Shell,
Yeah, I had a thought. You SHOULD throw something at him! But I'm not
sure "answers" are what you should use. Perhaps whacking him on the
nose with a rolled up newspaper is in order! My mother has had carpal
tunnel surgery in both wrists, and she NEVER had numbness and tingling
in either hand, just lots of pain. I've been following a thread called
"Dumb Doctor Stories" in the fibromyalgia newsgroup, and after reading
the messages in this group for a while, I've come to the conclusion that
no group nor any part of the world has a monopoly on stupid doctors. I
think they require doctors check their common sense at the door when
they enter medical school. Fortunately for us, a few do make it through
with their common sense intact.
My mother is now having a lot of problems with her hands. She says it
feels like the tunnels have closed up again since her symptoms are the
same as before the CT surgeries. She also has a lot of fibrous tissue
which has developed in her hands in the last few months. (I've read
where all of this can be a result of untreated hypothyroidism.) In
spite of her going to three hand surgeons and three rheumatologists in
the last few months, not one is willing to order the nerve conduction
test used to diagnose CTS. (She has good insurance, so it's not a
financial thing with them.) I don't understand why any of them should
mind simply ordering a test. They say the tunnels can't close up again,
but I know several people who've experienced just that. What are they
all afraid of? Being wrong? Nah, we all know THAT never happens!
She had her thyroid removed almost 25 years ago and was doing quite well
until about three years ago on Thyroid Strong, a natural thyroid
product, which was bought by Jones Medical. It's about 1 1/2 times more
potent than Armour, so the 1 1/2 grains a day she was taking of TS was
equivalent to about 2 1/4 grains of Armour. Jones didn't control the
quality of it at all. One lot would be too strong and the next totally
ineffective, so her doctor at the time switched her to Levothroid. He
started her out at only 88mcg a day which is much less than the amount
of TS she took. She felt terrible and finally got another doctor to
increase the Levothroid to 112mcg a day, but that's all she's taking now
because that's as much as anyone will prescribe. She never could take
Armour, Synthroid, or Levoxyl because of severe side effects (GI upset,
swelling, weight gain, etc.)
Ever since the switch to Levothroid she's been the clinical picture of
hypothyroidism. But her labwork paints a different picture. Her T4 is
always high normal (11.5 to 12.3), her last total T3 was 90, and her TSH
has been a constant 0.1 for the last three years. Therefore, no doctor
will consider increasing her dosage, and most want to decrease it. One
of the thyroid "specialists" even told her to not take anything for a
whole month. Thankfully she fired him before his "treatment" turned her
into a cretin.
She's trying to get her current doctor to let her try Thyrolar, but
since her tests came back "normal" with such a low TSH, he doesn't want
her to. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out she
probably has a pituitary or hypothalamic problem or a resistance to T3,
but not one of these pinheads she's been to, including three thyroid
"specialists," will do anything.
Does anyone know a GOOD endocrinologist (or any M.D. who knows how to
treat thyroid problems INTELLIGENTLY) in Houston, Texas??? Though I
have a thyroid, my labwork follows pretty much the same pattern as my
mother's except my TSH isn't quite as low as hers (the last time it was
1.2). I recently started seeing an endocrinologist (one whom my mother
went to a few years ago but became disillusioned with when she couldn't
get her lab results from him), and he said he goes more by the clinical
picture than by the numbers. He found a goiter and is treating me with
100mcg of Synthroid for now. I'm not having any side effects from it,
nor am I noticing any appreciable change in my energy level yet.
I've had more problems since a bout of thyroiditis two years ago. It
started with difficulty swallowing and progressed to pain in the front
of my neck. I suspected thyroiditis from the first week, but I had to
go to FIVE doctors and spend over $1000 in tests to find out from the
last one, my old ENT doctor, that I did indeed have thyroiditis and to
get the prescription for $5 worth of prednisolone which controlled the
pain and swelling. Two endocrinologists had told me there was nothing
wrong (no labwork and one didn't even examine me) and that I was a
"perfectly healthy young woman" with that derisive sniff which when
interpreted means "It's all in your head, Dear." A member of the fibro
group describes it like this: "Doctor, just because the answer isn't in
your head doesn't mean the problem's in MINE!" Does this scenario sound
familiar to anyone?
I assume at least some of you are familiar with Houston chiropractor
(you read that correctly) Dr. John Lowe's work in showing that
hypothyroidism and fibromyalgia are many times connected, and that some
cases of fibromyalgia are really just undiagnosed central
hypothyroidism, even in the presence of normal standard thyroid test
results. His hypothesis is that there can be a cellular-level
resistance to the effects of T3, and that treatment with T3, as opposed
to T4 will cause a decrease in fibromyalgic symptoms. He's having a lot
of success in "curing" people of fibromyalgia. Though I fit the profile
to a tee, my endocrinologist doesn't want to prescribe Cytomel or
Armour. He says the two conditions aren't related though he's probably
never even thought about it before. After reading all the glowing
reports of how many of you are feeling better taking Armour, I'm
determined that if I'm going to be staying on any thyroid medication for
long, that I want to switch to Armour. I'd like to hear from anyone
taking Thyrolar as well since my mother can't take Armour.
But as for carpal tunnel syndrome, you DON'T have to have numbness and
tingling to have CTS. Any doctor who says you MUST, doesn't know what
he/she's talking about. Just because an M.D. says it doesn't mean it's
true. A case in point: I developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
in my left leg 19 years ago following a knee injury which didn't heal
properly. In addition to the pain, the circulation in my leg was so
impaired they feared I might actually lose my leg. Only a lumbar
sympathectomy was able to restore the circulation and eliminated most of
the pain. But a certain neurologist, supposedly a fibromyalgia expert,
has stated that RSD cannot possibly affect the circulation. And he
sticks by this assertion. But he's dead wrong as my experience as well
as all the research I've done proves. My advice to you is to find a new
doctor!
Good luck,
Dale
Michelle Castro-Smith wrote:
>
> This dicussion on carpel tunnel has been very interesting. I was wondering
> does it necessarily have to do with "numbness" in fingers? I have terrible
> wrist pain in my right wrist, somedays so bad I can't pull my clothes on or
> pick up my little girl. It travels up the nerve to my shoulder if feels like.
> The dr. says I just have to live with it, since I DON'T have numbness or
> tingling in my fingers.
>
> I am tired of it and want some answers to throw at him. Any thoughts?
> Shell
|