4 Tips to Recover from Thyroid Surgery
Thyroid gland is a duct in the neck which releases hormones. These hormones are not only important in controlling the metabolism in the body but also play a major role in maintaining the temperature of the body. Thyroid gland can however malfunction and can start producing very little or too much hormones disturbing the whole equilibrium in the body.
In most cases, thyroid specialists resolve these issues through medication but in some cases surgery may also be considered. Thyroid surgeries are not only complicated but can be very hard to recover from. In this article, we are discussing four tips that can be helpful in easing out the hard recovery period of thyroid surgery.
1. Incision care
Incision care is very important after a thyroid surgery since the wound is already in a vulnerable body part-the neck. Movement is usually very difficult in the first few days after surgery since the patient has to keep their neck stiff in order to avoid pain and keeping stitches intact. Many general surgeons suggest wearing a collar during recovery form a thyroid surgery. You should thus follow the advice by your doctor if you want to heal incision site at the earliest.
2. Doctor visits
Another important part of recovery after a thyroid surgery are doctor’s visits. You should thus not skip any follow up visits with your surgeon. The doctor during these visits is likely to change the bandage and see the progress of the incision along with adjusting pain medication.
3. Rest
Patience should be your best friend while recovering from a thyroid surgery. It could be a good number of days before you go back to your routine activities. In the first few days there might be swelling in the neck and it is very important to stay as still as you can during these days. Otherwise your incision will not heal appropriately and you might run into complications. You should mostly rest during the first ten days of your recovery
4. Physical therapy
Physical therapy can be very important in the next stages of recovery from thyroid surgery. Due to staying still and wearing a collar the neck is likely to be stiff and physical therapy can help you get rid of this stiffness.
This article is only written for a normal course of recovery from thyroid surgery. It does not take into account complications which may appear post-surgery. You should consult your general surgeon for such complications.
