osa & thyroid problems

craftersfriend · Post by **craftersfriend** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 7:15 am

I went to my ENT Dr Monday, who told me no throat surgery will help my OSA, that I needed to have lap band surgery to lose weight. Needless to say, I was over joyed/depressed after leaving his office. Overy joyed, that I didn't have to have throat surgery, depressed that reality hit me in the face about my weight. I know I have quite a bit to lose (less than 100lbs), but didn't realize that I was a canidate for lap band surgery. Fortunately, I've recently developed the mindset to lose weight and have already started that process.

On another note, I was at my Gyno's office for an annual exam yesterday and was told that I have a very enlarged/goiter thyroid and that I need to get back to my primary care dr. The thyroid blood tests were rum 3 wks ago and came back normal. Is it possible that my thyroid is causing all the obstruction all along? Anyone else have issues like this?

WearyOne · Post by **WearyOne** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:50 am

Hi, and welcome!

First of all, what thyroid tests were run? There are several different ones and if you just had what's known as TSH, that's not enough to give a good picture. And if your gynocologist felt an enlarged thyroid, I would go to an endocrinologist, not a regular doctor. They can do a scan of your thyroid to get a good picture of its size and any goiters that may be there. If it's large enough, I guess it's possible it could be a contributing factor in OSA, but that's only a guess.

I was diagnosed in June 2006 with hyperthyroid caused by Graves' Disease. I had the thyroid shrunk with radioactive iodine treatment and am now on Synthroid, which is replacement thyroid hormone. My thyroid was slightly enlarged at the time. I was diagnosed with OSA earlier this year, so the two aren't related in my case.

Oh, and congratulation on starting to lose weight! I'm on that same road and believe me, I know it's a hard, hard struggle. But we must keep at it!

Pam

teach · Post by **teach** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:58 pm

I have been on Synthroid for 5 years now. I don't think thyroid has anything to do with OSA either. I do however think my weight does. I haven't done anything to try to lose weight but know I need to.

craftersfriend · Post by **craftersfriend** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:55 am

A TSH test was run. Other than that, just the Dr feeling for an enlarged thyroid. It was so enlarged yesterday, that I had a difficult time swollowing and felt like I was was being strangled when I was laying down. My primary care dr started me on synthroid beginning today, so we'll se how that goes. As long as the swelling goes down, that's all I really care about.