a rant about my doctor
This is my first time doing anything like this. Despite a list of symptoms suggesting hypothyroidism - can’t lose weight, short-term memory problems (what did I come in here for? where am I? is this my flat?), recurrent thrush, no energy, very high cholesterol, feeling the cold, picking up every bug going, etc, etc - my doctor says my thyroid is fine, and that I’m depressed. Actually, doctor, I’ve been depressed in the past so I know that I’m not now - I’m pretty chipper at the moment. I lack energy, not motivation. I’m not feeling hopeless or helpless, I want to crack on and deal with things, enjoy my life, keep my job, not seem like an old crock to my new boyfriend – BUT I NEED THE ENERGY! I NEED TO REMEMBER THINGS! He refuses to test anything more than TSH (which he says is normal - 2.16 old range 0.5-5.5) and says no further testing is necessary. But, doctor, I said, that tests the pituitary gland and its relationship to the thyroid. That’s surely like going to the garage with a problem with the brakes and the mechanic saying the clutch is fine so the brakes must be also. He did not appreciate my argument. Are you saying, doctor, that nothing ever goes wrong with the thyroid itself? He said he’d do further tests but not T4, T3 or antibodies. HE WOULDN’T TELL ME WHAT THE TESTS WOULD BE FOR! Probably so that I wouldn’t check up on him – in our very brief association he has already tried to put me on medication I shouldn’t have been on and it would have been grim for me if I had taken it. I checked, challenged, I was right, he was wrong - he’s never going to forgive me. So with no confidence in him at all, concern about his archaic thinking, frustration at his lack of thoroughness and communication between us non-existent, I’ve changed my doctor. I have been encouraged by thyroid sufferers whose similar experiences, discussed here and on other sites like it, made me realise I needed to cut my losses quickly and get another doctor and not to waste anymore time with this one. So many thanks!
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