“What does a thyroidectomy do to cholesterol?”
I'm a 38-year-old female with very high cholesterol. I have just been diagnosed with a thyroid growth. If I have to get a thyroidectomy, will it affect my cholesterol levels?
8 Answers
You will need to take levothyroxine pills. If you control the thyroid hormone level by taking the right dose of levothyroxine, thyroid would not affect cholesterol control.
If you get a thyroidectomy, but take your thyroid replacement therapy appropriately, then it should not affect your cholesterol level. ONLY untreated Hypothyroidism with or without thyroidectomy will cause your cholesterol to go high.
If full thyroid is removed, thyroid hormone will need to be replaced with medication. If thyroid is fully replaced and thyroid hormone levels are in normal range, there should be no effect on cholesterol. However, if thyroid in under replaced ( not fully replaced and levels are low) then cholesterol might increase.
Dr Marina Strizhevsky
Dr Marina Strizhevsky
Hi,
Great question. Thyroidectomy is not the reason behind cholesterol levels changes. Untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels) are the reasons behind elevated LDL levels and thereby increasing your cholesterol levels. Thyroidectomy leads to hypothyroidism as the thyroid gland is removed. Once thyroidectomy is done patients are usually on thyroid hormone replacement therapy. If you are on the appropriate replacement dose of thyroid hormone, then your cholesterol levels should not change from your baseline. It is advisable to see an endocrinologist for thyroid hormone replacement and other follow up.
Hope this helps.
Great question. Thyroidectomy is not the reason behind cholesterol levels changes. Untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels) are the reasons behind elevated LDL levels and thereby increasing your cholesterol levels. Thyroidectomy leads to hypothyroidism as the thyroid gland is removed. Once thyroidectomy is done patients are usually on thyroid hormone replacement therapy. If you are on the appropriate replacement dose of thyroid hormone, then your cholesterol levels should not change from your baseline. It is advisable to see an endocrinologist for thyroid hormone replacement and other follow up.
Hope this helps.
If your thyroid level is normal it should not affect it
Not directly, but being hypothyroid will exacerbate the hyperlipidemia and cause the bad cholesterol (LDL) to go up. The thyroid growth has no relation to the hypercholesterolemia.
Not, because after that surgery you would need to take thyroid hormone in a pill and that results in a normal thyroid level when done correctly.
It may or may not. A high cholesterol can have many causes one of which is genetics i.e. inherited. Another is consuming too many high cholesterol foods & finally hypothyroid. If you have a mass on the thyroid, it could be causing hypothyroid & thus your cholesterol. If your thyroid level is normal, then the mass is not effecting the cholesterol in which case the removal of the thyroid will have no effect on your cholesterol level. Depending on how much of the thyroid is removed, you may get hypothyroid after surgery & the low thyroid will have an effect on the chol. Treatment with thyroid replacement should correct this problem. In any event you should have the tumor removed especially if a biopsy or certain blood tests strongly suggest it could be malignant. And get your cholesterol by any means necessary & there are good medicines now to do that.
