Disappointing doctors app.

[Chickenlife]

Hi all. After my first post almost a month ago I have been reading and lurking and stressing waiting for my appointment today. I left angry and fed up but to be honest it’s really what I expected. To start with my appointment was 40 mins late! Doctor says all results are within range so everything is fine! I gave her my thriva a results which show my raised antibodies. Not much response to that. All her questions were directed to my mental state rather than my physical symptoms. I told her that I know what depression feels like and this isn’t it but I am convinced that is what she believe the issue is. I gave her a list of all my symptoms which she read through then proceeded to tell me they are symptoms of low mood! The tests she did seemed pointless - no t4, no vitamins (I had low Vit D when I went 2 years ago with the same symptoms). I should have realised when I turned up for my blood test and the nurse had to go and ask which bloods to do as the doctor hadn’t even put it on my notes! She did say she would write to an endo for an opinion on the antibodies but if she doesn’t write to the right one who understands or give him all the relevant information the I think I am going nowhere. Back in two weeks to see her for the outcome but I may just cancel as I just don’t think I will get anywhere. So question is what do I do now?

Gluten free, supplements (Vit D, selenium and ?) Retest in 6 months? Hope I start to feel better?

Any advice would be great. I have posted my docs results in the pic - taken at 9.15am, fasted. I will add my thriva results below - taken at 7.30am fasted.

Thank you

[Chickenlife]

TSH: 2.71 (0.27-4.3)

FT4: 15.4 (12-23)

FT3: 5.21 (3.1-6.8)

T4: 83.5 (66-181)

TPO: 42 (0-34)

TGAB: 225 (0-115)

B12: 41.3 (25.1-165)

Ferritin: 85.2 (13-150)

Folate: 10.2 (8.83-60.8)

Vit D: 77.4 (50-200

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Chickenlife

There really isn't any more information that can be given that wasn't mentioned in reply to our last post

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

You have Hashi's and it needs addressing with a gluten free diet and selenium.

Did you send for the Dr Toft article I mentioned and show Question 2 to your GP, about when antibodies are present then start Levo to "nip things in the bud".

Unfortunately, your TSH isn't high enough for you to be classed as Subclinical Hypothyroid so you may just have to wait until your TSH goes over 4.

All information about addressing your nutrient levels was given in previous post.

Did you ask about testing for B12 deficiency due to your Active B12 being 41.3? Did you check for signs of B12 deficiency in the list I linked to?

[Chickenlife in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks. I didn’t take the article with me - my printer ran out of ink! I did try to explain to her but all she could say my results were within range and wasn’t really interested.

With regards to B12 I would say I have a couple of symptoms but I didn’t get to discuss that with her.

To be honest reading all the posts on here It seems that many people feel just as bad on medication as not and that there is an endless struggle to even get a doctor to even listen to the patient and not just look at the numbers that are ‘in range’ so ‘normal’. It’s all just a bit daunting and stressful for me at the moment.

[humanbean]

If your doctor can blame your health problems on your mental health then she can save money by not fixing your real problems and make money by putting you on anti-depressants. They get points for each new diagnosis of depression and also get points for keeping registers of people with certain mental health problems. Those points make them money.

Look up Depression and Mental Health in this document to see what they get points for :

nhsemployers.org/-/media/Em...

Another issue is that a new "disease" has been created (it happened years ago but the momentum to use it is getting higher and higher as funding for health is stretched further and further). This "disease" is called MUS or Medically Unexplained Symptoms. There are various other versions of the name such as MUPS = Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms and BDS = Bodily Distress Syndrome. There are others.

Any patient "diagnosed" with one of these is declared to be mentally ill and will not get any more money spent on them to find out the cause of their problems.

For more info read this post from a couple of years ago :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Chickenlife in reply to humanbean]

Well this doctor won’t be making any money out of me. She offered antidepressants at both my appointments but I said now. She also gave me a leaflet to self refer for counselling services. I have had depression and been on antidepressants in the past. This is not depression. Whether it’s is a thyroid problem or not it is definitely not depression. I haven’t been to the doctors often over the years but looking back I have never really had a definitive answer to the issues I have gone with and that’s just a sad state really.

[shaws in reply to Chickenlife]

We know our own body but the fact that the 'modern' doctors no know clinical symptoms at all - just that they don't need to take any action to relieve them until the TSH is 10 and over. If they ever take a TSH that is, mine didn't and I finally got my own and it was 100 by then. Didn't feel well at all and doctor had the cheek to phone and ask who gave me a blood test form and I said "I did". She said come and get a prescription - the very thing I could not do was get out of bed - luckily I had a husband - what about others who live on their own.

[trelemorele in reply to humanbean]

Are you able to convert "points" in the table into monetary values?

Do you have link to the source (webpage) this document come from, thanks

[humanbean in reply to trelemorele]

Converting points into real money earned is apparently very complex and I wouldn't know where to start. But this link might be of interest :

nhsemployers.org/QOF201819

Quote from the above link :

The value of a QOF point will increase by £8.06 or 4.7 per cent from £171.20 in 2017/18 to £179.26 in 2018/19.

It comes from the same website as my original link above - a website for NHS Employers :

nhsemployers.org/

[trelemorele in reply to humanbean]

Fantastic! Thanks.

[Foxtrot89 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks for sharing this. I’m actually quite angry about that!

I had no idea it was quite so direct that they prescribe you antidepressants and get points / paid for it. No wonder they’ve been trying so hard to push a prescription onto me when I’ve complained of other things.

[helbell in reply to humanbean]

Good grief! How convenient. Thank you for the information.

[Heloise]

Hi Chickenlife, I know it's frustrating when doctors don't seem to get it and you have to be half dead before they figure it out. True, your thyroid tests are horrible since many of us had a TSH of over 50 when finally tested. Even your antibodies are not terrible but your deficiencies are not good and I looked up your higher haematocrit level: High hemoglobin count occurs less commonly because: Your red blood cell production increases to compensate for chronically low blood oxygen levels due to poor heart or lung function.

Keep supplementing and also take zinc with your selenium as they are synergistic.

I would add lots of vegetables and fruit to your diet and take digestive enzymes or Betaine HCL with meals to see if you can extract more nutrients from your food. Inflammation of the gut is one reason you become deficient and especially minerals need enough stomach acid to be absorbed.

Stress is also involved if your adrenals are trying to cope. There is a lot to be learned and that's one reason doctors cannot help you, however functional doctors have much to offer.

youtube.com/watch?v=SDphVgA...(Not working as expected?)

[Chickenlife in reply to Heloise]

Thank you for you reply. The doctor didn’t even mention the high result! I eat loads of veg but will have a look at the supplement you suggested. Just trying to figure out where to start. Don’t want to start taking loads of things at once, just to see how things go.

[Heloise in reply to Chickenlife]

I meant to say your results weren't horrible not WERE horrible. The supplements are going to support your digestion so your body has nutrients to work with. B vitamins are absolutely essential but you need certain digestive bacteria to make them. This is what people do not realize. You have to start with nutrition. Things like how well you sleep and a big of exercise to keep building neurons will also be supported by nutrition. There is such a thing as bad nutrition but you can look up foods that support thyroid. Two things to stay away from is gluten because it resembles thyroid tissue although you don't have many antibodies in your tests and vegetable oils which are quite inflammatory. I don't blame you for not wanting to load up on supplements. Unless you get really good ones they can also have a small downside. Try to avoid stearic acid or stearate if they are included in the formula.