What are the early symptoms of goiter?

What is goiter? The medical name for goiter is thyroid enlargement. Common symptoms include swelling of the neck, which in turn affects the pronunciation of the vocal cords and causes difficulty in swallowing. In severe cases, it can cause suffocation due to compression of the trachea. The causes of goiter are complex, the most common ones include iodine deficiency, excessive iodine, excessive stress, drug toxicity, etc. Let's take a look at the early symptoms of goiter.

Patients have a long history of simple goiter. The age of onset is generally over 30 years old and women are more likely to develop the disease than men. The degree of thyroid enlargement varies and is often asymmetric. The number and size of nodules vary, generally there are multiple nodules, and in the early stages there may be only one nodule. The nodules are soft or slightly hard, smooth and non-tender.

Sometimes the boundaries of the nodules are unclear, and the surface of the thyroid gland only feels irregular or lobed when touched. The disease progresses slowly and most patients are asymptomatic. Larger nodular goiters may cause compressive symptoms, including difficulty breathing, dysphagia, and hoarseness. Acute bleeding in a nodule may cause a sudden increase in size and pain; symptoms may subside within a few days, and an enlarged mass may decrease over a few weeks or longer.

If it is a hot nodule, also known as a toxic nodule, the patient is mostly over 40 to 50 years old, the nodule is of medium hardness, there are symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and even atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias may occur. If there is bleeding, there may be pain or even fever. When the nodules are large, compression symptoms may occur, such as dysarthria, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and irritating cough.