What does having your thyroid removed do to your body?

Thyroidectomy can be considered in 3 cases

　　Most thyroid diseases can be treated with drugs, and surgery is generally not required. However, in the following three cases, we need to “abandon the car to protect the handsome” and remove the thyroid: one case is that there are nodules on the thyroid, and the size is very large. Large, it squeezes the trachea and esophagus at the rear, affecting normal breathing and eating; the other is cancer that everyone is most afraid of; finally, the thyroid disease is very serious and cannot be treated conservatively by taking medicine or conventional treatment After the symptoms can not be improved for a long time, such as severe hyperthyroidism (hyperthyroidism), if the goiter is obvious and the drug treatment is not good, surgery should be considered.
There are short-term and long-term effects of surgery

　　Thyroid surgery generally includes two types: thyroid lobe (+ isthmus) resection and total thyroidectomy. Among them, thyroid lobe (+ isthmus) resection has a certain recurrence rate; and total thyroidectomy requires life-long medication after surgery to maintain thyroid function. The type of surgery that is suitable depends on the condition of the patient.
　　Seeing this, some people will ask, will the thyroidectomy affect my body? Existence is reasonable, and the lack of a part in the body will definitely have an impact. The impact can be viewed from both short-term and long-term aspects after surgery.
　　In the short term, thyroidectomy as a surgical operation will inevitably have certain wounds. Since the trachea is behind the thyroid gland, if hemostasis is not complete during the operation, or the vascular ligature slips off, causing blood to seep out of the incision and squeeze the trachea, it will hinder the circulation of gas, and some people will also experience trauma caused by the operation. Or tracheal intubation injury caused by laryngeal edema, resulting in dyspnea. However, this situation mostly occurs within 2 days after the operation. At this stage, most patients are hospitalized. As long as the medical staff are notified in time, the surgical wound can be exposed by removing the suture after the operation, and the hematoma can be removed.
　　In addition, thyroidectomy is also prone to damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is the most important motor nerve in the larynx, which can control the movement of all muscles in the larynx except the cricothyroid muscle. There is a left and right recurrent laryngeal nerve. If only one of them is damaged, it will lead to hoarseness; if both sides are damaged, in addition to hoarseness, it will also cause paralysis of the vocal cords and even difficulty in breathing. Urgent tracheotomy is required.
　　In addition to the recurrent laryngeal nerve, there is another nerve next to the thyroid gland that is also easily affected during the operation, which is the superior laryngeal nerve. The superior laryngeal nerve controls the cricothyroid muscle to lengthen and tighten the vocal cords. If the superior laryngeal nerve is damaged and the vocal cords cannot be tensed, the pitch of the vocalization will be lower. In addition, damage to the superior laryngeal nerve may affect the sensation in the larynx, which can make patients more prone to choking when drinking or eating.
　　In addition to the more common adverse effects above, some patients may also experience high fever, pulse count, vomiting, and bleeding within 48 hours after surgery. However, most of these conditions are temporary and can be improved with symptomatic treatment by medical staff.
After surgery, the effect can be eliminated by drugs

　　The main function of the thyroid gland is to synthesize and secrete thyroid hormones, and the role of thyroid hormones is mainly reflected in the maintenance of the body’s normal metabolism, growth and development, and organ activities. Therefore, in the long run, the long-term impact of thyroid removal on the body is also mainly manifested in these three aspects.
　　Thyroid hormones can stimulate the body to generate heat and maintain normal metabolism. This is why patients with hyperthyroidism are afraid of heat, sweating, and hungry quickly. In addition, thyroid hormone also has the function of maintaining the excitement of the nervous system, which can directly act on the myocardium to increase the contractility of the myocardium and accelerate the heart beat frequency. This is also the reason why patients with hyperthyroidism are easily agitated and feel irritable. After thyroidectomy, the lack of thyroid hormone secretion will produce the opposite of the above symptoms, that is, hypothyroidism (that is, hypothyroidism), which usually manifests as fear of cold, edema, fatigue, lack of energy, and sleepiness. There are also weight gain, slow heartbeat, unresponsiveness, memory loss, and slowed gastrointestinal motility caused by metabolic abnormalities. Women’s menstruation and men’s libido will be affected. Some patients also have pleural effusion. Some patients also experience dry skin and hair loss. But there are ways to solve these problems, that is, use levothyroxine sodium tablets, methimazole tablets, thyroid tablets and other drugs to supplement thyroid hormones under the guidance of a doctor.
　　Some people will have tetany (a manifestation of involuntary movement, a pathological phenomenon of neuromuscular diseases, manifested as involuntary contraction of striated muscles) after thyroidectomy, and even seizures, bone pain, Abnormalities such as intestinal dysfunction, hypoparathyroid cardiomyopathy, heart failure, etc. in severe cases. This is because removing the thyroid gland will affect the blood and nutrient supply of the parathyroid glands, resulting in insufficient calcium content in the human body, resulting in hypocalcemia. If this happens, don’t be too nervous. Calcium deficiency can be supplemented with calcium. You can use vitamin D drops, ecalcitonin injection, teriparatide injection and other drugs to treat it under the guidance of a doctor. If calcium supplementation does not work, you should go to the hospital to see a neurologist for diagnosis and treatment. The twitching of hands and feet may be caused by other reasons, and you need to undergo professional evaluation and examination before treatment.
Prevent disease and keep your thyroid in shape

　　With the advancement of modern medicine, the adverse effects caused by thyroidectomy can be effectively controlled or eliminated. But the original one is always the best. Some thyroid diseases can be prevented. It is recommended to do in life:
　　(1) Develop good living habits. Go to bed early and get up early, stay up late as little as possible or even not stay up late; also actively exercise, it is recommended to do moderate exercise at least 3 times a week for no less than 30 minutes; do not smoke and drink, do not use mobile phones for a long time; stay away from radiation.
　　(2) Reasonable diet. The lack of iodine ions in the body is also the reason for the occurrence of thyroid diseases, but the extremes of things will reverse, and excessive iodine supplementation blindly will also lead to the occurrence of thyroid diseases such as hyperthyroidism. Usually eat some iodine-containing foods, such as kelp, seaweed, lobster and so on. In addition, pay attention to the combination of meat and vegetables, light diet, excessive consumption of high-fat and high-sugar foods will not only increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, but also increase the risk of thyroid disease. Therefore, the diet should be based on the principle of high protein, high vitamin, low salt, and low fat diet.
　　(3) Reduce stress. The pace of modern life is fast, and many people are also complaining about the “involution” of society and the pressure of life. In fact, we all know that complaining alone cannot solve any problems. Why not try to adjust yourself, maintain a happy mood, avoid violent emotional fluctuations, and welcome every day with a healthy attitude. Besides, this is also conducive to driving away thyroid diseases.
　　(4) Regular physical examination. If there is an unexplained enlargement or mass in the neck accompanied by symptoms such as weight loss or emotional irritability, you should pay attention to it. Don’t think that you will be fine if you endure it. If you don’t want to spend money and time to go to the hospital, this is very likely It will delay the timing of the best treatment, don’t wait until the thyroid has to be removed and then regret it. The body is your own. Once the thyroid gland sends you a distress signal through enlargement or emotional changes, you should go to the hospital as soon as possible to prevent the further occurrence and development of thyroid disease.