Posted by BarbaraCat on November 3, 2003, at 17:21:01
In reply to Re: hypothyroid » BarbaraCat, posted by katia on November 3, 2003, at 15:01:22
> Hi Barb,
> god you're organized! you have a little notebook for notes! how intelligent! I have lost bits of scraps of pieces of whatever that important info written on them in a haste. I think I'll get an "info notebook"!**A notebook is a great thing, when I can find it. Mine has a red cover for just that reason.
>> Does the changing of weather affect hypthyroid , i.e. make it worse at times?
**I definitely feel worse when the weather is cold and damp when my thyroid isn't corrected. The body has to work harder to keep warm and it just doesn't have the extra ooomph.
>>I'm under the state's healthcare which absolutely sucks.
**Yeah, my husband was on it recently and it was unbelievable how hard it was to find a doctor that accepted it. What he ended up doing was to call a few hospitals and ask the recommendations dept who was a new doctor in the area. They usually accept it to build their practice.
>>So I doubt (with my TSH levels "normal") he will be ready to refer me to an expensive endocrinologist even if he wants to.
**An endo won't help either. In my experience they're even more conservative than other docs and to prescribe something like Armour would be blasphemy. But I've heard of real good endos as well.
You should go to the http://thyroid.about.com website. There's a list of top doctors by state posted. That's how I found my naturopath. There's alot of info that can answer your questions.
BTW, if you can spring for a visit with an alternative health practitioner you'll find alot more comprehensive care. I don't believe CA has naturopaths but maybe there's someone else that can prescribe. I know you're on a tight budget but my experience is that my naturopath costs much less than seeing a doc in the long run, both financially and psychologically.
The other thing is simply to state that you want to try this and see how it goes. Be a broken record about it - 'yes, I understand, and I still want to try this and see how it goes'. They eventually get it that you're not going to roll over. One thing we forget - they're getting paid for providing service to us, not the other way around. But who knows, maybe your doc is familiar with the recent research that states that a combo T3/T4 therapy is more effective (especially with mood disorders) than T4 alone and that subclinical hypothyroidism doesn't always show up on tests and should be treated based on symptoms alone. And you might do just fine on T4 alone if he insists on it, but as you'll find in the thyroid.about.com website, T3/T4 wins hands down.
You know, maybe you're not hypothyroid but this low temp/cold thing is a sure giveaway that something is way off.
>>My pdoc just doesn't respond to this. as tho' he didn't HEAR me when I say "I think I'm hypothyroid". I don't know what he could do. He almost acts like he simply not his ballgame and I need to take it elsewhere.
**That sucks. Thyroid should be the first thing that's looked at in ANY mood disorder and the second thing is ALL hormones. He should be up on something as basic as the thyroid. Why he doesn't at least acknowledge your concerns is neglectful of courtesy at the very least. You need to call him on this and let him know your frustration.
This goes back to why I hate mainstream medicine. They're incompetant, plain and simple, with anything that isn't mechanical. I have been medically screwed, misdiagnosed and harmed far too many times in the current managed healthcare travestry and I see it happen all the time. You can't expect too much out of the majority of them cause they just don't seem to get it, but that's not helping us one bit.
Suspecting and treating a thyroid disorder is not rocket science and not a life threatening procedure. Sure, you have to proceed with caution as with any hormone therapy but if it doesn't work out it's no big deal to come off it.
> I need to call him and address it further and more directly because he certainly isn't on the ball about it, nor is he good with proactively addressing things that don't fall under "psychiatry". it's so frustrating.
**Like I said...
> BTW, I don't know what my TSH levels are. I'll ask my pdoc.
**I'm gonna stress this again for when you get your results. The TSH range is between approx point .3 and 5 with higher numbers meaning greater hypothyroid. Alot of doctors will accept from 3-5 but that's not low enough. You don't want to go lower than .5 because you're headed for too much thyroid and that feels jagged and anxious. The best range is between 1 and 2. My TSH was swinging between .9 and 16 recently and the endo my HMO doc consulted with said not to worry, I souldn't be symptomatic. Bullcrap. As anyone with half a brain would imagine, there's no way to not feel 'symptomatic' with those wildly swinging values. Grrrrr! Of course, my naturopath just rolled her eyes, shook her head and prescribed Westhroid for me.
-Barbara
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:238206
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031030/msgs/276208.html