In a message dated 4/8/2002 2:15:56 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Mom has just now come down with this Plantar fascitis (and has always
> fit the description of Hypochondriac in my mind till I started reading
> about
> hypo thyroid). I want to send her some concrete examples of how this is
> thyroid related. Can someone please help me help my Mom? >>>
I know how frightening this can be. I have watched a lot of my family suffer
and/or die with poorly treated or untreated hypothyroidism. My mother's first
cousin had a goiter removed, and was always having problems after that. My
mother was never diagnosed, but was obese, hypertensive, depressed, and
suffered with fibromyalgia, chest pains with normal EKGs, and was totally
tired all the time that I knew her.
I was the next person in the family to get diagnosed. In spite of classic
hypothyroid symptoms in many of the ones who got heart attacks in their 30s
and had many other problems that are common to hypothyroidism, no one else
had gotten diagnosed or treated.
I have brought home reprints, books, and journal articles. No one listens.
One niece had a miscarriage before she was 30. I had diagnosed her mother
with hypothyroidism, but the dear went to the family doc who told this
overweight, low body temperature, fibromyalgia-chronic fatigue patient that
her TSH was normal and she didn't "have no thyroid problem." Guess who got
believed?
There are some people in the world who want simple, blind faith answers. The
idea of thinking, weighing alternatives, and going against the popular
thinking is very upsetting to them. They, too often, prefer simple and
inaccurate truisms to struggling with shades of gray. "Doctors are...there to
help, always right, know what is best..."
Initially, I thought that it was a pleasant coincidence that everyone that I
was seeing for thyroid was quite bright (some Ph.D.s, a few ministers,
several professors, teachers, a few lawyers, and so on). Actually, I think
that these are the people who really looked closer at their problems, and
probably had known the diagnosis a few years before I saw them.
About your Mom? In the 30 or so years that I have been working with patients,
I have never seen anything work that everyone was not comfortable with. Don't
nag her. If people feel pressured, they may go to the doc once, but they will
be wasting their money and time. Meanwhile, get yourself as healthy as
possible. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to care for
anyone else.
For years, I pleaded with my sister to get help. She was gaining weight while
hardly eating, going to bed at 8 PM, keeping the house really warm summer and
winter. I warned her about the risks of heart attacks and strokes, depression
and fibromyalgia. The last time that I talked with her about it, I knew that
if I didn't shut up, I would likely be asked to leave.
The next time I saw her was in the hospital, after she had her stroke, was
unable to talk, and paralyzed on the right side. For months, I wished that I
had said more. I kept wondering if there was something that I could have
said, that I didn't say.
There was only one thing that I came up with. "Dying is not the worse thing
that can happen to a person. If you don't take care of yourself, you might
not be lucky enough to die."
It is easier to walk on water, than to help someone against their will. I
have never even been good at walking on water. Let me know if you find
something. I have a lot more family members who still blindly believe their
family docs...
Doc Don
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