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Re: My RE does not have a clue - frustrated!
From: anonymous@obgyn.net
Sun Jun 29 19:07:59 2008
Terese--After reading about the difficult and complicated referral
process to see a specialist in the UK I felt so relieved that our system
here in the US still, for the most part, allows us a lot of freedom in
making our OWN choices about our care. i think you have way more than
enough reasons to find a new doctor. Just being uncomfortable with his
treatment of you is enough, not to mention being treated rudely by his
staff, his not sharing test results with you, ignoring troubling
symptoms, etc. Please don't feel like you are doing anything wrong in
seeking out a Dr. with whom you can have a trusting relationship. Most
of the time, the new Dr's office will even handle the request to have
your records transferred to them. ( I do think you ought to go with the
recommendation to see the endocrinologist, though. I believe their
training and focus varies greatly from that of an RE. ) When I first
developed symptoms of endo I saw a new gyn who really left a bad
impression at my first appointment. She kept explaining all my endo
symptoms away as something else and made me feel like I was whining
about nothing. I ignored my first impression and let her treat me
anyway--very bad idea. I won't EVER make that mistake again. Good luck
to you in your journey!!!
At Sun, 29 Jun 2008, Terese wrote:
>
>Okay, so I have had endo for quite some time now. I have severe pain
>and can't get pregnant. I have had 2 laps, both of which have not
>helped with pain. In addition to endo symptoms, I have had a number of
>other weird symptoms like 2-3 weeks straight of bleeding (like an
>extremly long period), my hair falls out like crazy, at one point my
>breasts shrunk down about 1/2 my size (that freaked me out), my
>progesterone is low, my testerone is slightly elevated, I'm cold all of
>the time and I have other odd symptoms as well. I explained all of this
>to my reproductive endocrinologist, but his only concern was putting me
>on clomid or doing in-vitro. He was not concerned at all with all of my
>symptoms.
>
>Before jumping into all of these costly and possibly unecessary
>fertility treatments, I asked him to do a thyroid panel. He refused to
>do a full thyroid panel, but did test my TSH. The TSH came back high
>and he didn't even say anything about it! I asked for a copy of my test
>results and found out on my own. During my last appointment, I brought
>my TSH level up and the nurse practitioner (since my lap, the the nurse
>has been seeing me instead) and she tried telling me it was "normal".
>Luckily, I had articles and books that specifically talk about TSH
>levels (what is high and low) and how it impacts infertility. I
>presented all of this information to her, she looked shocked and
>uncomfortable. She excused herself and when she came back she said that
>she was going to have refer me to an endocrinologist. I mentioned that
>the doctor was a reproductive endocrinologist and I thought that he
>would be able to help me. She said that the thyroid was not his area of
>practice! Hello, if he is a fertility expert wouldn't you think that he
>should know about other issues/symptoms that impact ferility?
>
>So anyway, I'm going to see another doctor about my thyroid as well as
>some of my other hormone levels that are not right. I have done a lot
>of reading on the thyroid and how women with endometriosis are at higher
>risk for thyroid problems. What it has come down to is ME doing all of
>the reading and finding things on my own! It seems as though I have not
>had any doctors care enough to look at the root of the problem.
>
>Have any of you ladies with endo had issues with your thyroid? If so,
>who has been able to help treat you? I am hoping that this new doctor
>that I see next week can have an answer to my problems. I'm just tired
>of wasting my time with useless doctors!
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