The T4 wars - Part 3 - You will die
My Endocrinologist C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana was probably showing off for his young Physician's Assistant when he first started yelling at me:
"I am an ENDOCRINOLOGIST. If you have some kind of symptom, go see your GP! It's not this treatment. Everyone feels great on this treatment."
My treatment was standard: Levoxyl, which I knew to be the synthetic thyroid hormone known as T4.
"BUT my hair is falling out. I'm in pain. I can't think. Surely this has something to do with thyroid treatment?"
At the top of his voice he denied it and repeated that how I was *feeling* was not his concern.
"I'm losing my business. I can't work. What about T3?" I asked, still thinking there had to be possibilities other than me going home to suffer.
C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana said simply: "You will die before I prescribe T3 without the numbers."
In that moment we both knew I would have to find another doctor and Alexander could go back to lazily prescribing insulin and getting to lunch on time. No doubt Alexander was relieved to be rid of another sick thyroid patient; I was alarmed, confused, and in hypothyroid tears.
But later, as I struggled to understand what happened through my thick hypothyroid fog, his statement came back to me. Why was he so against T3 that it would take my very death before he prescribed it?
"I am an ENDOCRINOLOGIST. If you have some kind of symptom, go see your GP! It's not this treatment. Everyone feels great on this treatment."
My treatment was standard: Levoxyl, which I knew to be the synthetic thyroid hormone known as T4.
"BUT my hair is falling out. I'm in pain. I can't think. Surely this has something to do with thyroid treatment?"
At the top of his voice he denied it and repeated that how I was *feeling* was not his concern.
"I'm losing my business. I can't work. What about T3?" I asked, still thinking there had to be possibilities other than me going home to suffer.
C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana said simply: "You will die before I prescribe T3 without the numbers."
In that moment we both knew I would have to find another doctor and Alexander could go back to lazily prescribing insulin and getting to lunch on time. No doubt Alexander was relieved to be rid of another sick thyroid patient; I was alarmed, confused, and in hypothyroid tears.
But later, as I struggled to understand what happened through my thick hypothyroid fog, his statement came back to me. Why was he so against T3 that it would take my very death before he prescribed it?
posted by Walker at 11:12 AM
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