Testing and Doctors
How To Choose A Doctor
and
Get The Thyroid Treatment You Need
Sometimes it’s hard to get someone to listen to you, whether it be friends or doctors. “Just watch what you eat,” “Everybody’s tired,” “You’re just depressed.” I could reflect upon the many ludicrous things doctors have said to wave away my concerns, but to ruminate upon them only raises my blood pressure. I know you’re pOmped to feel like a “normal human being”, and right freaking NOW, but let’s get all our ducks in a row, shall we? You will need to be prepared for these next steps in order to save yourself a lot of frustration as well as save yourself from wasting time and money.
If you have an open-minded doctor whom you trust, by all means, go to them. If you don’t, call a potential doctor’s office before setting an appointment and ask if he or she will prescribe natural desiccated thyroid, such as Armour, Nature-Throid, or Westhroid. Finding a doctor’s name on a website that says they will prescribe it is a good starting point, but not necessarily accurate – you should confirm beforehand. I had to “fire” three doctors and grill many more before I found one that would prescribe Armour.
Ask questions, take notes, bring documentation. It’s best to go to your doctor with your concerns in an unemotional, businesslike manner. If you cry out of desperation, you will walk out of there with a prescription for Prozac before you can reach for the tissues.
Make sure you get free T3 and free T4 tests, as well as thyroid antibodies. Do not accept TSH as your only guide. You don’t want to end up misdiagnosed.
If you are with Kaiser, I feel for you. I lost two years of my life to Kaiser, during which time I gained twenty pounds, fell asleep at my desk daily, and was terribly depressed, despite being at the doctor every couple of weeks. They would not prescribe natural desiccated thyroid, but they more than happy to enroll me in a “nutrition” class, along with people consuming a daily diet of burgers and sodas. If you should find yourself in this type of situation, you may have to switch providers, or, barring that, contact a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) in order to get the proper medication.
If you want to circumvent the frustration of convincing doctors to do the tests you need, you can get them done through MyMedLab.com without a prescription. Longtime patient advocate Mary Shomon devised these helpful lists of thyroid tests at a discount to fit a range of budgets.
