[Bobbi]

#1074596

Shebaj, did your pcp give you a blood test and check your thyroid levels? Are you currently taking the PTU or other antithyroid medication? If not, go back to the PCP. Anxiety meds might, in fact, help with some of the symptoms that are plaguing you, if you are taking them IN ADDITION TO medications that control the levels of thyroid hormone. But if these were prescribed without doing a check on your blood, there is still a question about whether the treatment is sufficient for you. PCPs are knowledgable enough to prescribe antithyroid meds.

It can help if you start to routinely ask your doctor’s staff for blood test results, and keep the copies in a file. We patients do not have the knowledge or experience to INTERPRET these tests, but it is dead simple to look at the report and find out if the thyroid numbers are within the normal zone or not. If they are abnormal, the lab report will tell you that, clearly, and indicate whether the numbers are either "high" or "low". If your numbers are out-of-whack, you need something other than, or in addition to, the anxiety meds : something that will control you thyroid levels.

And, in the future, know that these antithyroid meds are supposed to make you feel well. That means that while taking them, they are controlling enough of your thyroid production to put your levels in the normal zone. But feeling well while on the drugs does not mean that you will feel well if you stop them. And, while you are taking these meds, you need to have blood tests done fairly routinely (every month for a while, then spacing things out), to make sure that the dose remains sufficient for you.

[kallikat]

#1074597

Shebaj,
I, too, am in LA – NW corner, but I have business contacts in the NOLA area.
Have you tried going to the Common Ground Health Clinic in Algiers? Their website is http://www.cghc.org. Phone is 504-361-9800. Please try them, if you haven’t already.
Good luck and take care of yourself.

[sarabear0508]

#1074598

Shebaj,

Hi! My pcp was really bad also and she wouldn’t give me the referral needed to see to the endo. You need to find a new pcp. I felt like the doctor would time our sessions just to make sure she would get paid …then the appt was over. She missed the fact my thyroid was inflamed and swollen…she missed a lot of important things that ….if she would have taken the time…she would have noticed. Graves’ is nothing to fool around with.

I have medicaid also, and it’s very easy to get a new doctor. You might want to call your health plan and ask if you can see a different endo…one that isn’t as booked and has better time slots available. You have only seen that endo once so it would be a great time to switch since you haven’t established a relationship with this one. Once you find an endo you like…and one that is actively treating you, stick with it!

As for the anxiety meds…I refused to take them also. I have a three your old and I can’t be drugged. Plus I was worried about dependency. I felt they were trying to treat my symptoms not my disease!
STAND YOUR GROUND. ONLY YOU KNOW YOUR BODY! If you feel this isn’t the route you want to take than don’t. You have to feel comfortable with what you put in your body. There were many times the doctors would prescribe meds for things I felt were ridiculous, I would refuse…then come to find out…..I didn’t need those meds because I had something different then what the docs thought! "To thine own self be true!" is a quote my dad taught me since I was young!

You will get through this but, first you have to get a medical team that’s tailored to you! A team that you feel listen to you and understand your body. When you establish that team, they all work together to formulate a wellness plan just for you. I just met with my new pcp and she was great.So now I just have to find a good endo, I’m waiting for a call back to schedule an appt.

Keep your head up…and don’t give up.
Best of luck to you!

[Bobbi]

#1019858

I found this post from Shebaj within another post, and thought it might generate more attention if it were stand alone:

by shebaj on Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:48 am

Hi, everyone i’m new to this site but unfortunately not to the disease. I was diagnosed october 2007 when i was in the delivery room pushing out my daughter, my ob doctor was so non chalant about the whole thing i thought it wasn’t a big deal. she said like she just asked me if i wanted a drink or something. it went something like oh, yeah your tests came back today and you have Graves. i had never heard of this before that day so since she was calm so was i. i was alright for the first couple of months i was on 100 mg of ptu 3x’s a day and i was feeling fine so once the medicine ran out i didnt bother going back i just stopped taking it. WHAT A MISTAKE THAT WAS!! in october of 2008 i started getting really bad headaches and then i would feel really dizzy and out of breath it’s getting worse and worse. i went to see my pcp and i had all the questions i wanted to ask written on a piece of paper, but she rushed me out so quickly i didnt have time to ask or say anything i felt like she just wanted to get me out of her office because she didnt know much about the disease (she gave me nothing but a referrel to see an endo) well, i’m still waiting. i went through the er on last friday jan, 2, 2009 he put me on propranolol and gave me percocets for the headaches. the propranolol makes me very drowsy and tired and once it wears off the headaches, dizzyness and palpatations are right back. i went back today to see my pcp and again she was no help at all, she even had the nerve to prescribe to me an anxiety medicine that she wants me to take 3x’s a day and only when i’m home! what? i know that she has to know that anxiety medicine is not going to help unless it’s going to stop this thyroid from producing so much hormone and i doubt it does that. i am not taking the zombie medicine at all!! i did however call and was able to get an appt with the endo but its going to be hard living like this until july the ninth (that’s the first opening the endo has) seven months from now!! i dont know what to do or where to turn. i have medicaid and i stay in la. and there is only one clinic that accepts medicaid in the whole new orleans, baton rouge area. i really need help i think im going to go crazy if i have to live like this for seven more months with four kids!shebaj

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Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:19 am
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[canonicalman]

#1074599

I highly recommend finding an endocrinologist with some experience with Graves. I found that precise control of my medication and constant testing were required for good results. My Endo physician is very knowledgeable and easy to talk with so I’m very luck and have stayed with the same physician even though I’ve move 80mi away.

Keep after this, ask questions, and push for proper treatment until you get it.

[Author]

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