Posted by Victoria on December 13, 1998, at 22:52:26
In reply to endocrinology, posted by Erik on December 9, 1998, at 19:35:36
I wish I had some good ideas, because I suspect I have something similar--a puzzling combination of physical and psychological symptoms, including depression, something like hypoglycemia, and extreme sensitivity to medication side-effects. I've been given thyroid medication by an endocrinologist, several different anti-depressants by a psychiatrist, and estrogen by a gynecologist (well, it obviously can't be the exact same problem as yours!). All helped partially and/or temporarily, but nothing has resolved the problem or made it manageable. I too have had doctors tell me it's "stress" before I even finished describing the symptoms, but I am making one more effort to get a proper diagnosis. I have an appointment with an endocrinologist next week. So good luck to both of us!
Two thoughts that may be of some help:
I've recently heard of insulin resistance as a cause of somewhat similar problems (for example, in women it seems to be implicated in something called ploy-cystic ovarian syndrome, which has both physical and "psychological" dimensions.) I don't know much about insulin resistance, but since your diet impacts your symptoms, it might be worth checking it out.
My current defense against the "it's stress/it's psychiatric" brush-off is, ironically, my psychiatrist. He's the only doctor I've seen who does seem to believe that my biochemistry is involved in my continuing symptoms. So, I'm planning to ask the endocrinologist to consult with my psychiatrist if he feels it is a psychiatric problem. My hope is that he won't be so quick to make a psychiatric diagnosis if he has to justify it to a professional peer. Anyway, I feel less burdened by the catch-22 of trying to insist on a medical evaluation without appearing defensive or a hypochondriac.
If I find out anything helpful, I'll post it. Hang in there!
poster:Victoria
thread:1519
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990401/msgs/1566.html