Good for you! My doctors have all been really nice and ready to listen, but they didn't really help me diagnose my under medicated (assuming that is what I have) thyroid issue. I'm having to do that myself.

BTW: If you want to diagnose yourself with something other than symptoms, altsupportthyroid.org is a good place to start.

What I'm doing is:

Getting my own Free T3 and Free T4 test done (finally got the paperwork so I can get it done today! Yippee!)

Going into seeing my doctor and giving him some things I printed out and highlighted then asking to be switched to a new medication. I've got a list of symptoms (from the site I posted above) and I marked the ones I have.

To make him feel like he's useful for things other than writing prescriptions, I'll ask for his advice on switching from plain synthetic T4 to T3, he probably won't have any idea, but it'll make him feel good.

BTW: I found a site last night I was reading through that called us thryoid people "thyroid enthusiasts" and suggested that the TSH test was reliable and so on. I read through it to get an idea of where these doctors are coming from.

I think doctors have gotten terribly lazy. They rely on labs for everything now, they've forgotten how to actually talk to patients and work up a diagnosis based on symptoms. They're all to willing to label patients depressed or some psychiatric label rather than pursue a physical diagnosis.

Lets face it, they're interested in getting us in and out of there in 15 minutes or less because they're getting paid so little to see us.