What is the benefit of being a surgeon?

Could I possibly benefit from hormone therapy? Hypothyroid/Thyroiditis?

• For the last three years, the symptoms of hypothyroidism have been slowly increasing or worsening for me. I never thought that it could be that, until I read about it, and found out that my grandmother had a goiter, and my mother has been on hormones for hypothyroid for 20+ years. A few months ago, I noticed my neck was larger, and I have not been able to lose weight at all, no matter what I do. I have no libido, no energy, and cannot focus well. My skin is so dry even when I use lotion, it's painful, not to mention I feel swollen and sore all over. My neck would swell if I raised my heart rate, and it hurt, and felt like I was being choked or having an allergic reaction all the time. I could not sleep on my back, and it was difficult to even swallow mashed potatoes at times. My ultra sound came back showing I had a "thickened isthmus". My family doctor sent me to a surgeon, and he told me I had thyroiditis. He put me on antibiotics, steroids, and acid reflux meds. He told me that he didn't think that hormones would help me, and that he thinks that the swallowing issues are from scar tissue from acid reflux, with I've only had once in my life for a week. What about the other symptoms? I have finished my antibiotics, and steroids, and they are still there. And I'm supposed to have surgery to "scrape" the scar tissue in 3 weeks. My TSH was .90 which I'm told is in normal range 0.30-4.5. But, it's that low enough on the scale to possibly cause some issues? They didn't even test my T3 or T4. Could I benefit from hormone therapy? The surgeon says he doesn't think so, but I really think I may need more info. Please only serious answers, and only from people who have had this experience or similar, or a doctor preferably in the related field.

• Answer:

  "he told me I had thyroiditis. He put me on antibiotics, steroids, and acid reflux meds. He told me that he didn't think that hormones would help me" You need a NEW doctor! You also need testing for thyroid antibodies as with those, TSH may falsely show 'ok'. This is the first time I have heard of someone with thyroiditis being put on those meds! I would not be having that scraping of the scar tissue either! You could be really messing up there. Here is some info for you: You need testing for thyroid ANTIBODIES as well as TSH. TSH ‘norm’ should be .3 – 3 (w/ most feeling best at < 2) but would not matter if ANTIBODIES are present. Indicative of Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Thyroiditis…main cause of HypOthyroid & is worse (...OR Graves Disease - HypERthyroid). WARNING: Doctors seem not to want to find/treat thyroid disease. You may have to go to more than one doctor before you get the right tests, interpretation, and treatment. Best wishes. Ck these: http://thyroid.about.com/bio/Mary-Shomon-350.htm http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ http://www.thyrophoenix.com/index.html http://thyroid.about.com/cs/newsinfo/l/blguidelines.htm God bless