Counseling

Oncology social workers help you cope with the emotional and practical challenges of thyroid cancer. Contact us at 800‑813‑HOPE (4673) or info@cancercare.org.
Learn more about counseling.

Financial Assistance

Find resources and support to manage your financial concerns. Limited assistance from CancerCare^® is available to eligible families for cancer-related costs.

Support Groups

Connect with others in our free support groups led by oncology social workers.

We currently do not offer a thyroid cancer specific group. You may consider joining our general online support groups for people with cancer. Register now.

Community Programs

If you live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, learn about and view the full calendar of our free community programs.

Connect Education Workshops

Listen in by telephone or online as leading experts in oncology provide up-to-date information about cancer-related issues in one-hour workshops. Podcasts are also available.

Upcoming Workshops

General Topics

• Preventing Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting, Oct 28, 2019
• Care for Your Bones During & After Cancer Treatment: Tips to Improve Bone Health, Nov 18, 2019

Podcasts

Thyroid Cancer

• New Trends in the Treatment of Thyroid Cancer
• Update on Thyroid Cancer

General Topics

• Participating in Decisions about Your Care
• New Trends in Cancer Survivorship
• For Caregivers: Care Coordination for Your Loved One Living with Cancer and Other Health Problems
• Understanding the Costs of Care and Your Health Care Coverage
• Update on Clinical Trials: How They Work
• Cancer and the Workplace: Understanding Your Legal Protections
• Trends in Oncology and Treatment Planning: What You Need to Know
• Managing the Side Effects of Immunotherapy
• Understanding the Role of Immunotherapy in Treating Cancer
• Managing Eye and Vision Changes Related to Cancer Treatments
• Joys and Challenges of Pets in Your Home When You Have Cancer
• Taking Your Pills on Schedule: Its Importance in Treating Cancer
• Caregiving for Your Loved One with Cancer
• Life with Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD) Post Allogeneic Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplantation: New Treatment Approaches
• Current Perspectives on Cancer Survivorship
• Genomics and the Future of Cancer Treatment
• Genomics and Genetics: What is the Difference?
• Update on CAR-T Cell Therapy
• Treatment-Related Rash and Dry Skin
• Current Perspectives on Cancer Survivorship
• What Are Biosimilars? Understanding Their Role in Cancer Treatments: Current and Future Perspectives
• Managing the Side Effects of Immunotherapy
• Understanding the Role of Immunotherapy in Treating Cancer
• Taking Your Pills on Schedule: Why It Is So Important in Managing Cancer
• Preventing Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting
• Update on Clinical Trials: How They Work
• Managing Eye and Vision Changes Related to Cancer Treatments
• Mind Body Techniques to Cope with the Stresses of Cancer
• What Are Generic Drugs: Understanding Their Role in Cancer Treatment
• For Caregivers: Care Coordination for Your Loved One Living with Cancer and Other Health Problems
• Taking Your Pills on Schedule: The Importance of Adherence in the Treatment of Cancer
• Participating in Decisions about Your Care
• Cancer and the Workplace: Understanding Your Legal Protections
• Preventing Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting
• Understanding the Costs of Care and Your Health Care Coverage
• Trends in Oncology and Treatment Planning: What You Need to Know
• Managing the Side Effects of Immunotherapy
• Living with Cancer Throughout The Cancer Journey
• Understanding the Role of Immunotherapy in Treating Cancer
• Managing Eye and Vision Changes Related to Cancer Treatments
• What Are Biosimilars? Understanding Their Role in Cancer Treatment: Current and Future Perspectives
• Managing Sensory Disruptions During Cancer Treatments
• For Health Care Professionals: Care Coordination for Older Men Living with Cancer
• Precision Medicine in Cancer Treatment
• Managing the Costs of Living with Cancer
• Advances in Treating Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting
• Taking Your Pills on Schedule – Why It Is So Important in Managing Cancer
• Nutrition and Healthy Eating Tips During and After Cancer Treatments
• Cancer and the Workplace: Knowing Your Legal Rights
• What’s New in Managing Blood Clots During Cancer Treatments
• For Health Care Professionals: Care Coordination for Older Men Living with Cancer
• Understanding Diagnostic Technologies and Biomarkers
• Healthy Eating and Managing Weight Changes During Cancer Treatment
• Managing the Costs of Living with Cancer
• For Caregivers: Practical Tips to Cope
• Highlights of the Affordable Care Act
• Managing Cancer Pain: What You Need to Know
• Understanding Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia: Low White Blood Cell Counts
• Cancer and the Workplace
• Advances in Treating Chemotherapy-Related Nausea and Vomiting
• Young Adult Survivorship: Fertility, Sexuality and Intimacy
• Understanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for People Living with Cancer
• Helping Cancer Patients and Their Families Cope with the Stresses of Caregiving
• Managing Post-Treatment Neuropathy
• Stress Management for Caregivers: Practical Tips to Cope
• Changing Roles and Responsibilities for Caregivers
• Recapturing Joy and Finding Meaning
• Planning Your Comfort and Care at End of Life
• Using Mind/Body Techniques to Cope with the Stress of Survivorship
• Nutrition, Physical Activity and You: A Guide for People Living With Cancer
• Understanding the Important Role of Adherence in the Medical Management of Cancer
• Fear of Recurrence and Late Effects: Living with Uncertainty
• Money Matters: Finding Resources to Manage Cancer Treatment Costs
• Stress Management for Caregivers: Taking Care of Yourself Physically and Emotionally
• The Challenges of Coping with Cancer and Other Health Problems
• Weight Changes After Cancer Treatment: Why is it Happening and What Can I Do About It
• Mouth Pain and Discomfort: All You Need to Know About Mouth Sores and Oral Mucositis
• Helping Children and Teens Understand When a Parent or Loved One Has Cancer
• Chemobrain: The Impact of Cancer Treatments on Memory, Thinking and Attention
• Survivors Too: Communicating With and Among Family, Friends and Loved Ones
• Survivorship and Workplace Transitions
• Communicating with Your Health Care Team After Treatment: Making the Most of Your Visit
• Trouble Sleeping? Sleep Better to Feel Better: Tips You Can Use
• Helping Teachers and Educators Support Siblings of Children with Cancer
• Understanding Peripheral Neuropathy
• Survivors Too: Family, Friends and Loved Ones - Managing the Fatigue of Caregiving
• The Importance of Nutrition and Physical Activity
• For Parents, Caregivers and Professionals: Helping Brothers and Sisters of Children Living with Cancer
• Dental Health During Cancer Treatments
• Managing the Stress of Survivorship
• Medical Emergencies in Cancer Treatment
• Balancing Cancer and Careers: Living and Working with Cancer
• For Caregivers: Coping with Holidays, Special Occasions and Birthdays, Throughout the Year
• Survivors Too: Family, Friends and Loved Ones
• Rediscovering Intimacy in Your Relationships Following Treatment
• The Importance of Communicating with Your Doctor About Follow-Up Care
• Finding Hope and Meaning After Treatment
• My Treatment is Over: Why Do I Feel So Alone and Sad?
• Neuropathy and Joint Aches: New Post Treatment Challenges
• Managing Your Costs of Recovery
• Balancing Your Needs and Your Role as a Caregiver
• Is It My Cancer or Am I Getting Older?
• The Bereaved Caregiver in the Workplace
• Stress Management Tips for Survivors
• The Challenge of Creating Supportive Work Environments for Employees with Cancer and Their Caregivers

Publications

Read or order our free Connect booklets and fact sheets offering easy-to-read information about the latest cancer treatments, managing side effects and coping with cancer.

Thyroid Cancer

• After a Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis: Questions to Ask Your Doctor

General Topics

• Coping With Cancer: Tools to Help You Live
• Caregiving for Your Loved One With CancerNew!
• Helping Children When a Family Member Has Cancer
• Communicating With Your Health Care Team
• Understanding and Managing Chemotherapy Side Effects
• Sources of Financial Assistance
• Finding Resources in Your Community
• If You've Just Been Diagnosed
• “What Can I Say to a Newly Diagnosed Loved One?”
• Caring Advice for Caregivers: How Can You Help Yourself?

Ask CancerCare

Every month, featured experts answer your questions about coping with cancer. View all questions and answers.

Thyroid Cancer

• Q.

  I'm looking to speak with other thyroid cancer patients—can you refer me to groups or organizations?

  A.

  Connecting with other people who have been through the same emotions, feelings, and treatments that you have had can help you feel less alone and more understood. Here is a list of organizations that provide support groups and/or peer matching programs for people coping with thyroid cancer:

  • ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. organizes support groups across the United States, monitors 12 online discussion groups, posts personal profiles and journals of survivors, facilitates an email support group, and runs the Person-to-Person Network, a peer matching program.

  • Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC) strives to raise awareness of issues related to head and neck cancer.

  • Head and Neck Cancer Alliance (formerly the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Foundation) is a foundation that hosts an online forum, organizes support groups, and sponsors Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week.

  • Cancer Hope Network provides free, one-on-one support to patients and their families. They match patients or family members with trained volunteers who have undergone and recovered from a similar cancer experience.

  • Imerman Angels matches and individually pairs a person touched by cancer with someone who has fought and survived the same type of cancer. Cancer caregivers (spouses, parents, children and loved ones) also receive one-on-one connections with other caregivers and survivors. The service is free and helps anyone touched by any type or stage of cancer, at any age, living anywhere in the world.

  And CancerCare offers general online, face-to-face, and telephone support groups for people looking to talk about a wide range of cancer experiences. Our groups are facilitated by oncology social workers.

  Answered by
  Anna L. Eckhardt, MSW, CCLS, LCSW

  ∞ Direct link to this question

  Tags:thyroid cancerhead and neck cancer

• Q.

  Can you direct me to information about the risk of thyroid cancer due to X-ray exposure? Are there any precautions I should take, say at the dentist?

  A.

  Having an X-ray can be a regular part of yearly health screening and preventative checkups both in the medical and dental worlds, and it is completely reasonable to consider what precautions should be taken. When you go in to have an X-ray, you encounter several people on your medical team along the way such as radiologists, technicians, nurses, and doctors. The doctor may order the X-ray, the nurse may prepare you for the test, and a technician might set you up with special shields around your neck and abdomen. There may be several opportunities to talk with them about why they are recommending such a scan (taking into account your medical history) and what the risk factors are (such as radiation exposure). Another opportunity to ask questions is when they place the protective shields on you. You may want to ask why they place them on certain areas and not others and what they are specifically shielding.

  As for thyroid cancer, it is more likely to develop in people who have been exposed to high doses of radiation, have a history of thyroid cancer in their family, and are 40 years of age or older. But for the majority of people who develop thyroid cancer, the cause is unknown. For more information about thyroid cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s website.

  You should speak with your health care team about the possible risks (and precautions that can be taken) when having any procedure, including X-rays. It’s important for you to understand why they are recommending specific procedures and what the risk factors are. X-rays are very different from other scans such as CAT scans and PET scans and your doctor can also talk to you about whether the frequency of these radiology procedures has an effect on your overall radiation exposure risk. Learn more about about radiation exposure and cancer and about different types of imaging tests.

  Communication with your health care team is key. How comfortable are you speaking with them about your concerns? Do you feel like you have enough time to ask your questions? Do you feel reassured when they answer your questions? A CancerCare oncology social worker can provide you with support as you consider questions for your health care professionals.

  You can read more about dental X-rays and thyroid cancer in a New York Times article. Remember, ask your dentist or health care team about any of your concerns since they know your medical history and are best equipped to answer your questions.

  Answered by
  Anna L. Eckhardt, MSW, CCLS, LCSW

  ∞ Direct link to this question

  Tags:thyroid cancer

Featured Resource

Magnolia Meals at Home

A meal delivery program that helps patients by providing nourishing meals to households affected by cancer. Is currently available in and around Woodcliff Lake, NJ and Andover, MA, Raleigh-Durham, NC and New Haven, CT (as well areas in New York, New Hampshire and Boston, MA). For more information please visit magnoliamealsathome.com or contact Kathy Nugent, LCSW at 800-813-4673, ext. 6809.