Iodine uptake test. Endocrinologists are ignorant.

[murielm99]

Next Tuesday and Wednesday, I have to take the iodine uptake test. After they see the results of the test, they will devise a dose of radioactive iodine for me to take. It will kill my thyroid.

I have had to stop my thyroid medication in preparation for this test. It kind of scares me. I could go hyperthyroid big-time. I do know that thyroid storm is uncommon, but the idea still frightens me.

I will be hypothyroid after my thyroid is killed. I don't look forward to those side effects, such as more weight gain and depression. I already gained thirty pounds when they first started treating me, and I have been unable to lose any of it. But Graves disease can damage organs. I have not been able to shake my atrial fibrillation. I need to proceed with the thyroid killing. My cardiologist said to come see him about three months into my radioactive iodine treatment. I may need a pacemaker.

I will have to take synthroid for the rest of my life. The ophthalmologist does not think I will develop thyroid eye disease. Some people do, as a result of the treatment. He was very reassuring.

I know there are many people here who live with worse. Some of you have constant pain. I just wish that my endocrinologist was not such a lousy person. I think I would be able to put things into better perspective if I had a better doctor. She does not listen at all. I told her for the first year or so that I wanted to try to achieve remission with medication. All she did was yell at me for my high thyroid hormone levels. She scoffed at me for being worried about my weight gain. She was so poor at answering any questions related to my condition that I got most of my information online, and confirmed it with her later. When I asked her to change me to a medication I could take twice a day instead of four times, she made excuses, until I demanded it.

When I told her that I wanted to go ahead with the RAI treatment ... in DECEMBER ... she told me that she did not have that in her notes, and that I had not told her so. I asked her why I told the cardiologist and not her. I do not have that bad a memory! I just wanted to wait until after Christmas!

Now, all of a sudden, my hormone levels are irrelevant to her. She is rushing to begin this treatment, even though she will be on vacation for a couple of weeks.

I have been polite so far, even though I dislike her. I am going to ask her why the hormone levels are suddenly so unimportant. I am going to tell her that she is a poor listener and an unsympathetic doctor. Maybe she is better at treating other autoimmune diseases and has not seen many thyroid patients?

She does have a partner. Maybe after I tell her all this, she will have me see him, and not her any more. And believe me, she is the only game in town. I drive 60 miles to see her. I would have to drive 90 miles to see another doctor, who would possibly be just as crappy.

I had a cardiologist early on who was a shit, too. My general practitioner found a better one for me. But cardiologists are easier to locate.

I despise doctors. End of rant.

[mopinko]

1. one of the perks of life in the big city- lots of docs to choose

from! not something that i thought about when i moved here. i just loved the city, and felt it had everything. but, i was used to knowing all the docs in town, since my mom worked in the local hospital for a long time. i missed that a lot at first. but i lucked into the whole northwestern hospital network. i have seen exactly one bad doctor in the past 10 years with them. and believe me, between me and my family, we have seen dozens.
if you want to trek here to get a second opinion before you do this, i would be happy to help you out in whatever you may need. pm me.
http://www.enh.org/apps/findadoctor/

[murielm99]

2. Thanks.

I think I will stick with this, now that I have committed to the treatment.

If things get any worse with her in the future, I will talk to you.

My general practitioner is great. He and I have talked about why there are so few good specialists here. They get paid more in the big city, and many of them are quick to let everyone know that they could do better elsewhere. We had better shut up and worship them.

My g.p. is here because he wants to raise his family here. He says they are richer for it.

[Warpy]

3. You can fire any doc you dislike

but don't expect much of an improvement. Docs are facing the same speedup nurses were hit with 20 years ago, having to double their caseload to keep their income steady. They seem rushed because they are rushed. The paperwork is outrageous, and if everything isn't done exactly right, insurance companies will disallow everything. Shoot, they do that half the time, anyway, and the doc will have to spend precious time on the phone trying to convince some bean counter that patient care is their product, not increased profits and fat CEO salaries.

Good luck. There are worse things in the world than having to take Synthroid every day. Grave's disease is much worse. So is being hypothyroid.