What is thyroid nodule? Do you have these symptoms?

Thyroid nodules generally do not cause functional changes, and the patient's basal metabolic rate is normal. A small number of patients may also develop secondary hyperthyroidism; however, when the nodules are large, the following symptoms may occur:

After suffering from thyroid nodules, the symptoms will be different due to the different nature of the nodules. Thyroid nodules are a common disease, especially in middle-aged women. Thyroid nodules can be divided into two types: benign nodules and malignant nodules. Most are benign nodules, while malignant nodules are rare. Thyroid nodules can be solitary or multiple, and the incidence of multiple nodules is higher than that of single nodules.

1. Symptoms and Signs

1. Compression of trachea: more common. If compression comes from one side, the trachea will shift or bend to the other side; if compression comes from both sides, the trachea will be narrowed and breathing will be difficult, which is especially serious when there is a goiter behind the sternum. Long-term pressure on the tracheal wall can cause tracheal softening and lead to suffocation.

2. Compression of the recurrent laryngeal nerve: It can cause vocal cord paralysis (usually on one side) and the patient's hoarseness. Compression of the cervical sympathetic ganglion chain can cause Horner syndrome, which is extremely rare.

3. Compression of esophagus: rare. Only a substernal goiter may compress the esophagus, causing discomfort during swallowing but not obstructive symptoms.

4. Compression of the large veins deep in the neck: can cause difficulty in blood return to the head and neck. This situation is more common in the upper opening of the chest, large goiter, especially retrosternal goiter. The patient's face is swollen with bluish purple patches, and there are also lighter patches on the neck and chest.

2. Causes of thyroid nodules

1. The cause of this disease is mainly emotional injury, which is closely related to diet, improper water and soil, and congenital factors. Due to long-term anger or worry, the Qi mechanism becomes stagnant, the liver Qi is not regulated, and the body fluids cannot be normalized and condense into phlegm. When qi stagnates and phlegm condenses in front of the neck, goiter will form. If Qi stagnates for a long time, the circulation of blood will be hindered and blood stasis will occur, which can cause hard swellings, nodules or goiters.

2. Imbalanced diet or living in the mountains or inappropriate water and soil will affect the spleen and stomach functions, causing the spleen to lose its healthy function and the accumulation of heat to produce phlegm. It will also affect the normal flow of qi and blood, causing goiter to form when phlegm and qi accumulate in the front of the neck. These two reasons are often closely related to the physical constitution: for example, the physiological characteristics of women during menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation are closely related to the qi and blood of the liver meridian.

3. The incidence rate of offspring with a family history of this disease is higher than that of offspring without a family history, indicating that this disease is related to congenital inheritance. The accumulation of nodule tissue will eventually form a thyroid tumor, and the proliferation of local cell tissue will eventually form thyroid cancer, which will endanger the patient's life.