Tightness, fullness, painful neck post Thyroidectomy

I had a TT last year after cancer diagnosis, then radioactive iodine. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis as well, and I noticed that before the TT, foods rich in iron tended to lessen the symptoms of tightness and difficulty breathing or swallowing. (Goitrogens particularly influenced this!) ...Not so much after TT, but now it's just the occasional flare up versus all-the-time neck pain.

You can watch your iodine, calcium, iron, and potassium intake, since those seem to play a big part in how the synthetic TSH is absorbed into the body--read the list of warning labels on your specific medication, etc, and strive for a healthy lifestyle. What I find most grading on the nerves are the simple things like purified water; tap and bottled water can contain iodized salts, which may give you those neck symptoms. It's all a matter of balance. Best wishes.

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I had a total thyroidectomy in December 2011 after being diagnosed with an under active thyroid, almost not functioning and very enlarged.  Suffered badly with perspiration 24hrs a day and fluid retention,even diagnosed with carpel tunnel.  Thankfully that has all stopped now since the operation as told by the surgeon.  Now I suffer from a sore swollen throat nearly all the time and a croaky voice, sometimes I have lost my voice by afternoons.  After many tests and ultrasounds and nothing see owing up in the results I requested to see the surgeon as I was really concerned something was wrong with me.

the surgeon diagnosed me with scar tissue, one to two percent of patients will get scar tissue.   He recommended a course of intensive massage therapy and this will relieve my symptoms, due to commence next week.  Will update with results

Does the stiffness and chocking feeling ever go away? It has been two months, the doctor said that this will go away soon and it is all part of the healing process. But it is not going away, and I am especially sensitive in the neck area so this is extremely uncomfortable and it is keeping me from doing any work.

I had a larger than a golf ball on my right thyroid. So it was removed along with the right thyroid June of 2012. I still feel like I am being choked, tightness and it is causing me to have panic attacks. The doctors say my levels are normal but I am concerned.

I had a lump on my thyroid and had it removed ten years ago - along with part of my thyroid. I still have that "rubberband" feeling around my neck after all these years.  I don't remember if I ever brought it up to my doctor...but I have gotten used to the feeling to some degree. 

It's so reassuring that others are having the same issues. It's been many years for me and I've gotten use to it as we'll. I was worried about it at first but now relieved to hear so many others have the same feeling.

i don't believe you have to get used to it. stretching gently at first then more will help alleviate the pain. its continually "warming up" like a muscle but there is great improvement.

Hi Marsha!

I got total Thyroidectomy done on 14th March 2012. My surgeon (Oncologist Surgeon) was very strict. I used to hate him since I felt that he is rude and harsh. He made me do exercise the very next day and said that if I try to do anything after a week it would be difficult for me as it would become stiff. Since I tried the suggested neck movements within 24 hours of surgery. I got rid of it little early. However for two months I felt a tight band on my neck. I started doing all my household work one week after the surgery. My servant had quit and had a lot of guests. I considered it as blessing in disguise.

I danced vigorously after two months of my surgery in my brother-in-law's wedding. Marsha, you should understand one thing, if the incision is done on your tummy or hand or leg... it is a different story. It does not involve much movements. It is done on your neck and they have patched it. Of course it will pain if it is stretched. You should have tried neck movements: downward and sidewards (upward movement is little difficult soon after the surgery). Do not worry. Even now I have that tight feeling on and off. and at times I have sharp pricking pain.

Suggestions: Please try to do some neck exercise and forget about your surgery. Your gestures, posture, shoulder everything will look odd if you are very conscious. you are perfectly alright now. Do not panic. The sutures wont give up. Our neck is not like an elastic. you should try doing some exercise. Apply some SPF cream during the day as the incision area is easily prone to sun tan. In the evening please clean the area or have a wash and apply moisturizer. If you feel that the incision is very much visible please apply aloe vera gel from time to time. I sincerely pray to got that you should get rid of this tight feeling in your neck and keep yourself happy. I can understand how you feel since I underwent the same kind of feeling (as though someone is strangulating). Marsha Take care.

Geethanjali

Sorry I didn't see the date


Hi Marsha!

I got total Thyroidectomy done on 14th March 2012. My surgeon (Oncologist Surgeon) was very strict. I used to hate him since I felt that he is rude and harsh. He made me do exercise the very next day and said that if I try to do anything after a week it would be difficult for me as it would become stiff. Since I tried the suggested neck movements within 24 hours of surgery. I got rid of it little early. However for two months I felt a tight band on my neck. I started doing all my household work one week after the surgery. My servant had quit and had a lot of guests. I considered it as blessing in disguise. I danced vigorously after two months of my surgery in my brother-in-law's wedding.

Marsha, you should understand one thing, if the incision is done on your tummy or hand or leg... it is a different story. It does not involve much movements. It is done on your neck and they have patched it. Of course it will pain if it is stretched. You should have tried neck movements: downward and sidewards (upward movement is little difficult soon after the surgery). Do not worry. Even now I have that tight feeling on and off. and at times I have sharp pricking pain.

Suggestions:

Please try to do some neck exercise and forget about your surgery. Your gestures, posture, shoulder everything will look odd if you are very conscious. you are perfectly alright now. Do not panic. The sutures wont give up. Our neck is not like an elastic. you should try doing some exercise.

Apply some SPF cream during the day as the incision area is easily prone to sun tan. In the evening please clean the area or have a wash and apply moisturizer. If you feel that the incision is very much visible please apply aloe vera gel from time to time.

I sincerely pray to got that you should get rid of this tight feeling in your neck and keep yourself happy. I can understand how you feel since I underwent the same kind of feeling (as though someone is strangulating).

Marsha Take care.

Geethanjali

I'm amazed that I haven't found this website before. I had half of my thryoid removed 18 years ago, due to a benign colloid cyst that was causing swelling and pain. The original ultrasound was inconclusive as to the cystic contents and so the surgery was more of a precaution rather than to resolve the discomfort. I was discharged from the surgeon's care and there was no follow-up, no blood tests...I had to keep bothering my doctor to ask for thyroid hormone blood tests, which always came back as being in the 'normal range' I put on 30 pounds during the first couple of years post surgery.

The discomfort never really went away - a tight, heavy feeling in my neck. I was referred back to the original surgeon three years after the surgery, had another ultrasound which found two 'tiny' cysts in the remaining thyroid gland. The surgeon said there was nothing to be done and my discomfort was 'all in the mind'. I tried to ignore the heavy, dragging feeling in my neck and some days I didn't notice it much, other days I did.

Over the following years I continued to suffer discomfort in the thyroid area. When it became too unbearable I would consult my doctor again and most times he would persuade me there was nothing to be done about it. Sometimes he would prescribe painkillers, which didn't really help. Eventually he referred me to a different surgeon and I had another ultrasound and a fine needle biopsy, which again showed the cysts were benign. The surgeon said he didn't want to remove the remainder of my thyroid because a) it would be a tricky operation due to the scar tissue from the first operation and b) because he didn't think my pain was caused by the thyroid. This was five years ago.

I've paid privately for chiropractic and physiotherapy, which have helped a little but the pain always returns. The past two weeks have been awful, I feel as if I am wearing a ton weight around my neck, the front of my neck tingles and the area between my shoulder blades and neck feels tight and heavy. So I've booked to see another physiotherapist this week and hope that they can provide some relief. The worst part is that I think family and friends also think it's "all in the mind". It really isn't.

 

 

Hi:

I had the right lobe of my thyroid removed on February 7th, 2013 bacause of 2 large nodules.  The tightness and choking feeling set in 5 days after the surgery and, as I type this, is reaching a peak again.  It seemed to subside for a couple of days and then back today to drive me insane slowly but surely.  I can't even sit and read a book because looking down at the book makes me feel like I am being strangled even more.  I see my surgeon this week and am hoping the pathology report is clean.  I will also be asking about this awful feeling in my throat.  I already had paralysis in my right throat (tumor in the vagus nerve in 1986) and had had to make accommodations over the years with swallowing, speaking and eating.  I never had this sensation during my recovery from that surgery.  I am also experiencing insomnia to the point where I had to take a sleeping pill after three nights with no sleep.  I also have a feeling of fullness, tightness and swelling along both jawlines and a pressure in my ears.  I didn't see where anyone mentioned that symptom but it too is driving me crazy.  I fear I well may be (crazy that is) before getting some relief from all these symptoms.  I'll follow-up with my results and any suggestions from my surgeon if he has any.

Hey Im a 20 year old girl and i got papillary cancer in a tumor on my thyroid resulting in a total thyroidectomy and removal of 23 lymph nodes.. before this i had serious lymph node pains that would make me cry it felt like i was swallowing a knife everytime i swallowed.. now I dont have issues with painful swallowing but i do have odd lymph node bulging on my right side. Its frustrating how much my lymph nodes have been bothering me in the past year. My singing voice has come back after 5 months after surgery, im on synthroid and still HAVE to take calcium supplements. and I do experience a kind of tightness in my throat. To me though i dont see it as much as having trouble breathing, i do however have problems swallowing like i used to, whatever i swallow sometimes doesnt go down with one swallow (like my saliva). But i figure that the reason my neck feels tighter is just simply because i mean COME ON PEOPLE we used to have an organ there and more lymph nodes than before.. our necks are SMALLER as a whole because things had to be removed.. I believe THAT is the reason it feels tighter.. i feel like if it didnt something would be wrong. you cant just get a bunch of sh*t removed from your neck and expect everything to feel exactly the same in there. your throat didnt get smaller but there might just be more pressure on it than before. its like if you lost a tooth how youd have to get used to that feeling. I mean really what could be done about the pressure? add in a fake thyroid in its place to alleviate it? Sorry you guys i mean i do feel the difference too and yes it is frusterating.. and I dont know why doctors always say that everything is going to be fine with everything when it wont be. there isnt a cure for everything. I say we need to just deal with it and accept it as a new bodily function. its what I have been doing.. honestly before I even looked on this site i didnt even consider that the tightness was any sort of thing gone wrong, I just assumed that its something that comes with the surgery, its a feeling that feels like a mixture between tight/ and just having a smaller neck. Just dont think about it in a constricting kind of way, think about how your neck is smaller because you got sh*t taken out of it that took up space and that you NEEDED to take out. tell me if this helps people. WE GOTTS TO STICK TOGETHER!! NECK SCARS UNITE!!! WE NEED SUPER HERO RINGS!! ALL OF USS.. ERRY DAMN ONE OF US!

I can so relate to all the postings here. I'm sad to say I'm 7 year post TT and am still experiencing an intense feeling of tightness at the site of the incision and it is continuing to get worse by the day. This was the first surgery I had ever had and I now realize that I should have done some research on it before I had it done. I probally would have still had no alternative since I had 11 goiters wrapped around the gland, one was almost an inch in diameter, but I still wish I had been told more. It genuinely feels like it was sewn too tight and behind it against what I assume is my trachea there's pressure like someone has their thumb pressed against it. It almost feels like I just had the surgery yesterday sometimes. In the last year the pain and tightness have increased significantly on the right side of my neck, which now radiates up in to my ear as well as under my jaw with a gland or whatever is right there feeling swollen and tender. The tendon on that side is where the original discomfort has always been is now so tense that it cause pain that radiates down behind my collarbone. I began complaining a few months after surgery that it didn't feel like it was getting any better but was assured by my doctor that it was a major surgery after all and it would take time to recover from. One yr later I saw the associate of my surgeon (he had since retired) and was told me it should get better soon. I was given muscle relaxers which worked okay for a few yrs but I did continue to complain. My doctor just gave me stronger muscle relaxers, Xanax and I'm pretty sure just wrote me off as a nut case. I lost my ins in 2010 and have spent the last few yrs suffering. I was lucky enough to find a church run clinic so I could continue getting my meds but couldn't have any sort of further testing done. I just recently got it back and so far I've had an MRI that didn't show anything, I've seen a surgeon, who was clueless but recommended an ENT, so I'm scheduled for that next month. I'm not holding my breath that they will find anything that way though either. In my opinion, it's in the muscle and tendon. Was it damaged, is it scar tissue, who knows but that's what tenses up. They cut through 4 layers of muscle to remove your gland and it's my understanding they had quite a time getting them all out. I saw a posting about something being scraped in their case and wonder if maybe they had to do that to me to get it all out and damaged something. I also saw a lot of postings about neck exercises and massaging the area which I was also never told until yrs later to try and perhaps it fused together as I've since learned can happen. Someone dropped the ball with me bigtime. What's done is done now though and I would give anything to just feel normal again like I did before the surgery. I have a 3 yr old, which btw I was told I wouldn't be able to get pregnant much less carry a child full term with no thyroid gland. Goes to show how much doctors really know. Even my endo was shocked. Keeping up with a little one is difficult enough without feeling this way every day. My endo also told me there's been very little research done on thyroid programs in the last several decades. No offense to any men who posted but it's mostly a women's disease and we've always come second in terms of funding for research. One last side note for anyone who's had a TT. I take Armor Thyroid rather than Synthroid. It's made from a sheeps thyroid gland and is more natural. I started with the Synthroid for the first 2 yrs after surgery but was still symptomatic, although my tests came back fine. So my endo recommended it since she prefers it herself. I just thought I would share that, since I've found (and was told by my endo) that the standard blood tests they do aren't really that accurate. My thyroid levels were within normal range when I had the 11 goiters and was very symptomatic if that tells you anything, and they were only discovered on an ultra sound. I pray all of you have better luck and don't suffer as long as I have and I also advise you to look in to speaking with attys if you feel anything was done wrong during surgery. I always felt that way but didn't push harder to make them listen. Now, I still have no proof and that statue of limitations has long passed on being able to sue. It's not just that I feel something was done wrong, but I feel like (especially after reading all the other posts here) that they one, don't know enough about what damage this surgery can do to the muscles and tendons and two, don't inform you of the risks of complications you may have as a result of having it. We have to bring awareness to this subject as it's obvious we are not alone in having had these experiences. I wonder how many other people have suffered but thought they were alone like I did for the last 7 yrs until I stumbled across this website? I would like to thank SteadyHealth for providing this forum and thank all of you for your postings because I finally know I'm not crazy or alone.