroidectomies, meaning we have NO thyroid. Thyroiditis is the information OF THE THYROID!!! So don’t scare us more than we already are by telling us we might have a condition that isn’t even possible for us to have!!!!

Thank you all for posting! I am in tears right now because I know now I am not crazy and it's not all in my head. I have been experiencing everything you all are since November 2017. I feel better knowing I am not alone.