Goodbye TSH test, how to tell doctor?

[Betty847]

At my doctors office I met an Intern from Emory Medical of Georgia and I expressed by concerns about the TSH test and I asked him how they were training him on throid testing and he said "TSH is old school, now they teach Free T3 and T4" yea!!!! To bad they need to re-educate all of the old students!

I have read many articles that the TSH test is not a good judge of Thyroid functioning compared to Free T3 and Free T4.  I have also read horrifying stories of people suffering with thyroid symptoms and yet were not treated because of the tsh test until they were bed ridden!!! and their TSH was extremely high.

The question is how do you re-educate a doctor that doses based on the TSH test? I am tired of switching doctors!!!

[redheadaussie]

I suggest you find out if you can get someone from where the intern was going to perhaps give you that information on paper. Then take it to your doctor. Faced with a letter head from a teaching school with the facts is going to be hard for them to refute.
  TSH still is a valuable tool in the total diagnoses, it tells us the pituitary gland is doing its job of SECRETING the hormone, but yes, without the other two tests, it is totally null and void to make a proper diagnoses.

[skeeterknitwit]

I have bounced around from one Dr. to another in the past year.  Thanks to this group, I gained an understanding of my own condition and how the TSH, FT4, FT3 thing works. Or is supposed to work.
Each time one of those Drs. asked for a TSH, I asked for a Free T4 & Free T3 along with it. Since I'm buying.  Only one Dr. refused and said it is unnecessary.  So I fired him as soon as possible.  Didn't like him anyway.
Don't be afraid to ask for the tests.

[Smilerdeb]

Its really a case of how you put it across to them.
If you 'demand' it gets their back up so really you have to find a Doctor who will work 'with you'.
All the best :)