[Anonymous October 31, 1996 at 3:23 am Post count: 93172]

#1058337

Crap – sorry about the last BLANK message – I hit enter instead of tab.

I, too was very unreasonable when I was first diagnosed. I’m glad I was.
After I informed my first doctor that I was going to investigate alternative medicine, he referred me to Dr. Odorisio, at OSU. He is involved in research and teaching, so I agreed to see him, though somewhat skeptical.

What a CHANGE! My link to estrogen wasn’t entirely off base, and he ordered a complete hormone test. Also, he said that just with the normal serum thyroid tests, Graves’ can’t be a definite diagnosis. He told me that Hashimoto’s (before it burns out) and thyroiditis all mimic the same symptoms I am having. (rapid heartbeat, heat intolerance, weight loss of about 25 pounds, a year ago, difficulty concentrating, 69% uptake, etc.) Another tidbit he had to offer – I am probably predisposed to thyroid problems, but had I not undergone the stress I have gone through since my mother died a year ago, this MOST LIKELY would never have happened but something else would have. Different bodies cope with stress in different ways. If I was predisposed to diabetes, mental illness, colitis, or had some other genetic weakness, the stress would have probably manifested itself there. Or…had I had a serious head injury, or been otherwise temporarily incapacitated to the extent that my body underwent significant stress in healing itself, something similar to this would have happened. I really like this guy. When I explained to him that I wasn’t interested in taking RAI, or becoming fat or depressed, he said he wouldn’t let me get that way. He ordered a blood test for thyroimmunoglobulin and something else, to determine if Graves’ was the trouble, and sent me home with Inderol and Tapizole. He prescribed 10mg, instead of the 20 that the other doctor wanted me to take, and he said that he would only have me on this for 3 months, as opposed to the 2 years the other guy said.

This is for Karen, in particular:

Odorisio told me to go ahead and see the Chelation Therapist, as Chelation does have many positive effects on all the organs. He also told me to continue meditation/relaxtion, try to reduce the stress in my life, and the combination of all these things might just put my thyroid to sleep! He not once insisted that RAI was the way to go, nor did he insist that alternative medicine was a scam, like 2 other doctors I have seen.
I found a doctor with an open mind, and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m going to cut my work hours, and make everyone around the house start pulling his weight. I will make time for ME, too.

I will let you all know what happens – wish me luck!

Pam

[Author]

Posts