How does one find a Doctor who listens?

[Dakarihhontye]

Can anyone tell me all tests one should have to determine cause and type of thyroid disorder one actually has?


This discussion is related to switch to armour thyroid?.

[goolarra]

You can post a question here asking for doc recommendations.  Try to get the name of your state, and perhaps city, in the title line.

That didn't work for me.  So, I sent out a questionnaire to all the endos and one ENT in the area (4 total).  I designed it so all they had to do was check boxes, and it was only one page long (took 2 minutes of their time, max).  Of the 4 I sent out, only 1 replied!  So, what could I do but make an appointment with him?  I've only seen him once, but I absolutely loved him.  I guess just his willingness to take the time to answer someone he didn't know from Adam is a real plus.

Minimum thyroid tests, if you've never had any:  TSH, free T3, free T4.  Those will let you and your doc know where to go from there.

[gimel]

A good starting point for testing would be free T3 as the most important, followed by free T4 and TSH.  

[Barb135]

If you figure out how to find a doctor that listens, please let me know as I've been trying to get PCP to listen and take my symptoms seriously for some months now.  To date, all he will say is that my symptoms are JUST caused by stress and have nothing to do with my thryoid issue!!  

I did get lucky in that my PCP's nurse practitioner noticed that I had seen an ENT last year for unrelated issues and decided that I needed to go back to him again and he got the ball rolling with more blood work, ultra sound, etc.  Not sure what will happen when (if) he decides there's nothing more he can do to help because my PCP appeared to be very offended that I was seeing the ENT and pretty much backed out.  

There are some others that can tell you what tests to have done.