How Doctors Are Failing Thyroid Disease Patients (article)

[buddy99]

840 people were surveyed and the outcome will most likely not surprise anybody here.

verywellhealth.com/survey-f...

[waveylines]

Your right! Good to be acknowledged, thank you. Appalling inditement on the medical profession.........but will they listen and act? Unlikely.....lol.

[buddy99 in reply to waveylines]

No, there has been plenty of research that points to extremely poor bedside manners in doctors. And even a good number of doctors have written books on how the system transforms even the most idealistic people into medical jerks. At my daughter's convocation (it was doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians) the speeches for the doctors, with one exception, all told these new doctors that they were God's gift to the world (my words). No wonder it goes to their heads when they are told that they are a cut above everybody else. I'm confident, though, that their fall from the pedestal will come no matter how much they fight it.

[sobs1962]

Like you say, not the slightest bit surprising, when you consider the fact that doctors are trained not to listen to female patients, because we are all lying, paranoid hypochondriacs, so perhaps you might get a female doctor to listen, but unfortunately male doctors appear to be total misogynists by the end of their training, even if they weren't that way when they started. The whole situation is absolutely ludicrous and something needs to change and fast, or the female part of the population which is the majority, will always have bad health.

[buddy99 in reply to sobs1962]

You're right about medicine in general being more geared towards men and research being mostly done for men's health and then projected onto women with questionable outcomes. I had some really good male doctors, though (like the one who finally diagnosed me. He had learned all about Hashi because his wife had it and he was SO knowledgeable) and I had horrible female doctors (like the one who told me I did not have Hashi because she did not know that Tg antibodies were a thing and yelled at me when I pointed out that I had these antibodies and not TPO). I think generally doctors still try to hold on to their status as "gods in white" for dear life when that era is now coming to an end because patients have much better access to medical information and can call them out. I now have a male doctor who tries to pound me into submission every single time I see him (he always finds a way to do that even if it has absolutely nothing to do with why I came to see him) . The result is that I only go when I absolutely have to (and even then I try to put it off as long as I can) and when Covid is over I will not go without taking a male with me. In a couple of weeks I will see a nurse practitioner for the first time (thanks to a member who pointed me in that direction). We'll see how that goes. I'm paying her for my visit so I assume she has to be nice just for that reason I have high hopes, though, that I will end up in a much better situation than I'm in now. Fingers crossed. Also a big shout out to all the helpers here who help others to survive a sometimes brutal medical system.

[waveylines in reply to buddy99]

I wish you luck with the nurse. Have to say friend of mine has done the same, principally because her sugery relies on most of their nurses to make referrals to consultants for them! And this nurse my friend had an awful battle with. My friend had seen a kidney specialist and he wanted her to see an endocrinologist because he believes she has diabetes insipidus. She drinks masses of liquid everyday even through the night. The nurses response was to treat it like an addiction and she told her to slowly wean herself of the excess liquid. My friend ended up with a protracted arguement referring the nurse back to the consultants letter. In the end the nurse agreed to refer her! So the arrogance of "I"know best is everywhere, as is the ignorance.Having said that there are gems out there......finally saw a neurologist who decided proper exploration is required not just a cursory brief look over & actually agreed eith my diagnosis and even wrote it in his follow up letter......Taken 14yrs!! Sadly thr delay in getting diagnosis means preventable damage has been done that wont repair.

[sobs1962 in reply to waveylines]

How horrendous for you, what diagnosis took that long?

[buddy99 in reply to waveylines]

Waveylines, I'm so very sorry to hear that you had to suffer permanent irreversible damage because previous physicians did not care enough to get to the bottom of things. It is absolutely appalling and, unfortunately, the reality for too many.

I had mentioned before the book "Lucky Dog" written by a veterinary ONCOLOGIST who had visible thyroid cancer and battled the system to get treated. She was told that because she was an oncologist she saw cancer everywhere. If she would have been a librarian she would have been told that she reads too much. If she would have been a baker, that as a layperson she does not know what she's talking about. They must have a course in med school on how to best disparage patients. There is no winning in this system filled with arrogant and ignorant health"care" "professionals". But since the nurse practitioner was recommended here I very, very much hope that all will go well.

Why do we have to fight for every inch of our well being?

[waveylines in reply to buddy99]

Thanks Buddy. I started on gluten free a whole year before saw current neurologist. Glad I did - dread to think what damage would have been caused. Am so sorry you are having to fight so hard for proper treatment. Why indeed are competent physicians not there.....lol Hope you get sorted soon. Dont give up!

[serenfach]

So it looks as if, even if you pay for your care as in the USA, and all those other countries with different health systems, every single one lets down those with a thyroid condition.

You have to wonder that if it was a mostly male condition, if this would be the case.

[sobs1962 in reply to serenfach]

Couldn't agree more, doctors are trained to believe that all women are lying, neurotic hypochondriacs, so tragically all women will continue to remain unwell, with that arrogant misogynistic attitude.