Thyroidectomy Side Effects and Warnings

Possible Complications

Complications are rare, but no procedure is completely free of risk. If you are planning to have a thyroidectomy, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:

• Damage to the parathyroid gland, which controls calcium metabolism (could lead to nerve and heart problems)
• Voice changes due to damage to nerves leading to the voice box (rare)
• Scarring
• Bleeding
• Infection
• Thyrotoxic crisis (sudden excessive release of thyroid hormone at toxic levels) (very rare)

Some factors that may increase the risk of complications include:

• Severity of hyperthyroidism
• Size of goiter
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Alcoholism
• Poor nutrition
• Long-term illness

Call Your Doctor

After you leave the hospital, contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:

• Numbness or tingling around the lips or extremities
• Twitching or muscle spasms (indicates dangerously low levels of calcium in the blood)
• Excessive and progressive fatigue
• Difficulty swallowing, talking, or breathing
• Signs of infection, including fever and chills
• Redness, swelling, increasing pain, excessive bleeding, or any discharge from the incision site
• Nausea and/or vomiting that you cannot control with the medicines you were given after surgery, or which persist for more than two days after discharge from the hospital
• Cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain
• Pain that you cannot control with the medicines you have been given
• Pain, burning, urgency or frequency of urination, or persistent bleeding in the urine

In case of an emergency, CALL 911.