How much has your thyroid COST?

[LazyMoose]

Misdiagnosed to under-treated to treated, its costs some of us a lot of $. Without or even with insurance it can be higher than one would think. Its lingering symptoms can place certain limitations on types of career / jobs too. Being on the wrong type of thyroid meds cost you and insurance a lot - you keep going back to the doctor. Just the 'surprise' change in Armour and Nature Thyroid formulations alone easily cost individuals, insurance, and employers MILLIONS of dollars last year.

In my case, If I added it up from misdiagnoses 20 yrs ago to now, its a lot! And just where do you draw the line? Not to mention lost wages from some unruly symptoms, that did not improve until adding T3 a while back - I changed a career path 12 years ago because of thyroid symptoms. Many try to treat individual symptoms not knowing its their thyroid for many years. After all the doc said your in normal range on the only med he prescribes.
Think of all the specialty docs that people end up going to - when it was really caused by thyroid issues or wrong thyroid med for them.

I though of this as I was driving back from the chiropractor this morning, my joints still a little messed up from changing thyroid meds and tying to reach stabilized thyroid levels again. Another $50, but some chiros aren't worth $10 based on my experience, thats how I justify it. Off to spend another $12 on some Magnesium Citrate........

It will be interesting to see if anyone puts a $ mark on their thyroid - it really adds reality to this subject that we should not ignore. In a way I dont want to add mine up!

[LazyMoose]

Echocardiogram - had one too! Palps were from hypo, heart was A OK, so I guess knowing that made it worth $500 out of my pocket.

Some other not so minor expenses since 1990:

Had a sleep study, no sleep was from synthroid.

CAT scan years ago.

ENT

Gastro doc - reflux.

MRI

Foot doc, back doc, hand doc.

I've seen a lot of the above here.

I'll stop now!

[stella5349]

one word... tons!!! - until I got well.

[Barb135]

This is a question that I have truly been afraid to ask myself.  Since I now believe that I bounced between hyper and hypo for at least 20 yrs before dx, I don't have a clue as to how many trips I made to the doctor because of the never ending fatigue, which was put down to depression; then came the muscle aches/pains, which was put down to "getting older"; then came the weight gain, which was also put down to getting older; then came the high cholesterol for which my doctor insisted that I needed med, then the extremely low heart rate and later palps, which got me sent to a cardiologist, who in turn wanted the stress test, echocardiogram, etc; the neck pain(s) that got me sent for MRI/CT scan,  the hoarse voice, which got me sent to an ENT - finally someone who could see what was happening!!

While I shudder to think of the $ cost, which between my insurance company and myself, I know is many, many thousands. I suspect that the "personal" cost for some of us is far more.  I know it is for me.  The times my doctor(s) would  "sneer" at me and say "there's nothing wrong with you, you're tired because you're depressed" -- I remember crying one day while telling one doctor "I'm NOT tired because I'm depressed, I'm depressed because I'm tired all the time".  At that time, I had 2 issues going - one was pernicious anemia which causes almost debilitating fatigue by itself; the other was my thyroid issues, that also causes that same debilitating fatigue; add them together and the sum is not pretty. This particular doctor did not see the necessity of testing for either.  I've since moved on to new doctors at least 3 times since then.  

"Woke up" behind the steering wheel??  Sorry to say, "yes, I've done that".  I used to wish the traffic lights would stay red a few seconds longer so I could just "rest my eyes" for a bit.  I, too, had an episode that truly "woke me up" because it could have killed me and/or someone else .........

If I had a quarter for every time a doctor said "there's nothing wrong with you", or my husband/family got upset because I HAD to pass on activities because I had no energy, hurt too much, etc --- I'd have lots of money in the bank.........

This was a good question LM -- only problem is - it brought back things I don't like to think about.  

[LazyMoose]

Of course there are other 'costs' to with this, not just monetary value. This itself is an endless topic.

One 'costy' very important one is physical safety, and possibly the cost of life(s) itself.

Anyone trying to live a normal life while still having hypo symptoms is also living a dangerous one.

Wonder how many here have 'woke up' behind the wheel while driving? Or operating machinery. Or making a bad (brain fog) decision that can effect others safety or lives - you know it happens every day. My doc has a patient that lost his arm - a hypo induced accident while operating machinery - that's how he was finally Dx'ed hypo, sad but true.

I bring this up because, personally, I'm lucky to be alive...... I'm not going into details, but  survived a near death hypo related situation four years ago, it will forever be etched in my mind. That is truly what  led me to search and learn on my own about under treated Hashimoto disease.

lastly........Thank God for Energy Drinks (and T3).