I’m seriously considering doing this. Michael Moore has a letter up at his website, appealing to others to Send Me Your Health Care Horror Stories. Not only have I already been through the wringer for

I have experienced this very thing with doctors. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which is
autoimmune thyroid disease where the body’s immune system attacks and eventually destroys the
thyroid gland. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in February 2004 with a TSH of 10. My (now
former) doctor told me that he didn’t start treating patients for hypothyroidism until their TSH
reached over 10, but made “an exception” with me by giving me a Synthroid prescription because
I originally came to him for help with problems I had losing weight. I was dieting and
exercising properly and was taking Aikido. I should have been losing weight but was gaining
instead. So I took Synthroid for a year and my health rapidly declined. My hair started to fall
out. My skin turn yellow and white like leopard spots. My triglycerides soared to 550, and my
cholesterol reached 220 when it was always below 100. My blood pressure which was normally
90/80 was now 170/100. I felt like I had the flu all the time and I was so exhausted and
mean to everyone because I felt like I was dying, and in all reality I was but slowly. I asked
him to switch me to Armour and he said no because my TSH was too low at 0.4, however a week prior
it was 13. My TSH fluctuated wildly on Synthroid and it made me feel awful. I really don’t
believe that he was ignoring me. I feel more that he just didn’t know enough about the
disease so I went to see an endocrinologist who diagnosed me with Hashimoto’s disease after
seeing my high antibodies. He refused to switch me to Armour too saying that my TSH, now at a 5
was fine and that my symptoms were not thyroid-related. I went to yet another endocrinologist
who wouldn’t switch me to Armour because she said it was evil and very bad for you. Finally I
went to the Forest Pharmaceuticals website and found a doctor who prescribed me Armour. By the
time I saw that doctor, my TSH went back up to an 8 (keep in mind my dose on Synthroid did not
change.) A month later on Armour, my cholesterol dropped to 180 and my triglycerides dropped to
453. My TSH went to 0.2 and it never changes. My blood pressure is now a healthy 130/88. My
new doctor found out that I have low adrenal function and that my undertreated thyroid disease
was masking it. He put me on adrenal hormones and I feel great! I also take B12 shots because
I had been sick for so long that I lost the ability to absorb it from food or even if I take it
in powder form. I also found out that I am prediabetic so I started the South Beach diet because
it is low glycemic and lost 14 pounds after being on it for two months. My skin is no longer
yellow, I have energy and my mood has improved. All those other doctors I saw would never have
found any of the additional problems I had, and even if by some small margin they did, they
would have never prescribed natural hormones or B12 shots as treatments! I am thankful to Mary
Shomon and all the hard work she has done to educate us and make us realize that sometimes we
have to be our own doctors. I picked up Living Well with Hypothyroidism from the library days
after I was originally diagnosed and visited the thyroid.about.com forum. If I was not armed
with all the information Mary gave in her book and with all the great information from the good
people from the forum, I would be jobless, divorced and thinking I was crazy because of bad and
misinformed doctors. I owe them all my heartfelt thanks for teaching me to take control of my
health and not leave it solely to the doctors like I had my whole life!