shortness of breath and upper chest tightness after total thyroidectomy

I just had my entire thyroid removed Dec. 15,2008 and I noticed the shortness of breath. I called my surgeon and he told me the same as the rest of you that everything went well. I also quit smoking on the day of my surgery and have been tobacco free for almost three weeks now.
The down side to this is I was doing better when I was smoking and before the surgery. Everything else is good I am not sure what is going on with the shortness of breath. Thank all of you at least I know I am not crazy.

God Bless

I had a total tyroidectomy in May of 2008. Was 36 at the time. I had multiple nodules, one that was quite large. Since, I have never felt good. I am exhausted, out of breath from just going up the stairs, and moody, depressed. I am told I am hyperthyroid, with a very low tsh level. They keep decreasing my synthroid. But I just keep getting more tired!!! I feel like an old woman. I don't know what to do!!! Anyone else experiencing this?

I read this post - Fort Worth - and we are EXACTLY the same!I am in Dallas in fact. Before they found my thyroid cancer, I had been dealing with an autoimmune disease for 3 1/2 years. The worst part was the chest pain, it is called costochondritis, and it is very related to autoimmune disease, in particular lupus. When I talked to a very renown surgeon, he was sure that my thyroid cancer probably started as chronic inflammation of the thyroid that developed into cancer. Makes sense. My only advice to you is to have a full blood panel, in particular ANA, other antibodies. This would be a red flag. The only thing that has helped me is antiinflammatories, not steroids, and pain medication. I KNOW it is completely terrifying, depressing and debilitating. Write back if you want and we can exchange email addresses...

I just had my thyroid removed 2 weeks ago. I know I am in the healing process; but I am very uncomfortable. I have to force myself to talk, and then i find mucus in my throat and having to swallow all the time or clearing my throat. When I sleep I find myself making breathing noises. I am told I am fine; but I really don't feel fine. The Meds they gave me to take is Levothyroxine. I just find myself always having to clear my throat, I sometimes wheeze. I would swear at times I had a bad cold but I don't. I am in no pain at all.

What some of you may be experiencing could be thyroiditis. The "having to lay on the side to breathe" reminds me of someone I knew of who had thyroiditis. Just a tip.

I have the same horrible symptoms of not being able to breathe. My surgeon says there's nothing wrong...but there is! I think he's hiding something--it's been almost two months and it's not getting better. I don't have a plan of action, but can't imagine living like this for the rest of my life.

The symptoms you experience with tightness in your neck is from the surgery, I get it too. Massage helps and so does a heating pad. But, I was also short of breath and my swallowing was definitely off. Short of breath though still sometimes, this symptom is because my vocal cord became weak after surgery, it doesn't move as well as it should and I needed speech therapy, this strenghthened my vocal cord and it began to move again, I had marked improvement but not total voice recovery I'd say I'm about 90% of my former self. I can talk now without having to stop and gasp for air too. Have your ENT do larygoscopy - it's painless it's a small camera wire camera up your nose and down your throat to look at your vocal chords to determine how well they move or don't move - paralysis or paresis.

I am not alone. After my surgery 12/07, I have not been my normal self. I have had migraines, dizziness, palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue, and so on. Of course I went to the DR's and they of course could not find anything wrong with me. They were not willing to tell me that all my symptoms as far as I am concerned are due to my Thyroidectomy. Anyone out there have any solutions, or have marked improvement of their symptoms?

Guest wrote:

I am not alone. After my surgery 12/07, I have not been my normal self. I have had migraines, dizziness, palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue, and so on. Of course I went to the DR's and they of course could not find anything wrong with me. They were not willing to tell me that all my symptoms as far as I am concerned are due to my Thyroidectomy. Anyone out there have any solutions, or have marked improvement of their symptoms?

My heart goes out to you so I don't know what to tell you but I'm glad to hear that you're feeling like your'e not alone because that's an important first step. How is everyone else doing?

I am so amazed that we are all suffering the same symptoms and the doctors are unable to validate us. My head and neck surgeon told me my shortness of breath had nothing to do with my thyroid cancer. He apologized after surgery but led me to believe it was due to pressure on the trachea. WRONG
I had a thyroidectomy in April with complications, since there was a tumor on my recurrent laryngeal nerve and one near my carotid artery pressing on the nerve there. The rl nerve had to be cut to remove the tumor leaving me with a paralyzed vocal cord. The tumor near the carrotid left me with Horner's syndrome (check that out-I never heard of it and I'm a speech path.) I also have damage to my spinal accessory nerve that was from surgery the other two were from the tumors. I have complained consistently of shortness of breath-well before my diagnosis and been given every reason under the sun except as to what I just found out. I was sent to a neurologist because I couldn't lift my arm higher than my waist. When there I told him my bigger concern was my shortness of breath. He told within minutes based on my symptoms it was due to damage of the vagus nerve cranial nerve 10. Vagus means wanderer in Latin, and boy does it wander which can effect many other organs. it branches into the rec. laryngeal nerve innervating the vocal cords and also innervates into the diaphragm ,the intestine. etc. It works to keep the airway open so you can breathe.
Google VAGUS nerve, you won't believe it. He told me there is also a possibility of having a hemidiaphragm if the nerve was cut up high it may be deadened down below. I am going for EMG testing on Tues. to find out. He told me that if a nerve is cut it will not reintervate, if it is injured it can, it grows 1 cm a month. Thank God for this neurologist. As soon as I walked in he said I sounded like his vagal nerve patients. He deals alot with MS, Parkinson's etc. and other autoimmune disorders. I love him as he finally validated me.
My advice --get to a neurologist and have an EMG to see if the vagus nerve or other nerves are damaged. Now I am having bowel urgency which I bet is due to the vagus nerve too. Something I read called gastroparesis. I thought I was more regular because I was on the synthroid and my metabolism was finally normal. I will know more Tues. My head and neck surgeon told me I read too much. The neurologist looked at my notes and the articles I had in my binder, and told me what great articles there were and told me my suspicions of nerve damage were correct. Although I wasn't happy with the news he made me see I wasn't crazy.