Is thyroid removal a serious surgery?

Your thyroid gland plays an important role in regulating your body’s metabolism and calcium balance. A thyroidectomy is a treatment for a variety of diseases, disorders and conditions of the thyroid gland. A thyroidectomy is a common but major surgery with serious risks and potential complications.

Can you live without thyroid gland?

Fortunately, you can live without your thyroid. You will need long-term thyroid hormone replacement therapy to give you the hormone your thyroid normally produces.

Can a thyroid grow back?

Most people do very well after treatment, but follow-up care is very important since most thyroid cancers grow slowly and can recur even 10 to 20 years after initial treatment.

Can you live a normal life after thyroid removal?

Despite its importance, you can live a healthy, normal life without it or with only part of it. But you will need treatment to prevent hypothyroidism—or too little thyroid hormone—which can be serious. To prevent hypothyroidism, you will need to start thyroid hormone replacement.

What are the side effects of removing your thyroid?

TUESDAY, Jan. 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Surgery to remove all or part of the thyroid can trigger side effects that send some patients back to the hospital, a new study finds. These side effects include tingling in the fingers that can become tremors and spasms in all muscles of the body — including the heart and muscles surrounding the lungs.

What happens when your thyroid is removed?

Swelling of tissues, increased fluid around the heart and lungs can happen. Muscle reflexes and ability to think slows down. If thyroid gland has been removed during a surgery, hypothyroidism will occur within a few weeks. Thyroid function does not return generally.

What is the reason to remove thyroid?

The two most common reasons to have the gland removed is for thyroid cancer or suspicion of it, and for goiter that it interferes with other structures/functions in the neck. It sometimes is removed to treat the most common cause of overactive thyroid, Graves’ disease.

Does your thyroid gland need to be removed?

A doctor may recommend thyroid gland removal for many reasons. A nodule on the thyroid may be cancerous or causing dangerous symptoms. Also, some people with hyperthyroidism require removal surgery.