just got diagnosed yesterday and i'm terrified

Hi Jerseygirl, sounds like it might have been anti salivary gland antibiodies they found in your blood. That's what clinched the diagnosis for me.

Do get your thyroid checked out. Thyroid problems go hand-in-hand with just about every auto-immune condition, not just SS. Mine is usually under-active but it can go either way. If you've got cysts on your thyroid, it may well be that they're producing too much thyroid hormone, which could well account for your panic attacks.

They have medications to damp down an over-active thyroid these days, but even if you had to have surgery that wouldn't be anything to worry about. Thyroid surgery is relatively easy and very safe nowadays.

Thank you lily.i do have the 3 cysts that are being biopsied on the 12 th .im terrified .i hate shots and especally hate lidocaine shots.ugh they burn.my thyroid numbers are within normal range but that can happen ,especially with hashimotos thyroiditis which is what i think i have.it drives me nuts that they say nothings wrong with my thyroid just based on those numbers.i hope maybe they can just remove the cysts but from what i read they usually remove the thyroid ,which i dont want

I don't know why they're so reluctant to diagnose hypothyroidism. It's the same this side of the Atlantic. I'd had symptoms for years and my TSH was through the roof. (That's thyroid stimulating hormone produced by the pituitary gland. If your thyroid is underactive, your TSH is always up, as the pituitary is having to work harder to make your thyroid produce enough of its hormones.) The problem was, my T3 and T4 levels (thyroid hormone) were always just about within the normal range. By the time I finally persuaded my doctor to refer me to a specialist, I'd lost my eyebrows and about half my hair and my resting pulse was down to 48 - and I'm no athlete! Unfortunately, hair that's lost because of an under-active thyroid never grows back, even when you start treatment.

I can understand your wanting to keep your thyroid, but I think they normally do this to stabilise things. A friend of mine has Hashimoto's too. She had one op to remove cysts but her thyroid levels were all over the place after that, and she finally got so sick of it she agreed to have the whole gland removed. She says she's never regretted it, as she's stable now. It's a very minor op these days.

Im always so off balance and swimmy headed nowadays,its becoming unbearable.i wonder if it will lessen with treatment .i thonk if they can get my thyroid at least in check,a lot of my symptoms will lessen,although i know that may be wishful thinking.overall im just glad they are finding the issues

Could well be your thyroid. If those cysts are producing extra thyroid hormone that will give you palpitations and panic attacks. The swimmy-headed feeling could also be down to anxiety and hyperventilation. If I get anxious I sometimes catch myself clenching or grinding my teeth, which interferes with the blood flow to the base of the brain and makes me a bit dizzy and sick.

Hyperventilation is another symptom of anxiety. That's when you breath too deeply and/or too fast, but without realising it. This messes up your metabolism and also causes dizziness.

There's a good chance that fixing your thyroid problem will lessen all your anxiety symptoms.

Thank you lily.you are soo super hrlpful.do you think the can see if the cysts are producing too much in the biopsy or will it just tell if its cancerous?

Didn't they already do the isotope test? That's the one where they inject you with a small quantity of a radio-active isotope of iodine, then scan your thyroid gland with a kind of Geiger counter, to see whether there's any irregular uptake of the iodine. Any "hot spots" picked up on this test tend to indicate an overgrowth of thyroid tissue itself.

In any case, they'll be able to see from the biopsy exactly what these cysts are doing. By the way, I'm sure you know that most thyroid cysts or tumours aren't cancerous and that even when they are, thyroid cancer is one of the easiest and most successful to treat.

I hope you can get the biopsy done soon, so you can get on with treating whatever is happening.

No lily i have only had the regular doppler ultrasound.i'm glad the biopsy will do more than just tell them if its cancerous or not.i'm dreading it so ts not to know it will be useful lol.i go the 12th for that.this friday i got to a heart doctor to make sure the ticker is okay .

Unfortunately ,they may not have given me that other test you mentioned because it's probably very expensive and i'm self pay right now.i'm literally paying cash upfront for each doctor and each thing they do.it's not easy

Must be awful for you. But then again, I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. In this country we have to pay 13% of gross salary to the State-run medical insurance throughout our working lives. That then covers us for about three-quarters of medical and dental expenses on average, so I suppose it's a good deal. But then if you're exceptionally healthy (as I was for most of my life) and never use the medical services, you're still paying for them. There's no opt-out, it's deducted at source, like income tax. Plus that doesn't cover board and lodging if you're hospitalised so you need to take out an additional private insurance if you want that covered as well.

I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch wherever you live!

Haha lilly you're right.we have obama care here but i cant afford it so at income tax time ,they fine us $500 per uninsired person.the way we see it thats cheaper than obama care lol.its sad we have doctors going overseas to provide care for the unfortunate but there's plenty of people right here needing dire medical care and not getting it.

Thank you so much.i finally stopped and breathed for the first time in a week.your kind ,reassuring words have helped me so much today