Diet taboos after thyroid nodule surgery

There are no one-size-fits-all dietary taboos after thyroid nodule surgery. All taboos must be adjusted based on the type of surgical pathology, postoperative recovery stage, and thyroid function status. Ninety percent of the rumors posted on the Internet about "no iodine at all" and "all hair products cannot be eaten" are misunderstandings.

A while ago, I accompanied my best friend to undergo minimally invasive surgery for a benign nodule. Before she was discharged, she clutched the doctor's white coat and asked if she could never eat her favorite salmon in the future. The doctor, without raising her head, said, "Eat it if you want, don't show off three pounds of crabs at a meal." She was very happy. Of course, you can’t just eat under any circumstances. In the first three days after the surgery, the wound on my neck was still swollen, and it was painful to swallow saliva. At that time, I really had to avoid hot, hard, and spicy food. I had a colleague who couldn't help but order a bowl of spicy Chongqing noodles on the second day after surgery. The spicy food made her cough, the wound hurt all night, and she almost bled. She was just asking for it. There are also sticky glutinous rice cakes and hard nuts that are so sticky that you should avoid touching them during that period of time. This is not because they have any impact on the thyroid gland, but mainly because you are afraid of choking or scratching the wound when swallowing. After a week or so, when the swelling subsides and the pain of eating is gone, you will basically no longer need to be subject to this restriction.

When the wound heals, the most common question everyone asks is "Am I forbidden to touch iodine for the rest of my life?" This is also the most controversial point now. If the cut is a benign nodule, and the thyroid function test after surgery is completely normal, the mainstream view of domestic endocrinology and surgery is that there is no need to avoid iodine at all. Eat iodized salt normally, eat seafood twice a week, and occasionally eat kelp and seaweed. Unless you live in a high-water iodine area and the iodine content in the water you usually drink has exceeded the standard, then you can appropriately reduce the intake of high-iodine foods. If you are treating papillary thyroid cancer and you need to undergo iodine 131 ablation treatment, you must strictly reduce iodine 1-2 months before treatment. Not only should you eat iodized salt, but you should also eat as little seafood as possible, and even eat out in restaurants, to avoid not knowing what kind of salt is used by the merchants, which will affect the treatment effect. But if you don’t need iodine 131, or you have completed treatment for more than half a year, there are many studies showing that the complete absence of iodine will stimulate the abnormal proliferation of the remaining thyroid tissue, which will increase the risk of recurrence. Normal intake of iodine is safer. Of course, some conservative doctors will recommend that you avoid high-iodine foods as much as possible. If you are really undecided, you can check your urine iodine to see if your daily iodine intake is enough. If you are deficient, supplement more and reduce it, which is much more reliable than blindly restricting food.

As for the "fat foods" that the elders talk about, such as chicken, duck, beef, leeks, and seafood, there is really no basis for saying that eating them will cause recurrence. Among the postoperative patients I have come into contact with, many began to drink chicken soup and beef to supplement their nutrition within a week after being discharged from the hospital. Their wounds recovered faster than those who only drank plain porridge every day. The so-called "fat food" is more like a summary of the experience of people with food allergies and intolerances in the past. As long as you usually eat these things, you don't feel uncomfortable at all, and there is no need to eat them. If you get angry and get acne after eating beef, or get a rash after eating seafood, then your body is already weak after the surgery, so it is okay to eat less. There is no need to force yourself to eat.

There is another small point that many people tend to overlook: If you need to take levothyroxine sodium tablets (also commonly known as Euthyroxine) after surgery, after taking the medicine on an empty stomach in the morning, drink milk and soy milk at least half an hour apart, and take supplements such as calcium tablets and multivitamins 4 hours apart, otherwise it will affect the absorption of the medicine. An aunt came to me before and asked me why she could not control her thyroid stimulating hormone even after increasing the dosage of the medicine several times. When I asked, I found out that she drank a bowl of freshly ground soy milk every morning after taking the medicine. Later, she changed to eating an hour after taking the medicine before eating. The indicator stabilized in half a month.

There is really no need to put so many dietary restrictions on yourself. The most important thing to pay attention to after surgery is to review your thyroid function on time, adjust the dosage of medicine according to the doctor's instructions, stare at this every day and not eat or touch that. Feeling anxious is not good for recovery. Occasionally, you will be greedy for grilled squid or a cup of pearl milk tea. It really won't do anything.