Medical Update: Going Into Surgery In 3 Weeks

The Endocrinologist wants to kill off my Thyroid because she thinks its the cause of my heart and blood problem. Funny, she says its Hypothyroidism. The NYS Disability Doc says its Hyperthyroidism, though he agrees on the conclusion of killing off the Thyroid. The Thyroid is the gland of the Adam's Apple, and it is killed of by putting something in there and injecting you with radioactive-iodine.

Thing is this. Killing the Thyroid puts me where I have to take two hormone drugs for life, which the Thyroid did naturally. They say that doing this will take me off my 18+ pill a day regiment.

Now the clincher. My Cardiologist says, "Wait a minute! You are to take these 18+ pills no matter what happens to the Thyroid!" He makes money from every pill he prescribes.

So, who to believe? I got less than 3 weeks for this to happen and have gotten no where with either doc.

I suppose there are two options here:

1/ The cardiologist is seeing an incredible source of profit drying up and is breaching his ethical obligations to his patient.

2/ The cardiologist knows more about the heart and is erring firmly on the side of caution through experience.

I suppose you could always try and get a second opinion from a second cardiologist. I don't know how the US healthcare system works, but I'd assume (and hope) that the Disability Doctor is a neutral third party with no financial incentive one way or the other.

I don't know the details of your condition, but I suppose that the question is which set of problems will less of an impact on your life: needing to take the series of tablets each day to keep your heart and blood in check, or needing to take the hormone supplements and deal with any consequences of that rather than the heart or blood problems. Plus, of course, the likelihood of the operation not succeeding in its objective.

I assume the three all know about each other and what they've suggested? If they're playing games with you, can you get the three to fight it out amongst themselves? Copy them all into an e-mail asking blunt questions and see if the Cardiologist changes his tune when faced with his peers?

Short answer: Do you have someone you know is a neutral third party? Is there some sort of charity you can go to for advice?

Either way, hope it all works out for you in the end.

(Side note: this is why I like the NHS. They may try and do things as cheaply and slowly as possible, but I'm never in a position where I end up wondering if my advisor is more interested in my money than my long-term health and quality of life).

I hope that you get better and may you find a competent doctor that will help you on your road to complete health.

Vett wrote:(Side note: this is why I like the NHS. They may try and do things as cheaply and slowly as possible, but I'm never in a position where I end up wondering if my advisor is more interested in my money than my long-term health and quality of life).

Sounds a bit like the rule of thumb here: if you want nice sheets and speedy service, fork for a private hospital, if you want the best medical care, go public.


Best of luck Elfen. Unfortunately, I'm not the best person to check in with medicine wise, though I would back Vett's suggestion to try and find a neutral third party in the whole thing.

If you had the ability to travel, I'd say go to Cuba for a bonafide unbiased third-party opinion(worked for my Grandma).

Either way, killing off a gland is never an easy proposition and keeping you on the 18+ pill a day without natural hormones to balance out the tide of chemical interactions.

Not all bad though, after you get used to the hormone medications, you can tinker around with them to get that slim and trim body you've always longed for.

In my short time in the medical field I found MANY who did just that whenever they had been prescribed medication in the event of thyroid failure/removal.

I have to echo the others in saying you should do your best to find an unbiased third opinion in the matter. The fact that there are doctors who base their diagnoses and prescriptions on their own financial health instead of the health of their patient is disgusting, but it's the system we unfortunately have here. I wish you the best of luck in this, and I hope that you end up recovering and feeling better at the end of it all.