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Thyrants And Thyraves: And How Do You Feel About Your Doctor?!
Today, we have a very special Thyrants post! Not only did you rant your beautiful hearts out; we also asked you to complete a sentence with respect to what you’d like to say to your doctor. Beautiful work, DT’rs.
What Thyrants or Thyraves from the week do you have and desperately need to get off your chest?
KB: I’m starting to think that I made the wrong decision when it came to treatment I went with radation instead of surgery but I was so scared of just the word surgery I felt like I was being pushed in a million directions from all sides. I was feeling so vulnarable and alone at the time even the surgeon said he didn’t really want to do the surgery because my thyroid was a goiter ( he rated it a 5/6) and 5 is the biggest on the scale they use ” ” so i guess in short I’m feeling like I was used the doctors nurses even the specialist that came in my hospital room to poke and proude at me were no help my husband did all he could but left it up to me to decide and after all this I feel like I’ve been put threw a blender and someone pushed pulse a thousand times. Just to find out that I might need surgery anyway.. My question is how do u find the courage to go threw w even the word surgery??
JM: In a nutshell – weight gain (obviously) despite the synthroid, fatigue, joint pain, dry skin, constipation, cold intolerance, etc…
FG: I dislike being 20 pounds for my height 5’0″. I don’t like not being able to walk and breathe easily like I used to…I feel like a couch potato when I sit down,then can’t walk to well when I get up from my computer or to bring my hubby things at work. I am cold when it is slight chill in air or hot when it humid outside which wind,humidity, and snow make hard to breathe anyway along with distance. I don’t like being fatiqued almost on a daily basis.
KL: Got my RAI this morning, about six weeks post surgery. I am more nervous about the results of next week’s scan than anything. Despite reassurances from my surgeon I am struggling to believe the cancer hasn’t spread when it was already in my thyroid, 1/4 of the removed lymph nodes, and a 3cm mass at the base of my neck. Trying to keep my mind busy til then, hard to do when isolated in my guest room!
CM: i know exactly how you feel, I feel like I have been put through the blender, so to speak, too! I did the surgery, really, due to believing I had a parathyroid tumor after being told no by so many doctors…So, basically when offered surgery for an unusual biopsy result–I just did it in hopes of them finding the parathyroid tumor (which WAS inside my thyroid btw)…I did it out of sheer desperation and in hopes of feeling better. Unfortunately, thyroid meds (natural or synthetic) and me do NOT get a long. So, now I am struggling with getting my tsh to somehwere near normal VERY slowly .I wish you all the luck–and hope you are on the road to recovery soon 🙂 It seems we have to be our own docs with some diseases.
NWW: Well its been 5 days gluten free and actually feeling great. I have a ton more energy. My foggy brain is functioning. I can’t believe that just changing my diet could change the way I feel so much.
JS: Exhausted!! Not sleeping well at all. But my mood has been stable all week. So I’ll count my blessings in that respect!!!!! 🙂
EEB: Right now I’m trying to get adjusted to BP meds, and I was just told it can take 6-8 weeks! I WAS feeling better, now I’m tired again. Don’t want to move tired. Brain-fog tired. I had low bp pre-Hashis, now it’s high. 😛
AZ: Like a dummy, I ate peanuts in a shell the other night while watching the B Ball game-now I am paying with the slo-motion feeling that I get from them!! WHY did I eat them!?!?!? CRAP!
TK: I had the surgery for Graves instead of RAI. We thyroidless folk have all the same issues as hypos – because we are hypo! with no thyroid to produce even a little T hormones, we are completely reliant on finding a med that works for us. I spent 8 yrs thinking I was doing OK on Eltroxin. I never realised that all my problems were hypo symptoms ( I was seriously under-medicated) Dr gave me sleeping pills, anti-depressants, x-rays for carpel tunnel – basically implied I was neurotic & never once considered my thyroid meds! Then GSK changed the formulation & I was allergic! When I switched to Whole Thyroid, the improvement was immediate! I’m a long way from ‘normal’ whatever that is, but way better than 2 yrs ago. It is such an involved process, finding the right balance with meds & supplements. But I’d rather fight that battle than give up completely which is where I was at in ’08.
LHP: i just read my life history i had RAI in ’02 been going down hill since i felt better being hyper but b/p was way too high so now i am tring to find a dr that will take my insurance thats a battle in itself grrrrrrrrrrr
KC: doing more research on my hashimotos……realizing that my 10 year old girl more then likely has it. More things make sense now. My allergies, my tummy issues, the arthritis, everything. I have lymphedema badly in my legs, can hardly walk most days. I just want my life back.
CC: read some old posts on my blog yesterday and was reduced to tears on more than one occasion, reading old posts where I clearly didn’t know what was going on at the time and was posting with such confusion & frustration. I felt like I wanted to reach into the monitor and shake that girl who was posting back then, and tell her that it was so blindingly obvious why she felt SO crap, worthless and couldn’t muster up the energy to do anything 🙁
RI: Wondering what is going on because I feel like my thymencha is geting so bad that I am not doing what I need to so as a result I am making my mom really upset with me!
MSB: My biggest rant is I wish it weren’t so invisable to others. Most people make me feel like a hypochondriac. I don’t know why because I have never been one before, I have always been upbeat, positive and powered through everything in my life. They can’t physically see some of the things I suffer with and therefore they must not exist!
MR: I am tired of the diabetics getting all the sympathy!
Good morning! A new twist for (thyrants/thyraves) complete this sentence, please “When I sit across from my doctor, I feel…”
CR: why do you never listen to me, then look at me like you’re stupid when I turn out to be right? lol
CC: like we’re taking another step together along the thy-way”
DAT: like smacking him upside the head but he is history now and my endo is still on my “like” list!
DW: When I sit across from my doctor, I feel…like leaning over to him and giving him a slap for not listening to me or treating me years ago
EEB: When I sit across from my doctor I feel relieved that I have insurance and a doctor willing to run tests!
CKP: like b*tch slapping him
SR: When I sit across from my doctor, I feel like yet again this is not the one.
When I sit across from my Endo I am in awe. (Just wish I could get back to him.)
KC: I feel like giving her a smack on the back of her head for being stupid!
MBD: So happy because I finally found someone who seems to listen way more than the one I had for the past 10 years. In two visits he said he had a hunch about me, whereas my last one never had a hunch in 10 years (probably b/c she didn’t listen to me!)
LHP: when i sit across from my dr. , i feel like ……slapping and praying that he will become human soon
MNI: “like I want to slap her…I know she has no idea of how I’m really feeling. Oh btw Doc, you could stand to lose some weight, too…where do you get off?”
AMHS: “smarter than him LOL”
KC: “hey…..the joke is….what do you call a doctor who scored 50th in a class of 50…..DOCTOR! Just cuz they have MD behind their name doesn’t make them smart….just means they passed the test.”
ZL: I feel confused and frustrated. you make me wait almost an hour to see you for only 10 minutes of your time.
CB: grateful that she added the thyroid test to the blood test on a hunch – wouldn’t have realized anything was wrong otherwise
—
Thank you for sharing more of yourselves with us! We’re so proud of you — you bring it, every day. On that note, what coping strategies would you share with your fellow patients? What resonates the most with you? Do you have a thyrant? Do you have something you’d like to say to or about your doctor?
share it with us in comments.
Tags: bad doctors, doctors working well with thyroid patients, endocrinologists not listening to their patients, good doctors, graves disease side-effects, hashimoto's side-effects, hyperthyroid issues, hypothyroid patient laments, thyroid cancer side-effects, thyroid patient discussions, thyroid patients feelings about their doctors, thyroid rants, thyroid success stories, thyroid support
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18 Responses to “Thyrants And Thyraves: And How Do You Feel About Your Doctor?!”
Leave a Reply to Katie Schwartz
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I would like to say “thank you” to my endo for finally doing something about my condition. For six years I’ve had graves and all I heard from him was how other women would “love” to have it and stay thin. He never once took into consideration of how it made me feel. It took a five day stay in the hospital with the chance of going into thyroid storm for anyone to realize that I was really sick and not just pretending. I had the RAI treatment two weeks ago and now I’m finally starting to feel better. I will beat this. I will be free of this!
That is unbelievable, almost like the “good cancer” statement! I have been hyper for at least 4-5 months now and lost some weight, no junk in the trunk so to speak. I have had people tell me they wish they had my problem, even my husband told me I was looking good. I wanted a brain scan which my former PCP would not give me so I went to a family friend who is a doctor and when I expressed concern about the weight dropping for no reason even he, who I think is lovely, wondered why I thought that was bad. I would glady go back to my 138 lbs prior to cancer body in a heartbeat and feel normal again. Normal? I forgot what that is, lol!
What do you say to a man you’ve been going to for 6yrs and he finally checks your neck says oh shit slides over to his desk looks at his notes and covers his face. Like what’s going on. He says I never checked your neck and you have nodules. After 33yrs having taken RAI the damn thing is growing back now what to do?
@ Mary, sorry that you have to go through this but the one thing I think is good is that he actually fessed up. Is he sending you for any tests? My former docs attributed my lump to sinus drainage b/c my TSH was normal and it was follicular thyroid cancer. Not sticking up for docs but admire honesty.
Can I say thank you to your endo too, Ciners?! What you went throgh is so awful, and I am so sorry. I wish you never had to endure it.
I am celebrating with you, and so excited to know that you’re FINALLY on the mend. I had the RAI, too.
You go, girl! You are on your way.
YAY. YAY. YAY. Thyroid success
Donna – Normal, what is that?! Ha. So true.
I know what you mean, I want to be NORMAL again, too.
How horrible to have to hear from friends and people that you’re ‘lucky’ to have the ‘good cancer’ (blech), and that you’re looking good when, in fact, you’re feeling so vile, you don’t know where to throw yourself.
Super glad you shared with us.
xo
Donna – I think we must celebrate, in my opinion, the good doctors – the ones that are transparent and willing to admit their mistakes. I’m so glad that yours did that, too.
The only doctor I trust is the doctor that says “Katie, if I don’t have the answer, I’ll work with you to figure it out. If I’m wrong, I’ll always tell you.”
This matters a lot. Good doctors are rare, and when we find them. I hope we share them with each other and tell them as much.
My conflict is…. Why can’t all doctors be this way? Why are some doctors so awful? Why are they so afraid of knowledgeable patients?
Argh.
I would just like to tell everyone my endo is super sexy, and even though I had the RAI done 6 months ago – when I go to see him I start sweating the old familiar Graves sweat and the shakes start all over again. I also have the added symptoms of drooling, butterflies in my now expanded belly, and that weird urge to reach out and grab him.
Hey, if I have to deal with this thyroid bullshit, I might as well see piece of arse doc. I’ve earned it!
My PCP called my swollen, sore thyroid a FAT ROLL!!!!
Thanks Nicole for cracking me up!!! An eye-candy doc IS a bonus!!!
Thanks all of you for putting my issues in perspective. It SEEMS awful right now, but it could be worse I see. And I’ve found THE BEST DR. I ever could have imagined!!! My (former) Endo was NOT interested in treating my symptoms, just in biopsying my recently discovered nodules. To be fair, my mom had both follicular & papillary cancer at my age, but I think a TSH of 17.5 & TPO antibodies of 600 warrant treatment, maybe the nodules could shrink with treatment? My (former) PCP told me thyroid issues AREN’T hereditary & that I’m NOT anemic, my hemoglobin is 9, my ferritin is 4, (been having miscarriage like gushes & clots & periods that last for weeks). That same PCP told me the ultrasound I insisted on was unnecessary, that the only thing wrong with my neck…is my FAT ROLL!!!! LOL!! That “fat roll” was my painfully engorged thyroid!!! My new integrative Dr. ran extensive labs that also reveal an acute & chronic EBV attack, low progesterone & estrogen, Vit D, B12 & magnesium deficiencies, a Westergren inflammation rate of 42 & high cholesterol. She sent me for a transvaginal ultrasound (yep fibroids too)& said it should have been done YEARS ago with my history.My blood pressure is going despite 60mgs. of Lotensin. But it COULD be worse!!!! And I’m one of the blessed ones who’ve found an amazing Dr. with the MOST caring, dedicated staff. They started helping me & ordered my labs from a PHONE consult (because they’re so booked), then after my labs came in, they called me on SUN. EVENING to set my treatment plan in motion! UNREAL!!!! I wish the rest of you strength, comfort answers, & healing!! Thank you for being an inspiration!!!
Brilliant Nicole – one of my med team members illicits similar symptoms from me! 🙂
Nicole – I LOVE YOU. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. OMG. that is so funny. I call my psychiatrist “Shrinktail” because he’s so easy on the eyes. I figure, akin to what you think, if you have to see a doctor or a shmendo (endo), if he’s easy on the eyes, it helps.
you are sooo funny, child.
Totally agreed, Fuzzy girl. I’m a Graves girl, too. I know those symptoms well. My fave was can’t-get-my-ass-off-the-toilet-dia and shaking so badly, I’d give any Parkinson’s patient a run for their money
Fuzzy, do you think you’ll jump this team member? Har.
Dawn, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Your doctor had the balls to call your enlarged/sore thyroid a fat roll?! for reals?! I am so sorry.
Love that you found a new endo, great news, and you’re in good hands. How did you find your new endo?
What is EBV? Will you keep us posted on how you’re doing? We’re all here for you, babes. You aren’t alone.
PS: I LOVE WHAT NICOLE WROTE. She’s a brilliant humorist and comedy writer.
Sure, if he ever saw me in my sexy back-less theatre gown, combined with the super hot disposable knickers, not forgetting the ultra sexy surgical stockings…well, he’d find me very hard to resist!
Nicole & Fuzzy…you are hilarious!!!!
Yes Dear Thyroid, she SURE did!!! EVEN if she thought that, why in the HELL would you say that to a patient? I guess it was part of her considerable attempts to invalidate me! I felt like making me wrong was much more important to her than making me WELL!
My new Dr. is NOT an Endo, but an integrative Dr., I found her on Mary Shomon’s Top Dr. page. I have to find a new Endo to monitor my nodules. I’m hoping my new integrative Dr. will refer me to a more competent one.
EBV is Eppstein Barr Virus, apparently it’s reasonably common in Hashi’s patients, as we have an already compromised immune system.
THANKS for the support, it seems if you’re NOT a thyroid patient, you just can’t understand how AWFUL it can be!!!
Dawn – Unbelievable. What a schmuck. She sounds vile. It’s one thing to be candid and another to be insulting and disrespectful, you know?
I’ve noticed that the trend, if you will, is seeking an integrative specialist and/or integrative endocrinologist. Though this is new, I’ve seen a lot more cropping up.
I am not surprised you found such a fabulous doctor on Mary Shomon’s top docs list. It’s FABULOUS. she has so many wonderful resources. We love ha.
I’m just thrilled you’re FINALLY in good hands. I didn’t know that EBV is common in Hashi patients. However, I do know that one autoimmune disease can beget another. What fun?!
xo
Dawn – please keep us posted on the nodules.