breast cancer and thyroid

nodule
I find it a little strange that you had cancer and now have a lump elsewhere and wouldn't want to at least do a fine needle aspiration biopsy. Is this the same physician that treated you for breast cancer or a family physician?

lizzie17 said:

everyone
knows about the nodules, even my oncologist, but I think they rely on the endocrinologist who seems to make the decisions about my thyroid. i am also diabetic.

Insist on a Fine Needle Aspiration
I would insist on a Fine Needle Aspiration. Do you have symptoms such as sudden and extreme fatigue, exhaustion, unexplained weight gain or loss, difficulty controlling your body temperature, vision changes, nausea or heart palpitations? Do you often feel depressed or angry for no reason? If you have any of these symptoms, don't take no for an answer. Also, blood tests (TSH including free T3 and free T4) are NOT an indication of cancer. Mine were all normal before I was diagnosed which is why I had to press the issue with my doctor before he did anything about it.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Blessings,
Julie-SunnyAZ

sunnyaz said:

Glad to help
It's good to hear you will be proactive. Remember, even if your blood results are normal get a Fine Needle biopsy on the node. They will tell you that 90% of nodes are non-cancerous, but there are 10% that are not. Catching this early, if it is cancer, is your best defense. I wish you the best and I hope it's not cancer, but if it is we will be here for you. Please keep us posted.
Blessings,
Julie-SunnyAZ

get the biopsy
Hi There. I had thryoid cancer in 2009...may I ask the size of the nodules? I am currently going through treatment for breast cancer & also a reoccurance (maybe)of the thryoid cancer.

My sister also had both breast & thyroid cancer...a link between them maybe???

If you have nodules and they are less than 1cm, they have a hard time doing a biopsy, but they can still try to do this. Also, thyroid cancer grows very slowly, so Dr's aren't in a rush to look into it. But, I have a nephew who they didn't do things very quickly and his had spread to most of his lymph nodes and has lots of issues from the surgery still.

I would recommend asking for the biopsy, also if you are having symptoms of hypothyroidism they can do a very simply blood test to see your levels. The usual symptoms are weight gain, exhaustion, extreme temp changes (hot or cold) and there are lots more...

I would push for further testing.

By the way, you may also have hyperthyroid...this is where the thyroid is overworking...it can cause problems with your heart as it makes you feel like you are going a mile a minute, then you crash...this would cause weight loss, and the heart palpatations you mentioned...bottom line is a blood test can check this very quickly.

Good luck.

nasher said:

MOST thyroid cancer grows
MOST thyroid cancer grows slowly... there are more agressive forms as well

yes i would definatly ask for a FNA if they can do it.

yes my T3 T4 and THS were all in the "normal" range even though i had 2 types of thyroid cancer. But they can tell you if you are haveing other thyroid issues.

eithor way push for the FNA if posibale and start looking up hypo thyroidism (and hyper thyroidism) and see if you have lots of the symptoms.

I am male so i dont know and havent reserched if there is a link between breast and thyroid cancer, but I would assume anytime they give you radiation and or chemo that there is a chance that a cancer of another type can occour.

please keep us informed and updated

good luck
Craig

Blood Tests
Yes, Nasher is right again, you can't rely on blood tests. Only three hours ago one of my Endocrinologists told me that it is typical to have normal TSH, T3 and T4 even when cancer is present. She told me this as I was having another Ultrasound of the neck. Round four "ding", here we go again. This will be my fourth surgery if the FNA comes back positive again. Just had RAI five weeks ago and again I have palpable nodes on my neck. Gotta stay on top of this cancer. They weren't there five weeks ago. They popped up over night. Although Papillary, my cancer is not slow growing because I have the B-RAF mutation gene.
Julie-SunnyAZ

Indiana girl said:

Breast Cancer & thyriod
I am very confused. I had stage 3a breast cancer/triple neg almost 3 years ago(MAY 1st) been clean I thought, but now I have (2) 3cm nodules on my thyroid. I failed the thyroid labs sent for ultrasound then receieved a call from Doctor office telling me I need another test Thyroid Scan/uptake. So I then ask why do I need more test? Thats when they told me that they had seen the nodules prior to now but then they were small and they have grown fast since a CT done in January. So could someone please help me I feel like I'm in the dark and it is all starting over again-

My grandmother died from thyroid cancer in 1990...

of track but..
Lizzie your cat could be my cats twin!!

I totally agree with the others I'd be insisting on an FNA they are simple and quick to do and not invasive, why take the risk?

nasher said:

@ indiana girl
thyroid scan / uptake.

In case you didnt know they are talking about small dose of Radioactive Iodine here so your thyroid tissue will so up much better on the CT scan and they can serch the body for other placed that thyroid tissue may be growing.

look at the other posts especially the ones about the Low Iodine diet.

WWW.thyca.org has great info as well.

Definatly ask questions get copies of your lab results.

Did they do ultrasounds of your thyroid tissue? what are the results? can i get a copy of them?
How about Fine Needle Asperation of your thyroid tissue?
what do you need to do to prepair yourself for Thyroid scan/uptake?
Can I get a second opinion?
How small were the nodes in January?


I am curious what you mean by the comment "I failed the thyroid labs"

thyroid cancer/breast cancer
A year ago I had a mammogram and they found 4 areas that they didn't like. Both myself and my PA (whom I dearly love) did some research prior to surgery. It seems that they have found a link between thyroid cancer and breast cancer. They even have some fancy name for it, tho I don't remember the name right now. It typically appears about ten years after being diagnosed with the thyroid cancer and after the treatment with the radiation..it's kind of like ahhh duh! We've just zapped our bodies with this poison and expect it not to react...hello? Haven't heard of it going the other way though with breast cancer first followed by the thyroid cancer.

I was fortunate, it was not breast cancer but had to have a partial mastectomy to find that out. My biopsy was inconclusive so ..chop chop to find out. Right now I have a biopsy scheduled for next week as it seems there is a lymph node concern with the thyroid. If it isn't one organ, it's another. Terri

kame said:

Link Between Breast Cancer and Thyroid Cancer
I definitely think there is a link between breast cancer and thyroid cancer as I was diagnosed with both of them at the same time, 5 years ago. A PET scan was done after the breast cancer diagnosis which showed nodules in the thyroid that turned out to be papillary thyroid cancer. So I would defintely get this checked out.

Breast/thyroid cancer
New to the site hello. Def have to get everything checked. As the last post, diagnosed with BC and thyroid cancer at the same time. Thyroid nodule found on PET scan for chemo for BC. Finishing up BC rads next week and just had thyroid ablation last weekend. Hopefully the full body scan comes up negative. Stay on top of your Drs regarding the thryoid issues. Have great Drs so very proactive, luckly my rad oncologist treating my bc is treating for the thyroid so we were able to get both treatments done at the same tine, but have a friend that has not been so lucky with her Drs being in any rush since thyroid cancer does grow so slowly.
Regarding link between the 2 there is a syndrome, Cowden's syndrome, that shows a link between the 2 with an increased chance of BC and thyroid cancer. Only about 1 in 200,000 carry gene mutation. So if you have or had both something to look into. Being tested for it since It also shows itself through certain dermatitis and my daughter has the dermatitis signs. Great site glad I found it.