Why aren't Doctors trained in Thyroid!!

[Dramlouie]

I have been going through a lot of stress and I have been developing symptoms I think could be due to low thyroid. Every doctor I see only wants to look at one thing at a time so I wrote down the list of symptoms and put them in front of my doctor. All typical low thyroid. I can only do one thing at a time, what is the symptom you want me to look at? I said to her that I am hypothyroid and perhaps its all related to that. 'So which is the one you want me to look at today?' I said that I am on NDT, 'What's that' she said! Oh my, why don't they put the symptoms together? A Naturopath or a Herbalist give you a checklist of symptoms and put the full picture together, a doctor just hands out a pill for one symptom. I had this for months before my heart attack, if they put the symptoms together they would have worked out my problem. Sorry for the rant, it doesn't give me confidence in doctors. I shall carry on my search for yet another doctor.

[Scazzoh]

Doctors don't need to be trained in Thyroid. A robot could do what they do. Read the TSH, prescribe some Levo if it's over 5, or 10, end of. Any other symptoms can be dealt with by prescribing blood pressure tabs, anti-depressants, water tabs, statins etc etc.

[jgelliss in reply to Scazzoh]

Scazzoh the old school theory ONLY teaches SERUM results . Which is TSH . And that's not even thyroid marker it's a pituitary marker . NEW Medical Schools need to start teaching CELLULAR Symptoms . They need to respect and understand when patients come with symptoms to know how to treat symptoms .Since there are no CELLULAR tests as of yet only patients symptoms . PLEASE TREAT PATIENTS SYMPTOMS NOT LAB RESULTS ONLY . PLEASE THINK OUT OF THE BOX !!!!!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

It's very frustrating Dramlouie! I can't understand why they won't listen and insist on dealing with one at a time only, they can never join the dots that way!

Unrelated to thyroid, I had the same thing a couple of years ago. I mentioned about three or four symptoms and said "I'm not sure if they are related". I had the same as you, "We can only discuss one, which is most important?"

Ridiculous!!

[Clutter in reply to SeasideSusie]

SeasideSusie,

Some doctors on Twitter were discussing the one problem at a time thing. They thought it was wrong and dangerous and that patients shouldn't be expected to know which to prioritise and that the GP and practice could find themselves in trouble if the patient became seriously ill or died.

[greygoose in reply to Clutter]

Some hope! Doctors are never called to account unless they're serial killers - and how many medical serial killers have slipped through the net? Probably more than we can ever imagine!

[bluebug]

Because the doctor is illogical?

Seriously I don't know what medical school teaches that there is only one symptoms or one sign for any particular disease. Even the online tools tell you to put in multiple symptoms and signs so they can work out what you are mostly likely to have.

[AngieAsh in reply to bluebug]

There are tools online that do that?

[bluebug in reply to AngieAsh]

Yep but not very good as they rely on humans having input a massive range of signs and symptoms e.g.

NHS Choices - nhs.uk/Conditions/Pages/hub...

Patient info - patient.info/symptom-checker

(The patient info one uses isabel which health professionals are suppose to use)

Web Md (stay on US site) - symptoms.webmd.com/

[AngieAsh in reply to bluebug]

Thanks bluebug, haven't seen that patient info one before

[TappedOut]

No need to apologize; it's truly disgusting. Not so much the lack of knowledge and practice, but the poor patient care and snarky ego of many. That's what bothers me. In the States, we have a different healthcare model, regarding payment and insurance, but the "practice" is the same - "uhhhh what's a thyroid? Duhhh, you don't need help. TSH is the golden standard...."

#IgnorantArrogance

Sites like this, are literally saving lives. It's scary and a trying experience, and like you, I can't understand why there is such a resistance, not to knowledge, but to human kindness.

[Dramlouie]

An update on my blood test results T4 (9.6 (12-22), T3 4.1 (3.1-6.8) TSH 0.03 (0.2-4.2) I am on 2 grains NDT. I have just had a phone appointment with my doctor who didn't know what NDT was! Said I was over replacing and I should go down to 1 grain a day. Said my TSH was supressed and that my T4 was only slightly under. They are guided more by TSH than T4 and she is guessing at reducing by 1 grain. Then said reduce my NDT completely and have another blood test in 6 weeks to see my true levels to see about going onto levothyroxine. Oh my, I am not filled with confidence at all considering I can feel some anxiety creeping in and my voice goes hoarse when I am low later in the day. Now I am confused.