Thyroid nodules are very common.
How common are they? Well, let’s look at the numbers.
30% of 30 year-old women have a thyroid nodule.
According to Dr. Mario Skugo, Endocrinologist, “Small thyroid nodules are common, with 50 percent of women over the age of 50 having them, but the vast majority of them are benign.”[1]
And, the rate of thyroid nodules continues to increase as we age:
- 60% of 60 year-old women have at least one thyroid nodule
- 70% of 70 year-old women have at least one thyroid nodule
The good news is that the majority of these thyroid nodules, that is more than 95% of them, are benign.[2] That means they are non-cancerous.
Unfortunately, it’s a scary trend right now to over-diagnose and over-treat the small amount of thyroid nodules that actually are cancerous (less than 5%).
Dr. Luc Morris, Head and Neck Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City said, “It is fair to say that the large number of thyroid cancers being diagnosed represent an epidemic of diagnosis, or an epidemic of medical testing, rather than an epidemic of true disease…. Fortunately the thyroid cancer field has begun to accept that overdiagnosis is a very real phenomenon.”[3]
So, hang onto your thyroid, folks. Even the ones that have one or more nodules.
Don’t get pressured into undergoing a thyroidectomy, ablation or radioactive iodine simply because you have a nodule. More often than not, those treatments are absolutely unnecessary, and do more harm than good.
Do yourself a favor and get a second, third and fourth opinion, preferably from an integrative or holistic endocrinologist.
And, opt-in now to get access to other Common Thyroid Myths so you can be better prepared to deal with your thyroid condition from an alternative perspective.
[1] https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/overdiagnosis-thyroid-cancer-leading-unnecessary-interventions/
[2] https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/thyroid-nodules
[3] https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/867598#vp_1
Andrea Beaman is an internationally renowned Holistic Health Coach, Natural Foods Chef, Speaker and Herbalist. Named one of the top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Experts, she is also a recipient of the Natural Gourmet Institute’s Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Education and a Health Leadership award from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Since 1999, Andrea has been teaching people how to harness the body’s own preventative and healing powers using food, herbal remedies and alternative medicine.
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