After the telephone call from my GP about my blood test, I went for my appointment with him yesterday afternoon, just to tell him what I am taking and to inform him that as instructed by him, I HAVE made up my mind. ("You've got to make up your mind - me or him. You can't be treated by two different people. And if you carry on like this you will drop down dead.") And the decision has not gone in his favour. I told him I prefer to saty with the one who made me better, not the one who ignored my symptoms.
He had actually worked out who I am seeing, he said 'What's his name, P***ford or something?" (not quite but nearly).
I will not bore you with all the details - though it would make entertaining reading - but the gist of it is, When I had my TT for Graves' Disease, I was completely cured of the Graves' - which is just an old-fashioned name for an overactive thyroid. He has never heard of Graves' antibodies, I am talking rubbish. All I need is Levothyroxine and so long as the numbers are right, It does not matter how I feel. If I'm ill it is something else, not my non-existent thyroid. I said to him, "If a person with NO thyroid still has hypothyroid symptoms, the obvious cause is the lack of thyroid. Look at the elephant sitting in the middle of the table and stop searching for a mouse under the fridge".
T3? "Of course T3 is legal. If someone needed T3 I would prescribe it for them". So does he actually give anyone T3? No. None of my patients need it. Oh, yes, of course! If someone has had a TT and cannot convert the T4 to T3, like me, yet still doesn't need T3, it would be difficult to see who might qualify! Especially since their symptoms do not matter, so long as the numbers are right. The TSH numbers, that is.
I also asked if he had received a letter from the eye specialist to whom I was referred by the optician, because my right eye has deteriorated at about 5 times the rate of the left, and she thinks it could be my Graves' antibodies flaring up. (The specialist did confirm I seem to have had a flare-up but it may be settling. He tested me for Graves' antibodies to see if it is still active)
"Oh, yes, I did get something but I didn't look at it." And that was BEFORE I upset him.
I asked him why did he think the specialist had tested for antibodies if they didn't exist? His reply? "I don't know. Does he know you are taking T3? What did he say about that?"
I said, "Yes, he knows I am taking T3. And when I explained to him why, he asked me if I have had some medical training, because I understood the condition so well" (That didn't go down very well - but it's the truth.)
At one point I said "So, in the 21st Century, medicine no longer consists of making patients well, but keeping Lab Technicians happy. Life was better for thyroid patients in the early 20th Century. But at least I know where I stand. I used to be lying in bed in pain 20 out of 24 hours, barely functioning, bloated, overweight, depressed, asthmatic, cholesterol through the roof, alternating constipation and diarrhoea, taking half a dozen different medications, and two different inhalers, an invalid. Now I am an active person who functions reasonably normally and takes none of them. I know which I prefer. "
I actually feel very relived that I have got it all off my chest. I feel so much better. I had not realised how much the prospect of telling him was weighing on my mind. I can now get on with the healing process and forget that ignorant bigoted individual.
Have a great holiday, everybody. I don't do Christmas but I don't begrudge others!
Marie XXXX
Enjoy the holiday season and don't let the crazy loons on the roads get to you.
My Research into thyroid tissue growing back after TT🤔
Thyroid antibodies >4000 - normal in ALL hypothyroid patients - or so the neurologist says - ????
GP appointment went well!
Dr added more T3 and labs show no change, what happened?
My 12 year old son has u active thyroid.
