I finally had a needle biopsy on my thyroid last Wednesday. I've had lots of small nodes on my thyroid since 1999 & in the past 12 months some had grown. The largest was now 11mm, still small, but it had grown 10% in 12 months.

I only had to wait a week for the appointment, but the stress had led me to panic attacks, one of which had me in the Emergency ward for 8 hours, 4 days before the biopsy.

I walked out with a note for my Doctor saying nuffin' wrong with my heart, lungs, or blood pressure, but telling her to get my heart checked out, just in case, and that happened last Monday & I left that specialist with a clean bill of health & big debt on my credit card.

The biopsy was okish - the painkilling needle ouched but the technician & doctor were great, the technician even fanning me with a handtowel when I started getting hot & short of breath. She had reassured me that if the nodes were cancerous, thyroid cancer was the best cancer to have it is is almost instantly curable - either a simple operation, or a bit of radiation & it's gone! My head was re-assured, even tho I don't like the thought of operations or medical treatment, but certain bits of my body obviously decided you ain't fooling us, mate, we'll overreact if we want to.

I'm now taking Thyroxin, as the growth in my nodes were not a sign of cancer (which my thyroid specialist thought was so likely she had given me a prescription & a pathology referral for later in the year). It was only me who thought catastrophic thoughts.

In the week between biopsy & result (all clear! just take thyroxine & come back in 6 weeks) I was still getting panicky feelings, as panic attacks can set in if not dealt with.

Now I have a book on panic attacks & know what to do if I start feeling odd - uncomfortable in my sternum, hot, short of breath, etc. BREATHE slowly & continually (I'm a shallow breather) - hold breath for 10 seconds, let it out saying "Relax', breathe in for 3 seconds, breathe out for the same period saying "Relax", repeat the cycle for as long as necessary (60+ minutes on Monday!)

I'm taking life slowly as if I move too fast or do too much I start feeling uncomfortable in my sternum, so I concentrate in my breathing & feel better. Moving too much includes walking around for an hour at lunchtime!

And strangely enough, the contra-indications of Thyroxine include lots of panic attack-like symptoms, so I'm assuming that the uncomfortable feelings I've had since Wednesday relate to the tablets. And any bit of my body that thinks elsewise can shut up & behave properly.

sandra