Nervous about doctor appointment tomorrow

[Guest guest]

I was dx as hypothyroid with quite bad adrenal fatigue by this doc I

am seeing here in Ireland at the moment. He is VERY expensive (180

euro per visit plus transport costs and meds and supplements), however

there is literally nobody else in the country that has any idea. He

has least has a bit of a clue. He has had me on adrenal glandulars

since August and we started 1/2 grain armour on 12th November 2008. I

was fine until the 15th when my body went crazy with my hands shaking.

I felt very weird. I slept badly on the night of the 16th because I

felt like something was in my skin. Like I was crawling out of my

skin. Felt very edgy and worried until next day I reduced my dose to a

1/4 grain. My adrenals obviously can't cope with even 1/2 a grain.

Tried again to go up to 1/2 grain on the 24th November. Started to get

strange fluttering in my tummy area. Experienced hot flushes during

the past few days. Had a scary experience in the gym on the 27th. I

did quite a solid 10 min interval training to warm up. It was slightly

more exertion than usual but it wasn't extreme. When I got off the

treadmill to go to the weights area my heartbeat was still quite high

when normally it would have slowed by this point. I started with my

first exercise and I was so exhausted. I did three sets of this one

exercise and then did 3 sets of the one arm row and 3 sets of bicep

curls. I went to do my tricep dips and I just couldn't. My heart was

racing. Normally my heart rate while doing weights is at 110. It was

at 140 and I sat still. It took AGES to come down to a normal resting

heart rate of 80. I was exhausted so only did 3 more sets of one

exercise after the tricep dips. Then I had to go home.

Then I had to go home (BTW I know now to cut out exercise; that I'm

not supposed to be doing any....sigh).

So I cut armour back to 1/4 grain as of the 28th.

I have another appointment with him tomorrow on account of this

adrenal crisis. However I am very nervous and this time I don't want

to forget everything I want to say like I did last appointment.

The issues I have are:

I want him to give me 20mg of HC

I want him to check my thyroid antibodies and send me for an ACTH test

as well as vitamin D status test

He wanted me to go on synthetic progesterone and there is no way I am

taking synthetic. What do I say when he asks have I taken it?

He is very friendly and pleasant. However he is not overly keen on HC.

And he never even mentioned the tests I want even though he did loads

of others. Funny but if I had started out thinking of him as a tough

nut I would have been more assertive. However I feel like now it's all

so pleasant between us that I am embarrassed to all of a sudden get

tough and demanding. I am also worried that he will think that the

crisis I have had is because I am on armour and that I would do better

on synthetic.

Finally even if he does agree that I need the HC and all that he is

wildly expensive and I can't afford to see him every month so will

need to self treat. How can I tell him that I will have to self treat

and check in with him every six months or so?

I do have a backup plan. I plan on seeing Dr. Peatfield in January.

Can anybody give me any tips on how to talk to my doc to persuade him

to give me HC? I am very nervous.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.