Total Thyroidectomy Recovery

A total thyroidectomy may be done for certain thyroid conditions such as thyroid cancer, painful thyroiditis, goiter, hyperthyroidism, or other conditions when considered beneficial or necessary to your health and well-being. How the recovery goes after a total thyroidectomy can vary greatly depending on the thyroid condition causing the need for the surgery, the health and age of the patient before the surgery, and more. In this article I will share my personal experience with recovering from a total thyroidectomy to give you an idea of how recovery from this surgery may go.

The First Step to a Great Recovery is the Surgeon. I truly believe that a huge part of having a good recovery from a total thyroidectomy is having a great surgeon perform the surgery in the first place. I think who you have do the surgery is so important that I wrote an entire article on Choosing a Thyroid Surgeon and I highly recommend that you read it to find out the steps I took in finding not only a great, but an excellent surgeon to do my total thyroidectomy.

Since I had an excellent surgeon, there was no damage to my parathyroids, no damage to my vocal cords, and the incision was done so well and closed so perfectly that even my endocrinologist was impressed. If any damage is done to your parathyroids, you will quickly develop low calcium and need to take a calcium replacement supplement for the rest of your life. If there is damage done to your vocal cords, you can end up with a permanently weak or raspy voice.

How Much Pain After Surgery? I experienced the most pain when I woke up in the recovery room. I asked for pain medication within minutes of waking up and got a second shot of pain medication before I was taken up to an observation room for the night. A couple of hours after getting to my room, I asked for some more pain medication and was given a prescription pain pill. By that night the pain was already subsiding and I only needed acetaminophen.

By the next morning, the pain was significantly less and I just continued to take acetaminophen as needed. All in all, the pain was much less than I expected. Once again, I believe how well the surgery is done, which is determined by how great of a surgeon you have, will be a significant factor in how much pain you are in after the surgery.

Side Effects from the Breathing Tube for the General Anesthesia. My voice was week for a while from having the breathing tube down my throat, especially the first day, but I already knew that could happen so I wasn't concerned.

The hospital staff informed me that some people end up with a respiratory infection after having a breathing tube in. I was instructed to not lay flat and that I should even sleep with the head of my bed somewhat elevated to help prevent stuff from settling in my lungs. I was coughing and hacking up a little bit at the hospital, but that is normal after a breathing tube. The nurses checked what was coming out of me and it was of no concern.

After going home, I continued to sleep in an upright position, but the coughing and hacking got worse and I was now bringing up chunks of green and yellow phlegm. I knew I had a respiratory infection, so I called the surgeon's office and they ordered a prescription for an antibiotic. The antibiotic quickly started to clear up the chunks I was hacking up. Unfortunately, I got severe stomach pain, cramps, and diarrhea as side effects from the antibiotic. I was told by the surgeon to stop the antibiotics one day early and the side effects went away within a couple of days.

Other than the side effects from the antibiotic, the respiratory infection was easily taken care of, but I continued coughing, hacking, and gagging easily for three weeks after surgery from just normal mucus and saliva as well as brushing my teeth.

Tired and Weak. It's normal to be tired and weak after having a total thyroidectomy. I personally slept nine to ten hours a night and took a nap in the afternoon for the first couple of days. I continued to sleep a lot at night and wore out easily during the day. I felt pretty good for a day one week after surgery, but then went back to wearing out easily and continued to sleep a lot.

The earlier you are able to start thyroid hormone replacement medication after having your thyroid removed, the sooner you should start to feel more strength and energy. In my case, I couldn't start to take thyroid medication because I had to continue to go hypothyroid in order to get radioactive iodine treatment done to ablate the small amount of thyroid tissue left after having my thyroid removed. I needed the radioactive iodine treatment due to severe episodes of hyperthyroidism I had from Hashitoxicosis.

The Post-Op Checkup. It is normal to have a post-op checkup with the surgeon about one week after your thyroidectomy. My appointment included having my throat and voice checked, checking my lungs to make sure the respiratory infection cleared up, going over the pathology report of what was found in my thyroid after it was removed, instructions on when and how to remove the steri-strips from my incision, as well as having a stitch taken out of my incision. The stitch being removed hurt a little, but not too bad.

Continued Recovery. I am now six and a half weeks after my total thyroidectomy, one and a half weeks after radioactive iodine treatment, and one week into being on thyroid hormone replacement medication. The incision from my thyroidectomy is almost completely healed, the recovery from having surgery has gone very well, and since starting thyroid medication my strength and energy are improving and I'm sleeping less.

Related Content:

Thyroidectomy - Preparing for Thyroid Surgery

Thyroidectomy - Choosing a Thyroid Surgeon

Total Thyroidectomy: Making the Decision to Have Your Thyroid Removed

Total Thyroidectomy: What to Expect the Day of Surgery

Hashitoxicosis Signs and Symptoms - Hashimoto's Thyroiditis with a Twist