NewbieQ's - confused & scared (long)

October 17, 2003

On Sept. 4th, I went in for a routine physical. I'd been feeling strange, but

nothing major - just wanted to get checked out. While I was there, I told my DO

I'd become very forgetful, absent-minded, easily distracted, fog-brained. He

has me take a written test, which I failed miserably, and declared I was adult

ADD. I took Stratera for 4 days, but the " side effects " were more than I could

handle, so I dc'd it. 10 days later, the " side effects " were still there and

every bit as pronounced. That was a Friday. On Monday, my Dr's office called to

tell me my lab results were in - I had a TSH of .004. Some side effects of

Stratera are very similar to the SX of Graves. I think the med was enough to

exacerbate my symptoms. Since then, I've grown progressively worse.

This past Tuesday, I saw an endo. He declared me to have Graves based on the

very brief history I gave him and my TSH. He said we'd wait 2 weeks for the lab

results (does it really have to take that long??), then he'd call the RX to my

pharmacy. Yesterday his nurse called, said my labs were in (they'd sent them

stat - 2 days is stat?) and they are to call me today (Friday) before calling my

pharm. He prefers Tapazole. His treatment goal for me is to eventually remove

my thyroid gland. That is also my DO's treatment goal for me.

I'm afraid my options are very limited. There are 5 endo's in this area that are

covered by my insurance. One only take diabetes, one is not trusted in the

local medical community, one is not taking new patients and the 4th is treating

me. That leaves me one other and I know nothing about him at all. And I cannot

find a holistic practitioner here - the closest one is over an hour away. I am

certain I will have to be very much in control of my treatment. I just don't

have a clue where to go from here.

I am an RN, so I understand what I read, but I'm so fuzzy-brained, that

everything I've read online has stopped making sense to me - can't remember half

of it. And I spent my career mostly in psych nursing, so am having to re-learn

a lot of this.

My most immediate question right now is what are the advantages/disadvantages of

Tapazole vs. PTU??

And my big-picture question is: How am I going to educate an endo that hasn't

spent more than 3.5 minutes with me to date? And that was the initial visit!!

I am very worried that at some point he's going to say he can't treat me anymore

because I won't do things his way. Normally I wouldn't care and just go find

another doc, but it's slim pickin's 'round here.

Has anyone else experienced a similar situation?

Thanks for reading to the end.

Carol

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