Please HELP
Find a Conversation
Please HELP
| Mon, 09-06-2004 - 8:19pm |
I finally have my first Endo appointment tomorrow and don't know what questions to ask her. I have a list a mile long of symptoms but don't know what to ask her. I've asked my mom to come along with me since she's been hypo (I think) for years now. Any suggestions on what I need to say to her? My cousin has seen her and is very happy with her. I've been trying for years to get someone to treat me or test further but no one would do it. If anyone out there might want to IM me my address is marcijdavis@usadig.com, I've got MSN and Yahoo both.
Thanks in advance for any help/advise! I've been watching this board for awhile and you all seem so nice and helpful. :-)
Marci

If you've had trouble getting a diagnosis in the past, tell her about it and ask what she will do to help you. What tests will she run? What TSH level does she treat? What is the range that her lab uses, is it the new one that sets 3.0 as the highest level or is she still on the old one taht uses 5.0 or 5.5 for diagnosis. This means that if your bloodwork comes back at 3.5, if her lab uses 3.0 as the highest range, you'll be consider hypothyroid. If her lab uses 5.0 or 5.5, you won't! Big difference and it really matters for people who have a TSH level just aboe 3.0 and all the symptoms of hypothyroidism. Here's a link to the AACE site that gives you the article that discusses the new ranges. You may want to print that for your doctor. http://thyroid.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=thyroid&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aace.com%2Fpub%2Ftam2003%2Fpress.php
One thing that I wish I had known and asked about is what the doctor considers a "normal" TSH level once you've been on medication for a while. What will be her
"goal" level for you or for any patient? It's important that the answer is between 1.0 and 2.0, what a normal thyroid level is "out on the street", with someone who isn't hypothyroid. So I would ask about that.
Ideally, it would be nice to ask if the doctor will consider your symtpoms, how you're feeling, and not just your TSH level when you come in for check ups or get the results of follow up blood tests. You want someone to pay attention to YOU, not some number on a test result. As my doctor puts it, he's willing to "agressively" treat me - and my son - to the point where we feel 100%.
Maybe some others here have other questions to ask!
One thing I'll say about your overall "tone" with your doctor is not to assault her with a million questions at once. They hate that!! :) Remember, you want the doctor to like you. You want them to listen to you and care about how you're feeling. If you are very aggressive, they get defensive. Trust me, I've been there! LOL! Sad to say, most doctors don't seem to want an educated and informed patient. If you think this one does, then that's great. But still go easy on her. Work in a few questions, then wait. Then work in
a few more. Sad but true!! Cathy :)
My appointment went well today. I took my list of symptoms and past test results with me. She didn't ask alot of questions about my symptoms but did say my thyroid was 'a little generous'. She ordered the TSH, free T4 and antiboties tests and will call tomorrow after the first two have been ran. I guess the antibody test takes about a week. She said that she thought that I would benefit from some thyroid hormone and will let me know tomorrow what direction we will head. She did say that the 'normal' range is 1-2 so that's good for me since I've been juming around that range the last few years. I'm so happy that she's even considering anything for me! :-)
I guess that I was suppose to have had a referral to see her but whoever booked my appointment didn't ask about that and I didn't offer. I think that maybe at first she was alittle upset about me just getting in on my own but things went well.
I'll post tomorrow what I find out, I have a meeting after work and probably won't be able to make the chat.
Take Care!
Marci