Tag Archives: Doctors

Thyroidless and Pregnant

30 May

photo (7)I’m pregnant.

There, I said it. I don’t know why I am having such a hard time telling people. Maybe I am afraid it’s somehow not true. Or that something terrible is going to happen as soon as I go public. Or maybe it’s just an awkward conversation to have. Whatever it is, I am finally putting it out there. I am 13 weeks pregnant and I don’t have a thyroid.

Everywhere you look, doctors are warning about the dangers of hypothyroidism during pregnancy. I assumed losing my thyroid meant losing my ability to have more children. After I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I was devastated every time I saw a pregnant woman. I even blogged about it. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, because I didn’t think I even wanted another baby. Did I?

Shortly after my diagnosis, I went to my aunt and uncle’s church to pray for success with my upcoming thyroidectomy. The pastor’s message was all about Faith and Grace. He talked about infertility and the gift of his own daughter (aptly named Faith), who was finally born after years of trying. Again, I became overwhelmed with grief. When the service was over and it was time to pray about my surgery, all I could blubber about was the loss of a baby that I didn’t even know I wanted. We all prayed together…heal me from thyroid cancer and give me the chance to be a mother again. Two years later, I have that chance.

My pregnancy is a direct answer to my prayers. It’s one of the most obvious blessings God has ever bestowed on me…like He’s making up for the struggle that thyroid cancer has been for me. My husband and I are happy and grateful. Yet from the day I took my positive pregnancy test, I have had my boxing gloves on.  It’s time to fight again. Look out, doctors, because now I am fighting for two.

The day I found out I was pregnant, I called U of M. The nurse gave me her protocol answer: “Get off Cytomel, increase Synthroid by 20%”

They didn’t even want to check my levels. So I asked for bloodwork. They sent me a slip for TSH and Free T4. “No Free T3?” I asked. “How can you know if I need to get off Cytomel, which is my T3 replacement, if you aren’t even going to look at how much is in my system?” I started having nightmares about my T3 plummeting and leaving me and my baby at risk for complications and unnecessary fatigue. I pushed and pleaded, all which was met with loud sighs and exasperation.

They did finally check all three numbers – TSH, Free T4 and Free T3. All hadn’t budged from my last round of pre-pregnancy  bloodwork. So I asked, why would I just ditch my Cytomel and increase my Synthroid? The nurse – someone who has an R.N. degree and works exclusively for a specialist who manages thyroid cancer patients, said, “Your TSH is too low. You need more Synthroid.”

The exact opposite is true.

To make matters worse, my endocrinologist didn’t even want to talk to me directly or see me in her office. The whole experience gave me anxiety. I took my chances and asked my OB-GYN (whom I’ve known for 9 years, and trust) to manage my thyroid meds during my pregnancy. He agreed – I could stay on my small dose of Cytomel, we would check my levels every 2 weeks until we started to see a decline, and then we would adjust my Synthroid. He didn’t even care about my TSH – he said he would focus on how I felt, and my Free T4 and Free T3. He is a very rare find in the world of medicine, and I am grateful. At about week 8, I started to feel unusually exhausted, I gained 4 pounds in two days, and my hair had a weird texture. Sure enough, my TSH had risen from 0.03 to 1.1, my Free T4 had fallen from 1.3 to 1.0, and my Free T3 had fallen from 3.1 to only 2.3. These numbers are well within normal limits, but I know my own “normal.” And in the first trimester, the baby’s needs for thyroid hormone are critical. I called my OB’s office and asked for a medication change. Since he was on vacation, I had to deal with another doctor in his practice…someone I have also known for several years and is one of the most respected in my local community. His response?

“You’re normal. We aren’t going to increase your medication until you are below normal.”

So, the treatment strategy from one of the most respected OB-GYNs in my city is to wait until his pregnant patients have OVERTLY swung into hypothyroidism, and then risk the 4-6 week time period where the baby’s hormone needs are growing, but the extra medication has not yet become fully bioavailable in the mother’s body?

WOW.

Luckily, my OB returned a few short days later and happily increased my Synthroid from 125 mcg to 137 mcg. I am feeling normal again, and lost the random 4 pounds I had gained. At week 13, I have gained a net 3 pounds, I feel good, and even ran a 5K.

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Not breaking any speed records, but still running (and kicking) at 11 weeks!

So maybe I won’t have to fight too hard after all. But I will stay vigilant. There is a movement happening, and thyroid patients are advocating for change. I am happy to be a part of it! In the meantime, it’s up to us to fight for ourselves and for our babies.

I’ll keep you posted. I fully intend to be a success story.

My 13 week bump

My 13-week miracle bump

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Generic – It’s NOT the “same thing!”

10 Jan

Many months ago, I posted about my stance on generic medications. Today I read a fabulous article from Fortune magazine that supports my experience with branded medications versus their generic counterparts.

My favorite excerpt:

But generic drugs diverge from the originals far more than most of us believe. For starters, it’s not as if the maker of the original pharmaceutical hands over its manufacturing blueprint when its patent runs out or is challenged. The patent reveals the components, but it doesn’t explain how to make the drug. In reality, manufacturing a generic requires reverse engineering, and the result is an approximation rather than a duplicate of the original.

The FDA’s rules effectively acknowledge that. The agency’s definition of bioequivalence is surprisingly broad: A generic’s maximum concentration of active ingredient in the blood must not fall more than 20% below or 25% above that of the brand name. This means a potential range of 45%, by that measure, among generics labeled as being the same.

There are other differences. The generic must contain the same active ingredient as the original. But the additional ingredients, known as excipients, can be different and are often of lower quality. Those differences can affect what’s called bioavailability — the amount of drug that could potentially be absorbed into the bloodstream. As the American Heart Association recently noted, “Some additives traditionally thought to be inert, such as alcohol sugars, cyclodextrans, and polysorbate-80, may alter a drug’s dissolution, thereby impacting its bioavailability.”

Full article  here.

Fellow thyroid patients – are you feeling poorly on your generic hormone replacement drug? Sometimes the extra copay is a good investment to make.

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Letter to Dr. Jennifer Ashton

1 Dec

Recently, Brooke Burke-Charvet was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Shortly after the news was released, Dr. Jennifer Ashton spoke about it on ABC News. Naturally, she said, “patients will do incredibly well…it will not affect her life.” I was annoyed, but not surprised. I reached out to Dr. Ashton via Twitter, asking her to refrain from dismissing the difficulties of thyroidless life. Many of my fellow thyroid cancer survivors friends did the same. It is Dr. Ashton’s Facebook response to us that has me infuriated. Here are the condensed highlights:

Here is my official response to the plethora of inaccurate, vicicous, hurtful and reactionary comments made following my segment on Brooke Burke’s recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer:

I am a practicing physician, who actually takes care of patients. Therefore, on a daily basis, I am involved in patient care, rather than trolling social media. 

 Perhaps many of those who were irate at my saying thryoid cancer is ‘good’ should go back and rewatch my segment. AT NO TIME DID I UTTER THOSE WORDS. IN FACT, BROOKE BURKE HERSELF DID, IN QUOTING HER ONCOLOGIST.

I would consider it incredibly poor form to mention any ominous, negative, skeptical, frightening, or discouraging comments about her disease on national television. She bravely brought her diagnosis to the public and it was my hope to ENCOURAGE those fighting the disease.

As an Ivy-League educated, Board-certified physician in Women’s health, (as all physicians do) I have been formally educated and trained in treating the entire patient, not just a body part. That is why medical school is four years and residency is four years. We learn the ENTIRE body, not just one specialty. I have patients with ALL types of cancer, including thyroid cancer. 

This journey has made me strong. But not strong enough to sit back and let her call thyroid cancer survivors vicious social media trolls. My letter to Dr. Ashton follows.

Dear Dr. Ashton,

I was very sorry to hear that one of my fitness idols, Brooke Burke-Charvet, was diagnosed with the disease that ripped my body apart. When I saw her video blog, I pitied her…I remember thinking I had “good cancer” too. And who told me I had “good cancer?” My stupid, stupid doctor. And why did my doctor say that? Because the pervasive thinking in the medical community is: “Outcomes are everything. Thyroid cancer doesn’t kill as many people as some other cancers. Quality of life post-surgery is not really a problem.” Guess what? It’s a HUGE problem. But since most doctors are unsympathetic, our problems are brushed off as imaginary, self-inflicted or exaggerated.

When you went on national television and said, VERBATIM  “patients will do incredibly well…this will not affect her life,” I thought, what a waste of an opportunity to set the record straight about thyroid cancer. Instead, our doctors, employers, family and friends will continue to feel justified as they condescend us and blame our thyroidless symptoms on other things. So I reached out to you in hopes you would recant your statement and at least acknowledge that while thyroid cancer has an excellent prognosis in terms of life expectancy, that life can be quite altered. Instead, the entire thyroid cancer survivor community was called names and further dismissed in our fight for true awareness.

I get why you are defensive. You should be. You are very, very wrong. It is not your words that we are most offended by, it is your attitude and beliefs about cancer patient care. We do not wish to be lied to for purposes of encouragement. It would be very encouraging to me to have a doctor confirm that I am not crazy and that my symptoms are real, and are to be expected after a thyroidectomy. Instead, I was supposed to go back to “life as usual,” so I must have suddenly come down with a case of obesity, depression, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, hair-falling-out-in-clumps, shaky-hands syndrome. If I had not connected to the wonderful community of thyroid cancer survivors whom you categorize as “vicious,” I would believe I was all alone. I might be focused on correcting my plethora of new health problems with additional, unneeded medications instead of focusing on optimizing my thyroid medication and the new lifestyle it requires. All you had to do was say,” I apologize if I offended those who are battling this chronic disease.” Instead, you had to throw your Ivy-League education in our faces, as if that qualifies you to know more about our daily lives. (P.S. “Vicious” is not spelled with an extra “c.” You spelled “thyroid” wrong. And “re-watch” is hyphenated. But what do I know? I only went to a lowly little college in Middle America.)

I hope with all my heart that thyroid cancer will not affect Brooke Burke-Charvet’s daily life as much as it has mine. But in case it does, I hope she will connect to doctors and fellow survivors who can give her the real encouraging words she needs: “You are beautiful. You are tough. And while your thyroidless life will be different, it can still be great.”

Sincerely,

Sarah Young, Thyroid Cancer Survivor

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Surrender

19 Oct

It’s been two whole months since I’ve blogged. During those two months, I have been on a self-imposed hormonal roller coaster.

Remember how I said I couldn’t give up on losing weight and achieving “normal?” Since my thyroidectomy 14 months ago, I have tried the following thyroid replacement medication combinations:

  • 125 mcg Synthroid alone
  •  90 mg Armour Thyroid
  • 112 mcg Synthroid alone
  • 112 mcg Synthroid + 5 mcg Cytomel
  • 125 mcg Synthoird + 5 mcg Cytomel
  • 125 mcg Synthroid + GTA Forte supplements
  •  125 mcg Synthroid + 10 mcg Cytomel
  • 65 mcg Nature-Throid alone
  • 97.5 mg Nature-Throid alone
  • 65 mg Nature-Throid + 25 mcg Synthroid

Do you know when I felt my best? I felt the most “normal” on the very first dose of medication – 125 mcg Synthroid. I have spent the last 14 months in a complete state of panic, distrusting my doctors, self-medicating, and fending off impending weight gain. And as a side effect of all of my medication changes, I created the very thing I feared – weight gain. My latest conquest was switching to Nature-Throid. It took me MONTHS to find a doctor who would prescribe it. I worked so hard to stabilize my vitamin and iron levels first and I did everything by the book. And similar to my experience with Armour Thyroid, my body completely crashed, I started having extreme hypothyroid symptoms and I gained five pounds. Interestingly, my TSH stayed low at 0.43, but my FT4 was only 0.6. (Side note: this completely proves that you can be hypothyroid with a low TSH!) I tried upping my dose of Nature-Throid only to be greeted with extreme sweating and anxiety, and three more pounds. Then I tried combining a smaller dose of Synthroid with a smaller dose of Nature-Throid…all to no avail. Two weeks ago, in a fit of tears, I switched back to my old regimen: 125 mcg Synthroid + 5 mcg Cytomel. I am watching my calories very closely and burning at least 2000 calories a week through exercise, and so far, I have managed to lose five of the extra eight pounds I gained. I am beginning to feel better and most of my other symptoms are fading away. I also started taking Raspberry Keytones supplements, and I have no idea whether or not they are helping, or whether it’s the thyroid medication.

What I do know is that I have officially surrendered control. I am not a doctor and maybe I really don’t know what’s best when it comes to my thyroid replacement medication. As per usual, I took “being informed” into the extreme of being counter-productive. What if I had never messed with my medication at all? I may have been able to maintain my weight after surgery. The extra Cytomel would have resolved my lack of energy, and I could have been “normal” by now. Instead I endured 14 months of fighting, second-guessing, feeling good, feeling bad, losing sleep and gaining weight. So if this experience was supposed to teach me something, I suppose it did. My UofM Endocrinologist really is a good doctor. The first time I saw her, she told me the first year would be hard, that I might gain weight, but after a year, things would level out. At the time, I refused to accept that in my brain. My body, however, did exactly as she said it would. Before I switched to Nature-Throid, I was genuinely feeling good. Perhaps I was just about to turn a corner before I stepped in with my control issues and screwed it all up.

Can we pretend the last two months never happened? I promise I will behave this time.

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Cancer-Free…I Guess.

19 Jul

Today was a very, very long day at U of M. I was really hoping to announce “100% CANCER-FREE!” after my scan. Instead, what I can say is: nothing overtly bad showed up on my scan, and it’s up to me if I want to do any further treatment.

Let me explain…

When most people have papillary thyroid cancer, they follow the protocol below:

  • Total thyroidectomy
  • Medication withdrawl and low-iodine diet
  • Radioactive Iodine Ablation (RAI) for any remnant thyroid tissue (normal or cancerous..it all gets destroyed)
  • Follow-up whole-body scans to look for iodine uptake. Since all thyroid tissue should have been ablated with the RAI treatment, any uptake would be deemed “bad.” No uptake would get a gold “cancer-free” star.

Well, naturally, when I was diagnosed, I weighed all my options and I was not satisfied with the risks associated with the average protocol. I based my decision on the American Thyroid Association Guidelines for Thyroid Cancer Treatment. So my protocol looked like this:

  • Total thyroidectomy
  • Very long wait for Thyrogen injections so I didn’t have to endure medication withdrawl
  • Low-iodine diet and whole body scan
  • Follow up with ultrasound and bloodwork

Today, I had three total scans. The first two were 20 minutes each. I went in feet first, and I wasn’t restrained. I popped two Xanax, focused on my music and I was fine. Afterwards, I met with Dr. W, the nuclear medicine doctor. He said he was concerned about the level of iodine uptake he saw on the first scans, and he wanted me to do 3D image followed by a CT scan. He made it clear that he thought I should have done RAI in the first place.

Hysteria ensued.

I really couldn’t hold myself together. I became irate. I couldn’t stop crying. After waiting for another full hour, I got back on the scan table. This time, they had to restrain me and strap me in. I was told I was not allowed to move. Tears were streaming down my face and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I popped another Xanax. I sound like a drug addict, I know…but look at what they did to me! You would need prescription-grade relaxation too!

The nurse acted like I was crazy for needing my iPod. I am so glad I ignored her. I desperately needed it to cope!

After 40 minutes in this God-awful contraption, I got additional information. Dr. W said the iodine uptake was probably normal remnant thyroid tissue that my surgeon left behind. This happens frequently and is nothing to worry about. There was nothing abnormal in my lymph nodes, lungs or liver (where thyroid cancer frequently spreads). However, since he is a nuclear medicine doctor, he thinks I should just do RAI to ablate all the remnant thyroid tissue, whether it is normal or not. This would in no way improve my outcomes, and would not even guarantee that I wouldn’t have a recurrence. But it sure would make the nuclear medicine doctors’ diagnostic job a lot easier.

Dr. W acknowledged that there is good data on both sides of the RAI decision, and left it for me to discuss with my Endo, Dr. E, next week.

So what can I tell you? I have no bad news. And that, my friends, is good news.

Now, I’m off to eat dinner. I have a serious cheese deficit to make up for.

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10 Things I Hate About Thyroid Cancer

22 Jun

One year ago today, I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. I have been blessed in so many ways over the past year, but health-wise, it has sucked. Plain and simple. I have been down on my knees, crying out to God for help. And the message I seem to be getting is this: Trust your struggle. If you haven’t struggled, you can’t help people.

I’m writing a book. It’s called 10 Things I Hate About Thyroid Cancer. Sure, there are “Patient Guides” and “What to Expect” books out there. But I am telling my story in real-life, plain-speak.

Here’s the deal: You’re not crazy. Thyroid cancer sucks. But now it’s time to GET EDUCATED and OWN YOUR TREATMENT. Here is a sneak peek at the 10 worst things that get glossed over in all the other books.

10. It’s the best cancer!

When you get thyroid cancer, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, will tell you that it is the best kind of cancer to get. You will feel dismissed and guilty for even complaining about it. You won’t fit in with the thyroid disease crowd, and you definitely won’t fit in with the chemotherapy crowd. We’re on a tired, fat, lonely and depressed island. We are so lucky!

9. Endocrinologists

Patients with other types of cancer get the best of the best in doctors: oncologists. We ThyCa patients get endocrinologists. The “accountants of medicine.” One of the lowest paid and least empathetic medical specialties. They spend most of their day scolding diabetics to diet and exercise. Any guesses how they treat us?

8. The TSH Prison

After your thyroid is removed, your entire well-being will be reduced to one number = your TSH. You will no longer be allowed to have any thyroidless symptoms unless your TSH – a PITUITARY hormone marker – is elevated. If you do, the symptoms will be blamed on something else, and you will be completely on your own to find relief.  You will have to fight like hell to find a doctor who thinks beyond the TSH number, especially as a cancer patient. Put your boxing gloves on!

7. Low Taste Iodine… Diet

Every year, you have to do an AWFUL low-iodine diet for your scan, and if there happens to be a Thyrogen medication shortage, you will have to go off your hormone replacement medication (and become completely incapacitated) for 6 weeks too.  What’s a low-iodine diet? Just imagine 98% of the foods you eat. You can’t have any of those. There – that’s the diet.

6. RAI

RAI = Radioactive Iodine Treatments. I (luckily) haven’t had any of these yet, but I had to fight my way out of it. Based on everything I have learned from my ThyCa network of friends, it sucks pretty bad. I can’t imagine anything good coming from being so radioactive that you need a Geiger counter to find out if you are safe to be around other humans. Here’s the crappy thing: it’s shockingly unnecessary for many thyroid cancer patients whose tumors are less than 2 centimeters.  Too bad most of our idiot doctors can’t be bothered to know that.

5. Getting fat

You’re probably going to gain weight. When I was diagnosed, I found ONE blogger who said she could not keep weight ON after her thyroidectomy. I clung to that hope, that I would at least get to be THIN after all this anguish. But I became “just another fat thyroid cancer patient.” Prepare yourself. Your metabolism will forever be changed, one way or another. And more often than not, you won’t like it.

4. The “new normal” sucks.

Being thyroidless brings all sorts of unwelcome symptoms. You’re tired all the time. Sometimes you are freezing. Sometimes you get hot flashes and sweat through your clothes. Your menstruation gets screwed up. Your hair falls out. You forget things. You’re clumsier. You’re depressed. You’re anxious. But the worst thing is that you never know how you are going to feel on a day-to-day basis, so there is no “normal.”

3. Most people don’t die from thyroid cancer.

Yes, the fact that most people don’t die from thyroid cancer DOES suck in some respects! That means doctors don’t take you seriously. I’ve even heard doctors say that it’s not “real cancer!” There is no cute thyroid cancer branding like “Save the Ta-Tas.” NFL players are not going to wear little butterflies on their jerseys to increase awareness about your disease. Pharmaceutical companies don’t invest in research for new thyroid cancer treatments. Insurance companies don’t cover medications that improve your quality of life. Sometimes your friends and family are unsympathetic. Half the time, people have to Google “thyroid” because they don’t even know what it is.

2. You’ve never really “beat” thyroid cancer.

No matter what kind of thyroid cancer you have, you are always left with the chronic disease of hypothyroidism. You don’t go through treatment and then move on with the rest of your life. You are forever dependent on pills to keep you alive. Your body never recovers from the day you lose your thyroid. You keep fighting, monitoring your symptoms and changing your medication. You don’t check the “survivor” box. Surviving becomes your lifestyle.

1. If Synthroid doesn’t work for you, GOOD LUCK.

It was patented in the 1960s and it is the “gold standard” of thyroid replacement. Too bad it only replaces 20% of what your real thyroid would give you. Over the last year, I have been to four different doctors, given 18 vials of blood, and spent over $5000 in cash to find a way to get something better. Oh, the stories I can tell! But there ARE options. And it is up to us to find them, and fight for optimal treatment.

My book will do more than complain about how much I hate thyroid cancer. I will tell my story, offer up coping mechanisms, and make you laugh along the way.

What do you think, thyroid cancer survivors? What do you hate about thyroid cancer?

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Lucky Me!

14 Jun

Lucky Me!

How many times have you heard this since you were diagnosed?

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A Quote for the Thyroidless

13 Jun

I said this once in frustration. Now it’s become one of my favorite personal affirmations.

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Dear Thyroid Doctor

22 May

Dear Thyroid Doctor,

Did you know that 25% of women will develop a thyroid condition during their lifetime? Look out into your waiting room…you will see at least 3 of these patients every day. According to the American Thyroid Association, up to 60% of those with thyroid conditions are unaware of their condition. They are coming to YOU for help. So why don’t you care?

You dismiss us. Ignore us. Pass us off to your staff members who care even less about us. You accuse us of lying, exaggerating, not trying hard enough, being clinically depressed. You alone hold the key to our quality of life, but you refuse to hand it over. You spend hours and hours diagnosing and treating other chronic diseases with the latest and greatest options. But if one 1960s thyroid drug doesn’t work for us thyroid patients, we must be the crazy ones.

Well, I’ve got news for you. The jig is up. We are smarter than you think we are. Smarter than the people you pay $10/hour to act on your behalf and deliver our “normal” test results. You can’t talk circles around us anymore. We’re not going to take it. We are banding together to expose your lack of compassion and lack of knowledge about our disease. So, unless you want to see your patient list decreased by 25%, I urge you to take this advice.

Do a little bit of research. TSH is fine for an initial diagnosis, but why on EARTH would you use a pituitary hormone as the sole marker for successful thyroid hormone treatment? Would you diagnose and treat a diabetic on their postprandial blood sugar alone? At a minimum, please check the TSH, FT4, FT3, and ALL THREE sets of thyroid antibodies. What do you have to lose? If our insurance won’t cover the tests, ask us if we will pay out of pocket. Nine times out of ten, WE WILL. We will do ANYTHING to feel better.

Please acknowledge that we are more than our lab values. Normal ranges do not apply to everyone. Talk to us about our symptoms. You are comfortable dosing an antidepressant until a patient feels better with absolutely no accompanying bloodwork. I am begging you…release us from the TSH prison!

Do not accuse us of lying about how much we eat or how much we exercise. You tell us “everyone can lose weight,” and “you just need to work harder,” and to “join Weight Watchers.” I challenge you to join me in the gym sometime. I log everything I eat into an online food diary, and I eat 1200-1400 calories a day. How much do you eat? How do you explain that I was thin before my diagnosis? Magically I started eating cupcakes all day at the exact same time my thyroid was removed? YOU need to work harder at optimizing our thyroid treatment. I assure you, it is easier than putting us on antidepressants, cholesterol drugs and insulin.

Take the time to train your staff. Frankly, they are jerks. They roll their eyes at us, they won’t answer our questions, and they have no idea what they are talking about when they deliver your messages. More and more, we are paying cash for your services. You are running a business. Accept accountability for your employees and their behavior. Hold yourselves to a higher standard. Do things right the first time. In the end, it makes less work for all of us.

Finally, explore thyroid treatment options beyond Synthroid. Synthroid alone works for very few patients…it’s like replacing an entire car with just an engine. (Sure, the engine is important, but how are you supposed to steer?) When a sick patient doesn’t respond well to one of the many antibiotics available, what do you do? You try another one. When a depressed patient doesn’t do well on an SSRI, you try an SNRI. Why are thyroid patients any different? What do you have to lose by trying a T3-T4 combination of drugs, or dessicated thyroid? Make yourself familiar with the other available options – Cytomel, Armour Thyroid, Nature-Throid, Westhroid. Consider using a compounding pharmacy. If you are concerned about the risks, then talk to us about them. Let us make that choice. But honestly, have you looked at the side effect profile for the top 5 most prescribed drugs in your practice? If you are comfortable with the risks of Zoloft, then you should be THRILLED to prescribe any of the thyroid replacement drugs.

If you partner with us in our quest for optimal health, we will be fiercely loyal to you. We will recommend you to the world. We will make sacrifices in budget to make sure you get paid on time. We will wait as long as it takes to see you, and we will greet you with a smile. So what’s holding you back? The only thing you have to lose is 25% of your patients.

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Discharged

9 May

I think I have finally lost it. After 10 days of waiting (on top of 4 weeks) and 6 separate phone calls, I am still high and dry with no test results and no new thyroid drugs. It’s a long story, but here are some things I said (okay, screamed) to the medical assistant that I probably shouldn’t have:

I don’t know why I paid so much money for nothing. I was better off with my Endocrinologist.

I don’t care if you were at a funeral – you are not going to make me feel guilty about your lack of organization.

My hairdresser had a better maternity back-up plan, and all she was worried about is that my bangs were too long.

She ended the call by saying I was discharged as a patient, and not entitled to my results. I can fill out paperwork to have the results sent to my new doctor (whoever that might be). I called back an hour later and apologized, but it doesn’t really get me anywhere closer to a solution. Me and my big mouth. After two years of “it’s in your head” and “we don’t have your results” and “you are in normal ranges” and waiting and waiting…I just can’t take it anymore. I can’t just sit around and leave my fate in the hands of people who don’t listen and don’t care.

For the first time since my surgery, I really feel helpless. I’m depressed and sad and I don’t know what to do. I am a pretty educated patient…I know the system, the science, the speak. I am willing to pay whatever it costs, and in this case, paid it all up front. Yet I am in worse shape that most other patients that just shut up and do what their doctor tells them to do. Is that what I am supposed to learn from all this? That it’s ME and not THEM?

I wish I could forget my “before” life. Then maybe I wouldn’t grieve it like this.

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