A PSA of Sorts

[rolanni]

Those who have been reading along at home will perhaps recall that I have an underachieving thyroid. It's no big deal; is, as I understand it, fairly common, or at least not uncommon; and perfectly treatable with a daily dose of a prescribed medication. You can read about it here, if you're interested.

Now, one of the interesting things about the hormones produced by your thyroid, my thyroid, and the thyroid of the woman at the coffee counter trying to decide if she wants a double-shot of espresso, is that "normal" is a range -- between X and Y is normal function.

With me so far?

Good.

The aim of medicating people with hypothyroidism is to supplement hormone levels to "normal," which makes perfect sense.

Except that -- and despite the fact that hypothyroidism is a pretty common problem for Women of a Certain Age -- apparently no one takes a baseline of "normal" thyroid function when you -- General You -- are young and healthy and presumably firing on all cylinders, so that there's an on-file "normal" to return you to, should your thyroid suddenly come up lazy.

This potentially leads to circular discussions with one's doctor about if one's supplemented hormone level is "normal" on the scale, but one is still experiencing symptoms, could it be that one had been used to a higher "normal" production level of hormone, back in the day?

So! If you're a young woman -- ask your doctor about a thyroid test the next time you get blood work, so you have a baseline on-file, should the day ever come when you need supplements. You might have to get a little chesty with him or her, but, hey, it's your blood and your future.

Now! Another cup of coffee, and to the couch!

Comments

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

I'd been convinced my thyroid was crapping out for years, I had all the classic signs of it. I went to my doctor and laid out what I thought the problem was and why, and she said to me that she didn't think that was it and that I'd (and I quote) "probably feel better if [I] tried to dress a little nicer."

To which I explained (more politely than was perhaps warranted) that I'm a geek and therefore perfectly happy in jeans and t-shirts, and she could go get stuffed. I then found a new different doctor who actually tested my thyroid levels but decided that because I was right on the edge of the bottom line of that range, I was fine. Having an earlier value to compare that to would've been very helpful at that point.

Then I became pregnant with twins and my thyroid threw its hands up in the air and declared it was DONE with me once and for all, so now I've got meds and it's amazing how much more normal I feel.

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

I'd fire a doctor, who said such things. I fired a gyn because she said I qualified for a breast reduction first thing in the door, when I neither seek nor had mentioned same. I asked about my libido dying, and she said I must have had a very high one in my youth, and implied it was abnormal.

This is an OB who refused all pre-hiring interviews, because her reputation was supposedly good enough.

Right.

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

In fact that was the last conversation I had with that particular doctor. A few months later, when I called up that practice and said, "I've just been stung by several hornets and I'm having a massive skin reaction, and I'm a severe asthmatic" and they said, "we're really busy today, can you call us back tomorrow?" was when I abandoned the practice entirely.

Alas, I wish I could claim to have found a good doctor since; I can only say I've found one less demonstrably bad. Sounds like your own luck has run much the same as mine. )-:

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

That kind of response from a doctor/office is actionable. Did you go to an Urgent Care or the ER for that?

For a while, it did. I was not happy with my PCP, my gyn, my dentist, my psychiatrist, my therapist...when I moved "over the hill" to Silicon Valley, I got a superb dentist who has enabled me to drop ALL my coping techniques (and my husband to go to the dentist at all, which had to start with an abcessed tooth which had to be pulled and replaced). When I was working up the Peninsula, it made sense to see a dr. in Menlo Park: now it's just another drive to make, but I had no recommendations for the San Jose area, so I stick with the travel. In 2001, the only psych who called to say there was space in the practice and she took my insurance, also thanked me for leaving the details she was going to have asked for and saving her the time. She's still 90 min. away, but what ain't broke ain't going to get fixed, and it's a pretty drive. I asked my son's therapist if she'd take me on, and boy was she a help! Son still sees her, and while in Santa Cruz, there are other things to justify the drive.

My second OB (the first had her own medical issues going on) said 2 really heartless stupid things afterwards in later visits that made me livid enough to leave.

I had 2 clueless psychs in SCruz before I started a clinical trial at Stanford where the 2 working on the study were such sweeties, I knew I could do better than what I'd had. Claire and I work well together, and the drive is worth it for the excellent attention I get.

[elbales]

Yeah, I remember the first time I saw an OB/GYN. Mere months earlier, my mom had sat me down and say, "Look, you're of a certain age now, and while I'd rather you waited, if you meet a nice boy and you find that you're thinking about having sex, I want you to come talk to me and we'll get you on the Pill." That day came, and lo, I saw my mom's GYN, who said, "Well, why don't we wait a while and we'll see if you're still feeling the same way about him."

My mom was livid. ("Is she TRYING to get you pregnant?" she snapped.) I have no idea why she didn't fire the woman entirely; as it was, she found me a new doc and kept going to her same one.

Oh yeah, and then there was the small (*cough*) matter of the abnormal Pap smear that the stupid woman's office never called me about and I only learned of when the new doctor's office had the results faxed over, and you can bet that if a doctor EVER did that to me now I would be on the phone to the medical board and the insurance company before you could spit.

Rude names abound. Alas, I suspect that many of them, being quite misogynistic, would not fly in this space.

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

How long after the test did the results get faxed? Of course, an adult would be reporting such laxity.

My parents were of the "don't until marriage" school. I think the only contraceptives covered in "social health" were condoms and maybe the Pill. Don't know how I learned about other methods, unless it was by reading Our Bodies, Ourselves.

My son refused to take Social Health, or whatever they're euphemizing now, because "my parents already told me everything I need to know". We have talked to him about things sexual and reproductive since he was a small child, when he'd bring up the topic, or we'd hear something on the news I wanted to explain.

I was flattered, but I suggested we might have forgotten a few things, and to take it if it were offered later. I certainly didn't go over the stages of STDs--didn't think to--but I explained why he was to use condoms, although the AIDS talk came only last year.