Abnormal thyroid Ultrasound -doctor left message/can not call till monday-freaking!?

I had an upper respiratory infection and then a sinus infection. Then I found a lump in my neck on side 2 inches above collarbone. Doctor gave me antibiotics and lump got very small since then, maybe 1/4 of a centimeter now. Then I had a lump in throat when swallowing. I had blood work all normal, thryoid blood work all normal, but then I had an ultrasound on thryoid. Doctor left message saying to call the office on monday. Every other message before they left on my voice mail said test results were normal. So, now I positive my ultrasound was abnormal from this message they left to call them. I am so freaking out and scared I have thryoid cancer. I am afraid of the nuclear medicine iodine test because that is radiation & can't that cause cancer. Symptoms I have had are hot flashes, heart palpitations, but maybe that is anxiety. I am 36 with two small kids. Could the upper respiratory infection I had cause an enlarged thryoid?Can an ultrasound tell if a lump is cancer thyroid?

Thanks everyone. But I read that with the subacute thyroid thing that my thyroid bloodwork would be elevated and they were normal?

It sounds like a goitre I had the same thing and had my thyroid removed and am a lot better now. It is not very often a thyroid is cancerous

Please do yourself a favour, calm down, just because the receptionist of your Physicians office did not tell you there is nothing wrong,doesn't have to mean there is.Tests you take are mostly save,don't worry, hope you feel better soon.have a nice weekend,you make yourself more sick if you worry too much.

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I had to have biopsy performed on my thyroid...didn't hurt. Results came back negative. Doctor (specialist) told me that for some reason this situation is quite common among women, especially women in their late 30's, early 40's. I know how you feel, I was one scared puppy when those results came back "abnormal" but everything worked out fine. Oh and another thing, if they had saw something truly awful on the ultrasound, they'd haul you in right away. That's what my doctor told me. I got my voice mail on a Friday, too. Good Luck. I'm sure it's alright.

I have thyroid cancer, have had it for 5 years. The iodine test you are talking about is very small. If you have thryoid cancer the levels of iodine are much higher. The only cancer that large doses can cause are leukemias, but the chances are very small. Try not to get yourself upset. If you have any questions you can post in yahoo health groups, there is a thyroid cancer posting where you can ask your questions. The fact that the lump got smaller is exteremly positive. The other may be a thyroid nodule which most of the time turn out to be benign and are nothing to worry about. An Ultra sound can not tell if the lump is cancer. If there is any suspicion thene a FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration) is done, the sample is tested for cancer. An inconclusive result from the needle biopsy may then lead to surgery. I had my surgery on my birthday, no one even mentioned the suspicion of cancer until one day after the surgery. You are lucky in a way to know lots of info ahead of time so you can see the options. More than likely this is a nodule or goiter.
Hope this helps

Echoing what the others are saying: calm down, it's probably not as bad as you think.

It sounds like you may possibly have had or have subacute granulomatous thyroiditis. The majority of people who get this present early on with an upper respiratory tract infection followed by inflammation of the thyroid, which causes a 'pain in the neck, which may radiate to the upper neck, jaw, throat, or ears, particularly when swallowing'. Inflammatory disruption of thyroid follicles results in transient increased release of thyroid hormone which causes a rise in metabolism, resulting in heart palpitations, flushing, heat intolerance and possible anxiety (as one of my professors described it, "Like a squirrel on crack" - she was hyperthyroid too).

The radioactive iodine test determines how much iodine is taken up by the thyroid, a means of determining how actively it's making hormone. If your thyroid is normal, it won't take up much iodine and you'll pee it out. If it does take up a lot, then you're hyperthyroid and it's up to you and your doctor what to do next, which may mean removal of your thyroid and using hormone replacement. The radioactive iodine uptake test in itself is fairly innocuous since such miniscule amounts are used to do the test (less than the daily dietary amounts).

Cancers of the thyroid are relatively rare and when people do get them there is a 20 year survival rate of 90%.

I hope that helped!

You need to try and calm down becuase when people panic and get upset they get panic attacks and those are awful as I use to get them. You might want to see a gyne about those hot flashes because some women go through an early menapause. Some women get them in there 30's. Go online and read about it.