Doctor frustration

[Catrin]

LOL. I do want a new pair of Keen Mary Janes. Can I eat some cake, too?

Yes, you can have some cake. Take that, thyroid

[WindingRoad]

It's really odd because not even two hours ago I was looking at some cute Keen MJs in black. No joke :-)

One day at a time.

[jessmarimba]

A little late to the discussion, but I know here it's pretty easy to get a second opinion on things since referrals are not required in Colorado (as long as your insurance is ok with it. And when I called my insurance, they said it's up to the state). I'm eventually going to be paying a big chunk for my recent back appointment because they took all new x-rays, which I hadn't budgeted for (deductible just reset Feb 1) but they won't question the appointment itself. Balance billing is also illegal here.

[redrhodie]

Have you had any luck with this, Indy? Been wondering how you're feeling.

[indysteel]

Thanks for asking, Red. I have an appointment with my endo in a few weeks. It was originally at the end of this month, but she had to reshedule. Depending on how the appointments goes, I may decide to get a second opinion. She did agree to cut my dose of anti-thyroid meds. While I feel okay (I'm still mildly sluggish) I tend to think it's time to ween off of them. I'm not sure I should have ever been on them in the first place. I have a better understanding of that now.

[redrhodie]

Is the sluggishness the main symptom? Was that the original reason you thought there was something wrong? Did anything improve with the meds?

Maybe you should keep a journal to see if you can find patterns or triggers.

[indysteel]

Is the sluggishness the main symptom? Was that the original reason you thought there was something wrong? Did anything improve with the meds?

Maybe you should keep a journal to see if you can find patterns or triggers.

Long story short: My annual bloodwork last summer showed a suppressed TSH--which is consistent with hyperthyroidism. I had some additional tests done and was ultimately referred to an endocrinologist. My sister has Graves' Disease (an autoimmune issue that causes hyperthyroidism), so I wasn't surprised when the endo told me that I, too, had GD, albeit in a mild form. At that point, I didn't know a ton about what the various blood tests reveal about the severity of a particular case or what type of values warrant what type of treatment, so I wasn't able to ask the right questions.

At the time, my hyper symptoms were relatively minor but noticeable all the same. I was mostly concerned about an elevated heart rate and what the meant in terms of exercise. Often they treat mild or subclinical cases of Graves' with beta blockers rather than anti-thyroid meds. I remember my doc saying that she didn't want to use those with me because I typcially have low/low normal blood pressure. Instead, she put me on a relatively low dose of anti-thyroid meds. That seemed like a decent decision at the time but, in retrospect, I'm not so sure.

From the start, the meds oversuppressed my thyroid, so I went from mildly hyper to mildly hypo. I started reading up on what to look for in blood values and, in so doing, realized that my doc wasn't necessarily interpretting my blood work correctly or focusing on the right numbers. So, she's allowed me to persist in a hypo state far longer than she arguably should have. I've had to push her a couple different types to lower my dose of the anti-thyroid meds. I've complained to her assistant (because I rarely talk to my doc directly) about some hypo symptoms (heart palps, hives, constipation, hair loss, weight gain, dry eyes, fatigue and sluggishness) and was told "not every problem you have is necessarily thyroid related." It's been hard to find my voice with this doc's office.

That said, I think we are likely headed in the right direction in that I have been able to cut my meds and will likely stop taking them altogether at some point down the line. I'm just irritated that I've been the one to push for that. I've even had to push to get the right blood tests in the first place. We're just not on the same page. Ultimately, whatever errors in judgment my doc made (or didn't make) have not lead to grievous injury. It would just be nice to feel like she truly understands the disease and how to monitor it. Some of the conversations I've had, via her assistant, suggest to me that she perhaps doesn't fully understand it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of endos out there, only dabble in GD. They spend more type dealing with diabetes or non-immune related hypothyroidism.