# Why does it have to be this difficult???



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

This post is from another thread...



I DClaire said:


> Guys,
> 
> Why do we hear the same story from probably 99% of the members who join this website? We're from all over the U.S. and abroad, but who among us has had any luck to speak of finding a doctor to diagnose and treat thyroid problems?
> 
> ...


...but I've been thinking the same thing lately. Why do so many people have to fight so hard to get a simple, inexpensive medicine that could make such a huge difference? Seriously. It reminds me (in an odd way) of this article I read last year (really had to search for it on the good ole 'net):

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-11/...ractive-bladder-bladder-control?_s=PM:OPINION

Basically, the author is talking about how drug companies invent a catchy name for some "disorder" and then convince people they have it so they can sell their drugs. They even come up with checklists for the doctors, to help the doctors conclude that their patients have the disorder and therefore need the drug. One example in the article is Detrol for "Overactive Bladder" for patients who used to just think they had to pee often (been there, tried it, made my mouth so dry I couldn't stand it). A more recent example (not in the article) is a new drug (can't remember the name) for "shift work disorder." Huh?

Well, I don't think there would need to be a lot of convincing among the general population - so many patients WANT to give thyroid replacement hormone a try. Maybe the problem is that there's no money in it anymore because the drug is cheap now. I don't know.

Did many doctors just miss the day they were supposed to study the thyroid? Do we patients need to launch our own campaign to inform and educate the doctors? Maybe we need our own marketing machine similar to Komen Race for the Cure. How about a "Thyroid Disorder Awareness" Day, or Race, or Whatever?

Thoughts?

:confused0024:​


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## castledreams (Jun 13, 2011)

As you said in your post they have a list of symptoms for the different diseases. I think that is why it is so hard for the doctors to listen to us. I spent 3 years trying to get someone to listen to me and by the time they figured it out I had gained 100lbs. Mine was found by accident by a gastrointerologist of all things. I like a lot of people had multiple symptoms that pointed to a whole host of different diseases. As an RN I see all sorts of things every day and I try to educate everyone that I see about the thyroid. Especially if I see the telltale signs. I agree with you that there needs to be more awareness out there about the thyroid then maybe the doctors would get on board and start listening to their patients. Sometimes must a simple blood test can change a person's whole quality of life.


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## Enigma (Jun 13, 2011)

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that many of thyroid prob symptoms have become diagnoses in and of themselves. Anxiety is no longer a symptom - it IS the problem. Depression is no longer a sign of bigger problems - it IS the problem. And I think this change has made doctors much more lazy as a result. It's so much easier to write a quick script for a Anti-D than actually have to do tests and interact with the patient.


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

I read about thyroid issues almost every night. Recently I saw somewhere that thyroid issues can be subclinical for an average of 17-20 years before anything shows up on a blood test. That drew my thoughts back to what I'd read weeks ago that the best thyroid doctors treat symptoms, not numbers.

The last time I actually saw my endocrinologist she said I was biochemically euthyroid - my numbers were perfect. I almost cried. I told/asked her how on earth could my numbers be perfect while I feel absolutely horrible and she said just because my numbers were normal didn't mean my thyroid was functioning normally. She said she could not increase the dosage on my medication because of the numbers and I said that was fine with me because the medication made me feel horrible anyway.

Tonight I was talking to the wife of the minister of one of the biggest churches where I live. You can imagine how many church members they try to help through medical problems. This lady said all she knew about thyroid disease (from her experiences through church) was that it had to be the most confusing illness on earth to try to manage - that everyone has the same complaints.

It seems beyond strange to me that diagnosis seems to be so frustrating, FNA is not 100% reliable, ultrasound can indicate one thing and surgery will find something else, getting the right dosage of the right medications seems to generally take a long time and sometimes more than one doctor to get it right...I just wish I could understand.

Add to that, where I live there are very, very few endocrinologists and some of them don't keep full schedules. One may tell you one thing and another tell you something else. My father died in surgery because an orthopedic surgeon's rush to use a new procedure he'd learned caused him to overlook something urgently important. I can't help being slightly uneasy about surgery - I can't say that I thoroughly understand what's wrong with my thyroid (other than multiple nodules) or are there any options other than continuing to wait and see?

As far as drugs, etc., I've been thinking how the thyroid basically is command center for a person's total health. I may be wrong but I'm thinking everything from antidepressants to treatment for diabetes and everything else is not ever going to be successful IF the patient has subclinical thyroid problems OR thyroid problems that are not being correctly treated. It seems to me like the thyroid has got to be functioning normally before anything else can be medically/surgically corrected so that it is functionally normally...but if the patient's thyroid blood tests don't show anything, the doctor is not even going to consider a thyroid imbalance.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Octavia said:


> This post is from another thread...
> 
> ...but I've been thinking the same thing lately. Why do so many people have to fight so hard to get a simple, inexpensive medicine that could make such a huge difference? Seriously. It reminds me (in an odd way) of this article I read last year (really had to search for it on the good ole 'net):
> 
> ...


Yet; especially when it comes to women, they will do hysterectomy, mammaryectomy, Rx Anti-D and other dangerous drugs etc.. I try to not be biased but on the whole, I feel I have observed that some men get a lot better service when it comes to the thyroid. Not all; but some!

You got me 'cause I don't have a clue!


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Andros said:


> Yet; especially when it comes to women, they will do hysterectomy, mammaryectomy, Rx Anti-D and other dangerous drugs etc..


Excellent point...I had not thought about that! (Although I do have a good friend in Michigan, age 44, never had kids, never wanted kids, never will have kids...has every female problem in the book, has had multiple surgeries, but doc refuses to give her a hysterectomy. But her younger sister's doctor performed a hysterectomy on younger sister with only a fraction of those problems...go figure!)


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