>.   Then I went to my physician armed with research
> materials and my request for medication changes and additional testing. 
> We
> must be pro-active to obtain results.

I too agreed with Dr. Don on this.  I have been pro-active for both myself 
and my son numerous times with numerous doctors.  This includes driving 6 
hours each way for an appointment with a "specialist endocrinologist" to end 
up with a 24 hour test on cortisone (all in same container) and to be told 
that all the symptoms had nothing to do with my thyroid.  Each time I have 
presented doctors with the research etc we have either been dropped from the 
practice or completely ignored and then to be told when starting with a new 
doctor that I am "doctor hopping" and I am looking for a doctor that will 
tell me what I want to hear.  I can't even find a doctor that will treat my 
13 year old with stupid tsh at 2.8 and symptoms everywhere.  I am extremely 
sad to say that it also matters on luck.  Luck to find a doctor that is not 
so sure that THEY know better than you your history, your family history and 
what a devastating disease this is.

Now I am trying to find a way to get the testing for my son he needs with no 
health care so I cant even search for a doctor for him because I lost our 
healthcare because I make $56 above the poverty line.  My armour was only 
upped because my tsh finally showed 8.9 because of the lithium -- now that 
np at the psych clinic can't refill my armour at 3.5 grains because the 
thyroid med is not a psych drug.  funny but they test for it, and you cant 
begin to get any other drugs to work without the thyroid being right as a 
baseline. So I have to convince a doctor to write a prescription to keep it 
at same level.

Sometimes even begging with the research in hand does not work.  And when 
your thyroid is off you cant even function well enough to fight for what you 
need.

Nancy 




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