Thyroid Patients Explain What Things They Wish Their Doctor Would Do

If there’s one thing I hear a lot from thyroid patients, it’s that they feel as if their doctor just doesn’t understand. Many people with hypothyroidism feel as if they’re banging their head against a brick wall when trying to form a relationship with their doctor that sees them work in partnership and allows the thyroid patient to be an active participant in their own healthcare. 

I asked my thyroid community to fill in the end of this sentence:

“I wish my doctor would…”

Here are just a few of the responses (I received almost 150).

Names have been left out to keep people anonymous.

• I wish my doctor would understand the need for a full thyroid panel of bloods instead of just TSH.
• I wish my doctor understood that being ‘in range’ doesn’t mean I feel well.
• I wish my doctor understood that I’m not unwell because I have depression. I have depression because I’m constantly unwell.
• I wish my doctor would speak to me as an equal.
• I wish my doctor treated me in the context of life, not in the context of a textbook.
• I wish my doctor would see me as the expert on me.
• I wish my doctor would take responsibility for my care.
• I wish my doctor was looked after better by the NHS.
• I wish my doctor had been trained by an institution that took thyroid problems seriously.
• I wish my doctor hadn’t offered me a diet pill, but instead checked my Free T3, low ferritin, and low cortisol.
• I wish my doctor would be concerned with quality of life as well as quantity.
• I wish that my doctor would go by how I feel instead of going by the results from the tests. Just because the tests show normal doesn’t mean that I feel my best.
• I wish my doctor would run the proper tests to give me a definite answer to on whether I have Hashimoto’s.
• I wish my doctor would not tell me to “stay off the internet” when I try to be my own health and thyroid advocate.
• I wish my doctor would not laugh at me when I tell him that the AIP diet really helped my symptoms.
• I wish my doctor would listen to my list of symptoms, instead of rushing me out the door.
• I wish my doctor would treat me as seriously as she would if she was the one with Hashimoto’s.
• I wish my doctor would give me more options of treatment as there is more than just Synthroid.
• I wish my doctor would consider other medications besides Levothyroxine.
• I wish my doctor would talk about lifestyle changes that can be made, diet, exercise, supplements not just prescribe Synthroid.
• I wish my doctor would accept and support my choice to take NDT instead of Levothyroxine.
• I wish my doctor would look at me rather than her laptop.
• I wish my doctor would test regularly instead of yearly.
• I wish my female internal medicine doctor of 15 years would have said “I’m not qualified for this.” According to my records, I had a TSH of 105 in April 2014 and 101 August 2014, but it wasn’t picked up.
• I wish my doctor would take the time to educate himself on how to treat the thyroid – using a functional approach.
• I wish my doctor would see that this is not about them. I have to live with and through this and I have the most to lose here.
• I wish my doctor walked in my shoes and lived my life with this disease for a month.
• I wish my doctor had asked more questions and tested me instead of treating just one symptom or else saying that menopausal women just had to get used to it.
• I wish my doctor wouldn’t make me beg for a full thyroid panel or to try something other than T4-only meds but instead encourage it!
• I wish my Doctor would prescribe me a T3 medication.
• I wish my doctor would read all the blogs by The Invisible Hypothyroidism and learn what we go through. (this one made me smile!)
• I wish my doctor would realise I am not trying to undermine her when I have done my own research and go to discuss it with her so that we can find a way forwards – because I am sick of being sick.
• I wish my doctor had dissuade me from removing half my thyroid and explore all options with me first.
• I wish my doctor would stop telling me to wait 3 months to see what happens and consider my quality of life now!
•  I wish my doctor would not make feel like a hypochondriac.
• I wish my doctor would treat me as an individual and not try to fit me into a ‘one size fits all‘ box.
•  I wish my doctor communicated with me. He just sends me to have blood drawn then the nurse calls to say up the meds. That’s it. I have no idea why or what my levels are. It’s ins and outs and they don’t have time to answer my questions.