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Well, I thought I would share some good news. I saw my doctor (GP) the
other day and took a copy of the FDA report re synthetic forms of
thyroid hormone to him. Anyway, I just told him that I hoped he didn’t
mind me bringing it but that I knew that he and other doctors have tons
of new information to try to keep up with and that I thought it might
interest him. At first, he said that he thought he had seen
the information and that it referred to the generic forms, but I told
him that, perhaps I was mistaken, but I understood it to be referring
to all the synthetic forms of the hormone. To his credit, he began
looking at the report and was avidly reading it through by the time I
left his office.I couldn’t help feeling good in the sense that perhaps he will think
twice before he automatically tells another GD patient, “I usually
recommend RAI followed by hormone replacement for Graves’ disease.”
I am hopeful that in the future he may think more carefully about
whether his GD patients should try the anti-thyroid drugs first, at
least until the FDA makes sure that the problems with synthetic forms
of thyroid hormone have been corrected and that, perhaps, he may share
the relevant info with other physicians.I must say that I feel this doctor has been open to all my concerns in
my interactions with him so far and, after hearing some of the physician
horror stories on this board, I am grateful for that. My gut feeling is
that, if you don’t feel your doctor is being helpful, do whatever you
can to try to find someone better. I know that I feel so much better
feeling that my doctor treats me like an intelligent human being who
deserves to be treated accordingly. Remember, you are paying that
doctor for his or her services; you have the right to expect some
reasonable consideration. I suspect that a lot of folks (and I’m not
talking about anyone in particular) may have a problem asserting
themselves with doctors because almost everyone has been taught both
to see doctors as authority figures and, often, to fear them as well.
Yet, it is to the patient’s benefit to get over that and interact with
the doctor as one more (albeit very important) professional that the
patient employs.Anyway, best of luck to everyone in finding a doctor who is helpful.
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