Posted by barbaracat on April 2, 2005, at 20:33:22
In reply to Re: My doctor can't help me » barbaracat, posted by Maxime on April 2, 2005, at 18:47:46
> Right now, for me to find an OB-Gyn is next to impossible. There are not enough in Montreal to go around. Really. Actually we have such a crisis on our hands here. There are thousands of Montrealers who cannot get a GP. As a result the ERs are always full. The ERs are so full that patients lie in gurneys in the halls.
**Jeez, I didn't realize it was so bad. We hear all about the wonders of socialized medicine like you folks have, but it sure doesn't seem like the answer. It sounds like what's happening is you're so strapped for doctors, quality is being sacrificed. That's why I put my health in the capable hands of naturopaths (had to search around till I found a good one). They consider the whole person, use superior testing methods, and usually are associated with some good docs to get hooked up to. I pay for it out of pocket which I can ill afford, but I can't afford the bullsh*t I get from the idiot healthcare system either. Again, you may need to forget about free care and take a trip down south or find a alternative doc practicing outside of this disgraceful system. I'd be hapy to help out with suggestions to find someone if you want to go this route.
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> My pdoc wants me to have ECT. There is no way I will ever have it. But can you imagine if I said "yes" and all my problems were endocrine? Jolting my body with an electrical current isn't going to help things.**No, especially if your adrenals are already fried. I'm not surprised at the incredibly lame response you go from your endo. It only shows his ignorance and ego. If he got over his hubris, he'd realize how crucial a part the adrenals play in our overall health. They produce cortisol, the stress hormone, for Pete's sake! They're the primary producer of sex hormones after menopause. They become enlarged from a contstant onslaught of cortisol production and simply poop out. A no brainer, in my estimation, however, because I am not an endo, endos usually pat me on the head and smile indulgently. I smile sweetly (they don't like uppity) and say "I understand you expected better results from your treatment, however, I appear to not be feeling better. I dont't feel as though I'm improving on this protocol. How can we work together on improving this? (notice the 'we'. They don't like that, but it sends a clear message). My current OB-GYN said that most endos she knows like to wear fussy bow ties and as a rule, feel it's beneath them to work with hypothyroid patients and would rather do the 'real stuff', like radiate and operate on a thyroid glad.
If you haven't yet come across "Adrenal Fatigue" by J. Wilson, highly recommended.
ECT may not be out of the question and could help to reset the switch, but only in a system that can take the juice. Getting zapped in a depleted system, well, your intuitive hit seems right on.
But one thing I'm not clear on at this point, Maxine, what are your TSH numbers? what's the state of your endocrine health as you know it, and how do you suspect you have an endocrine imbalance? It may not just be your thyroid, although thyroid is interrelated with all the hormones. Have you had your estrogen/progesterone/DHEA/testosterone levels checked? This might be asking too much of the Canadian health care system, but there are ways of testing these things yourself through online sources. You may need to say 'screw these doctors' and blaze your own trail. I can't tell you how many of my acquaintences and myself have had to do this. Thank God for the internet! (despite what your endo thinks).
If along the way you bump into a really talented and dedicated healer, then bless them. So, my own very basic formula, the foundation on which everything else rests is HORMONAL BALANCE. No amount of lithium, SSRI's ECT or anything will hold for long without this basic foundation. Whatever you have to do, out of pocket, internet magicians, whatever, don't let Cro-Magnon medicine keep you stuck. - Barbara
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> I know more about the thyroid than I do the adrenal glands. I see my endo on the 11 so I have until then to learn all I can. I told the endo I thought I might have a conversion problem. He just laughed. He asked me if I had read about it on the internet. I said "no I read about it in one of the 6 books I have read about the thyroid and hypothyroidism". Do they expect to remain in the dark? Don't they want us to be informed?
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> Thanks for listening.
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> Maxime
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> > Hypothyroid can most definitely cause anxiety, panic, shakyness, hot flashes. Weird when you think that it also can cause tiredness, sluggishness, coldness. Basically, it shuts down the cells' mitochrondria from producing energy and that can take the form of so many symptoms, depending on what cells are involved. Thyroid is needed for the whole estrogen pathway and estrogen is required to make neurotransmitters. It shuts down digestion. It's needed for regulation of the temperature sensor in the hypothalamus, so sometimes you're hot, others cold. It's all interconnected in ways that are tailor made for our private hells.
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> > The highest my TSH ever got was 18 and I can't believe how awful I felt. Deep joint pains, an inner damp chill and cold sweats, panic and depression, everything seeming overwhelming, fuzzy thinking, chronic constipation. This is not a good thing for someone prone to bipolar depression. It doesn't take much to swing me into a bleak frenzied despair and hypothyroidism is a very good stressor.
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> > Even if your TSH is now showing in the low range and you're still have symptoms, basic thyroidology tells us that there may be a dysfunction in the cells' ability to convert T4 to the active T3, so yes, there may be enough T4 in the blood due to Synthroid, but the cells are not making the best use of it. Enter Cytomel! Made all the difference to me.
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> > You also need to consider your adrenals. Many conventional doctors poo-poo adrendal fatigue, but it's a very real condition. Stress over a long time can cause the adrenals to overproduce cortisol which leads to all kinds of problems down the line including damage to the adrenal glands themselves. These glands are the secondary producers of the sex hormones and thyroid. Word has it that if the adrenals are not brought back to a decent functioning order, the rest of the the hormones are going to falter.
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> > Maxine, it sounds to me that you are in a loop of clueless doctors and are going around in fruitless circles. I'm totally unaware of the Canadian health system, but I would hope you could jettison these jerks and find someone else. Getting cancelled at the last minute two times would be quite enough for me, thank you very much, and said putz would receive a very pointed letter informing him of my feelings.
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> > A TSH of 25 calls for immediate action, like serious hup-to-it wow! let's get moving! Your posts and sense of desperation that comes through is very typical of someone in the throes of a serious thyroid imbalance. I am not taking this lightly. I have walked in your shoes and I quite simply urge you to find and demand better care. You need to stop wasting your precious energy trying to convince these people who seem to be missing the basic rudiments of Endocrinology 101, especially your endo.
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> > I totally agree with Tamara. An OB-Gyn may be your best bet. The one I've recently found has been a treasure. She understands hormones, all of them, she understand how absolutely crucial it is to have them in balance. Otherwise, all the pills we take to make us sane are just a waste of money. In other words, you DO NOT need an endo. I think you'll find alot of concurrence that endos are pretty worthless for standard thyroid problems. I don't know why this is, I think if you have thryoid cancer, or some extreme desease state, an endo is your man - they can operate and radiate. But for the rest of us, all they can seem to do is prescribe Synthroid.
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> > In my book, two basic things are needed for life - 1. energy, 2. hope. If you don't have enough life force, energy, everthing is hard and you lose hope. So put that brilliant mind to work to get yourself a good health team and kiss these jokers goodbuy.
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poster:barbaracat
thread:477221
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050330/msgs/479125.html