[mamabear]

#1071654

It is so unfortunate that you got me as a first post to this…Maahhhahhhahhh!! I am a the mother of all bears when it comes to Dr.’s bedside manner.

I’d like to say a few things first to put them into perspective for you.

1. The dr. might not be getting his messages(highly unlikely unless the staff are a bunch of meanies. He would have heard this by now and fired them).

2. The dr. sees your levels as being good and doesn’t see a reason to change your dosage and therefore you aren’t on the call back list or are on the end of it being you’re not high priority.

3. His office is scatterbrained and so is he.

4. He will only speak to you when you go into the office.(I actually had a dr. that knew for a fact that my levels were just fine but refused to speak to me or let his nurse tell me my TSH level unless I went there and paid for an appt.). Yes I had a dr. do this! I called my ins. company and made a formal complaint and asked for him to be investigated that this was not proper practice to hold my test results unless I went to see him. AND I wasn’t on meds at the time! I called the lab and told them what was going on and they said I could have my general dr. call for the results. They did and told me what they were. THe lab company said from then on that I should ask that any of my test results be sent to my general dr. just in case.
I went one last time to see him and that was when I picked up my medical records and said that I would never see him or this office again.) RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE WAITING ROOM.

I am not a snob, I am not someone that doesn’t know how to work hard for what we have. I am a mother of 4 that has learned that the squeaky wheel gets attention. ” title=”Wink” /> And I sure do squeak.

Having said all of this, I advise that you call first thing in the morning. TELL the receptionist NICELY that you would like to know why the dr. hasn’t called you regarding your meds. Tell her that you know your results and are just wondering if the meds are you on should stay the same.
Tell her that if the dr. doesn’t have any intention on calling you that maybe she can ask him and get back to or the nurse can ask him and get back to. Be as nice as you can be, Having been a receptionist you get more with them when you are nice rather than when you are mean. Remember a receptionist/secratary has to deal with the dr. and the nonsense in the office. She hears and sees all the crap and then has to deal with the nasty people on the phone too, she also doesn’t have to give him your message if you peev her off. ” title=”Wink” />
Ask her point blank if this is normal for him not to call a patient back about their lab work UNLESS there is a problem.
Ask her if he doesn’t call you back does that mean I stay on the meds like he said and the way he said to take them.

Asking her these questions to ask him and get back to will be helpful because then you know how he runs his practice. Just because you might not like that he doesn’t return calls unless they are priority doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stay or you should stay but at least that is your decision to make after you find out how he does it.

I sure hope this helps.

[powergrrrl29]

#1019439

I just got my labs back after 6 weeks of being on 150mg/day of PTU and I think I’m doing better. My current labs are
TSH .01 (0.4-4.5), Free T4 1.23 (0.8-1. and Total T3 131 (97-219). Before starting the anti-thyroid drugs my labs were
TSH .01 (0.4-4.5) and Free T4 2.01 (0.8-1.. I have been off my beta blockers since 4/7/09 and my heart rate is normal now.
I don’t have an appointment with the endocrinologist for 6 more weeks and I have called the doctor’s office twice and been told each time that the doctor will call me to let me know if I need to change my medication dosage. I have yet to receive a call from the doctor. This happened to me before when I wanted my results for my TSI. The doctor never calls. I’m so frusturated. This is not good patient care.
Anyway I’m thinking that because my Free T4 is in the normal range that I’m probably okay to continue on the same dosage of PTU until I see the doctor in 6 weeks. My TSH is unchanged, but I heard that this takes a while to correct. Well, should I harrass the doctor’s office more (I’m tired of dealing with them) or just keep on my current dose?

Thanks,
Lisa

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