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Prominent thyroid and GI issues
I feel like my body is falling apart, but I don't know what is serious and what is not.
I've been suffering with severe GERD for a couple of months so I went to the ER and got a CT scan. The CT scan found a hiatal hernia. Same scan found 2 small AVM lesions on my right lung, as well as athritis in my lower back. Next, I had a endoscopy which found "gastritis" and "esophagaetis (sic)" and a "prominent thyroid." I had a colonoscopy at the same time that found "spastic colon" and one polyp. I assume they removed the polyp and did a biopsy, but I don't expect colon cancer (even though my dad died of that.) I am 50 yo and the only major illness I have had in the past is severe asthma.
Can anyone tell me about this "prominent thyroid?" Do I need some kind of screen or test for that?
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I don't know that much about it - but you can look it up at the Mayo home page
@jakki14 - Yes, trying to figure out what's the main/underlying/original issue can be very confusing and frustrating. The truth, and I would say good news, is that all of the things you mentioned can absolutely be so-called "normal" or "harmless". I was diagnosed with a sliding hiatal hernia in 2011, was put on Protonix (generic name is pantoprazole) and haven't had problems with that since; the gastroenterologist who recently did an upper endoscopy in fact said he didn't even see it. A recent MRI showed I have some mild disc bulging/arthritis, but I don't think I've ever had so much as a twinge of back pain. Gastritis is just stomach inflammation and (as I've been annoyingly informed) can be a result of something temporary and easily fixed like stress, anxiety, diet, medication, etc. (Esophagitis is essentially the same; inflammation of the esophagus). Prominent thyroid just means it feels enlarged; if you haven't noticed anything, like difficulty swallowing, you could just naturally have a somewhat large thyroid, or it can also become enlarged when you're sick with an infection like a cold or the flu. Polyps are relatively common and often benign, and spastic colon again can be triggered/aggravated by stress, diet, etc.
Now, that being said:
1. If you're having issues that your doctors are struggling to diagnose, or
2. You're having issues associated with those findings (i.e., you're having back pain so arthritis suddenly becomes significant, or you start seeing blood in your stool that could be indicative of a complication or progressive worsening of the spastic colon), or
3. You have a significant personal or family history or increased risk factor for a certain condition (i.e., your father having colon cancer, or maybe you had significant previous contact with someone with TB where your body fought it off and left those lesions as "battle scars" without you even knowing), or
4. You find yourself preoccupied with worry about an abnormality...
By all means, set up an appointment with your doctor, and/or request he or she refers you to a specialist for that issue (gastroenterologist for gastritis/esophagitis, endocrinologist for thyroid). Come prepared with the documentation of/from the finding (i.e., the actual CT report or biopsy report -- you can submit a request for release of records with whoever ordered that test/performed the procedure to have it sent directly to your doctor/s or for yourself to make copies) and a list of any significant problems you're having, whether you think they're related or not (so report back pain, for example, to the gastroenterologist even if there's little likely relationship). It's important to provide the actual reports/documentation so the associated reference ranges for that test with lab work for example are available, or they have the "full picture" so to speak for radiology imaging -- our organs are interconnected, so any findings need to be considered in light of other results (both normal and abnormal), plus, a finding that may have been insignificant previously (like my MRI with the disc bulging), which the doctor might not have even mentioned to you, can become significant (for example, if in 20 years I start having severe back pain, that "normal" MRI where disc bulging is noticed suddenly may have a different meaning.
Be open and honest -- "Several years ago I had a polyp removed, and now I'm having some bowel troubles. Also, my dad had colon cancer. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of this finding/symptom/etc. and see whether you think it's something to be concerned about or that we need to do additional testing for." Good doctors will take the time to listen to you, ask questions, answer YOUR questions about what XXX result could mean, tell you why they're not worried about XXXXX despite having risk factors or a few abnormalities. And if you don't feel confident with their answers, or that they're really taking you seriously, try a different doctor.; ask a doctor you DO trust for a recommendation/referral for a second opinion. However, be careful not to confuse "not getting a valentine's day