Back from Dr. Cannamakeuphismind!

[Guest guest]

Well I'm finally back home after my 120 mile trip to see the new

doctor today. The good thing - I came home with a bottle of 100x60mg

Armour (& three refills) !!! For a Kaiser doctor he was better than

most! Some of the highlights of my visit:

* his emphasis was on symptoms & treating them (yeah!) but .... within

the boundries of the almighty TSH results (boo!). He said he would

'tolerate' a TSH drop to maybe a .4 but no lower (mine is currently

2.5). But in the same breath said he would be primarily focusing on

treating my symptoms!

* his did initially want to prescribe $$ynthetics (boo!) but I said I

wanted Armour - he acknowledged that he was a flexible doctor & was

willing to let me (the assertive patient!) try Armour (yeah!). But

.... then got the speech about Armour not being a steady supply of

hormones, each pill/bottle/batch etc has different amounts, didn't I

know that I could get mad cow from the pig/cow 'stuff' that was in

Armour (major BOO - I just thought I'd let this one slip for today -

I'm going to print off some information sheets about the levels in

Armour & send it to him!). Also got off onto some story about Armour

hotdogs & the town being poisoned & everyone being hyperthyroid......

Also listed three BIG things wrong with Armour: 1) potential

phychosis from too much (huh??? I've never heard that one), 2) the old

osteoporisis scare & 3) just a " too much is not good for you " line.

* then we discussed lab results - he acknowledged that Kaiser had a

fairly broad range, especially to the current range promoted by the

AACE. Kept repeating that he would treat my symptoms - I saw this as

a good thing, very much in his favor (especially after the last nazi

doctor I had seen). Then I asked for ferritin testing - the last doc

wouldn't do it. He said lets check your levels in the past ... pulled

up all my labs from the last 5 years (gotta love computers!) & I had

some ferritin testing done about 5 years ago - my TSH was 3.5 then &

my ferritin was .... wait for it ..... SIX! He looked at that & said

" oh well that all looks fine " . I just about fell out of my chair, &

started coughing & then he said " oh well, I guess that it's really a

little low - you were probably quite anemic at that time " . No sh**

sherlock! I had no idea my ferritin had been so low! So I had some

blood drawn today & we'll see where the current levels are - guess I

need to find some ferrous sulphate eh??? What's the dose on that ...

325mg/3x/day?

* the good things about this doc - he was very chatty, open-minded,

seemed to be able to handle just about anything I threw his way & is

happy to 'work with me'! Very encouraging about getting the " me " back

to be able to resume my training & still compete this summer in some

triathlons. Even talked about being able to shoot for a half

marathon! This was very encouraging for me! A huge improvement from

the last doc. Is it the perfect patient/doctor situation? No, not by

far. But it's an improvement & I've been able to do it within the

Kaiser system (this means a lot to us financially). He was also open

to the suggestion of treating my 14 yr old daughter - only if she had

" questionable " lab results, but I think with communication between us

he might come around!!

So as I write this I have my 30mg of Armour in my cheek! Should I try

for another 30 tonight, or just wait until tomorrow to start the 30mg

twice/day?

Let the good times roll ....... ;-)