Adventures in Thyroidia!

The thyroid gland is butterfly-shaped. Photo by Vicki's Nature on Flickr.

My latest thyroid followup exam was last night. The blood test showed that my TSH was at 2.7 (which falls into normal by his standards where over 4.5 is high, but falls into the very high end of normal by the 2003 AACE standards where over 3.0 is considered high. (More TSH wankery here) and my T4 was 13.1, which is high. So he’s dialing me back down to 25 mcg a day from 50 mcg a day.

He asked how I was feeling, and I replied that I was still tired and still cold and a bit blue because I spent the whole summer (my favorite season) wearing a gray sweater. Much to my surprise, he replied that my symptoms are not thyroid related and, hey, here’s a pamphlet on Lexapro and have I considered general anxiety disorder?

(record scratch)

I didn’t start this process because I had symptoms of anything. I wanted a routine physical exam because I hadn’t had one in years. Doc found the thyroid problem in the routine blood test and told me I had hypothyroidism. I checked out the symptoms and realized…wow…I *have* been cold lately and I *have* been really tired and look my skin *is* dry. So I believed him and took the pills and read up on the problem.

I don’t want to become *that* patient, but I’d rather the doc say…

=> “Hm…still feeling poorly? Maybe we should take a closer look at your iron levels/circulation/diet/glucose levels…”
=> “Well, sometimes what’s normal on paper isn’t normal for everyone. Maybe we should run the full thyroid panel…”
=> “Let me refer you to a colleague of mine who’s an endocrinologist.”

I’m resentful that 7.5 minutes into a 15 minute appointment I was written off as having GAD because my symptoms didn’t magically go away when the thyroid levels hit a certain number.

So now what? I put on a second pair of socks and go look for an endocrinologist.