I have to have one next week. They said they can do it with a local anesthetic, but the appointment secretary said it is possible to have light anesthesia if I want... I think I "want." Has anyone ever had one of these? She did not do much to make me a trooper by telling me it might hurt... I am not into any more "hurt." What do you all think?

Cathie

Was awake the whole time, had the local, I just didn't look at the 'needle' thing...I HATE NEEDLES and get faint at the sight.

It's like going to any doc appointment or test: go, wait; go to a room, wait; get 'prepped', wait; well, we ALL know that drill. The actual biopsy part took all of maybe 2 minutes of keeping still? Sure is lots easier than other tests I can think of! Just a teeny bit sore for about a day but no biggie.

Comparing it to PN pain? It's short term, goes away fast and doesn't haunt you the way PN pain does. Comparatively, it's an easy one. At least, that was my experience on it.

Sure hope this helps! Think of it as part of your 'QUEST' to get ANSWERS!

Good thoughts for sure - j

Yorkiemom,
I've had Hashimoto's thyroiditis for ~12yrs now and for the 1st 6yrs I had fine needle aspiration biopsies of my ever enlarging thyroid done every 6mos. The doc was an endocrinologist who did them in his office w/out a local. He was very skilled and took 4-6 aspirations each time. All I ever felt was a little pin prick. The bloody thryoid exam where here squeezed my throat while swallowing was much more unpleasant to me. Kept telling me that this was worse for him but he never gave me the chance to give him an exam either!
Since I have PN too I can echo Dahlek's comments that there is no comparison between the pains. The biopsy pain was brief and minimal by comparison.
By all means if a little anesthetic will take the edge off for you, go for it, but the 12 procedures I had were not that bad.
Hope all goes well for you and that the results will be good ones.
Alkymst

Hi,

I have hishi's as well and have atleast 8 fine needle aspirations without anything. It hurt when it was first going in but if I concentrated and looked at a far away point and betahed in through my nose and out through my mouth it made it better and was over quickly.

Good luck.

Maybe I can handle this w/o anesthesia, if you guys all made it OK. I just keep flaring up with the Lupuslike symptoms and pain, because every 3 or so weeks something else comes up and the stress really ramps everything up...

Why do they do more than one aspiration?

My friend's teenager had something similar wrong with her thyroid and they destroyed the gland with iodine, I want to say. She has to take Synthroid every day for the rest of her life. I am not sure what that is about, but anyway, that is what they did...

Cathie

Hi Cathie,

Do what makes you feel most comfortable. And if it's the local anesthetic who cares. Try not to stiffen up if you see the needle approach it makes it worse. The breathing thing made a difference for me. But you will get through it and it will be over in no time. Are they doing it with an ultrasound machine?

I had two sessions and in each they did four aspirations. Some were for the thryoid itself and some were of the lymph nodes in the thryoid.

I was dx with Hashi's which was lymphocytic thyroiditis which meant my thyroid was full of lymphocytes or infected and inflammed. They put me on synthoid to shrink it and it was fine. I had no reaction to the meds. Syntheoid is a synthetic version of what your thyroid produces and you need it everyday.

Have they said whether they think you are hypo or hyper thryoid?

Hi Cathie,

I've also had several fine needle aspiration biopsies. The reason they kept doing them on me was because they said my thyroid was very "vascular" (meaning veins, etc, therefore bloody) and they couldn't get good tissue. I have an enlarged thyroid (from a multi-nodular goiter).

I agree with everyone else. I did have a local, but no anesthesia, and I was fine. It's a little uncomfortable I'd call it.....not really painful.

However, and I don't know all your health issues, if you have other stuff going on you probably should use the anesthesia. This is just to avoid "stress" on your "system". I'm no doctor, but just from exerience with all my stuff, I'd say it's easier on you.

So, don't worry!

Denise

I think they are going to do it with some kind of visual technique, because it is done in the outpatient area of the hospital by an Interventional Radiologist, but I am not sure. I know when I had a spinal tap once, it was done in this manner under X-Ray, so they could see where they were going...

I remember when I first was diagnosed with autoimmune problems, there were two kinds of autoantibodies that showed up on labs that were done. I can't remember which ones. Maybe one was thyroglobulin; the other, I don't remember.
Cathie

mine was done. Watching the doppler screen w/the tech was the interesting and sort of fun part...not to mention the sound effects-kind of like a SciFi movie noises or how you 'hear' when swimming under water.

While the docs do the actual biopsies, it's getting a good tech who explains what all is going on that can make it a better experience.

Sure hope you get a GREAT ONE! - j