Doctors' Appointments

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Greeter
Staff member
Before I got old and on Medicare, I would call and make an appointment to see a doctor when I thought I needed one, and that wasn't very often. Now, there are not only the annual check-ups that they seem to imply are mandatory in order to remain on my Advantage Plan, or to have my prescription for Levothyroxine renewed, but I'm not certain whether they are. My annual check-ups are mostly annoying because they seem to offer little in the way of advantage, but a lot of concern over whether there is going to be some new drug they want me to take. Why should I have to see a doctor to have my Levothyroxine prescription renewed, anyhow? I don't have a thyroid anymore, and they're not going to grow back, so the prescription renewals should be automatic. For that matter, why can't I get more than 30 of them at a time? As far as I know, Levothyroxine isn't a recreational drug. Are they afraid I'm going to sell them on the black market?

Apart from my annual check-up, they periodically call my wife's phone (because I never answer mine) to tell me I have a doctor's appointment? A doctor's appointment? Why do I have a doctor's appointment? My annual check-up is in the fall, and I didn't make a doctor's appointment. Sometimes, I get the feeling that if they need extra money to pay their bills, they just call all of the old people to tell them they have a doctor's appointment.
 
Levothyroxine can be a "recreational drug" in a way. It was once sold as a weight loss drug before that was banned. When I was in college, girls would sometimes overdose themselves and got so hyped they couldn't sleep for days on end, but they did lose weight. Do they ever do a complete thyroid work up on you @Ken Anderson ? Your sensitivity to the hormone can change and your doe may need to be adjusted, usually by looking at TSH as well as T4/Free T4. Getting a t3 or Free T3 would also be helpful annually or every two years just to make sure you can
de-iodinate the T4 into an active form.
 
Yesterday we got a call from our Rx provider,because a med of husbands has not been filled. :mad: No it has not, as he has another 2 weeks worth still I am still quite capable of ordering meds when needed. Then for some reason auto renewal on my inhaler was ready. I called them..I do not need this yet, please put that back on the shelf.The cost of inhalers are a lot!
I have been fused at by a friend because I have not seen a heart doctor(except once) since moving to the horrible state of KS. Well guess what I don't have a lung doctor or kidney doctor either, a gastro, every doctor you need is a 2-3 hours or more away.

I could go full rant ..but is early and I wanna savor me day:)
 
Ken Anderson said:
Before I got old and on Medicare, I would call and make an appointment to see a doctor when I thought I needed one, and that wasn't very often. Now, there are not only the annual check-ups that they seem to imply are mandatory in order to remain on my Advantage Plan, or to have my prescription for Levothyroxine renewed, but I'm not certain whether they are. My annual check-ups are mostly annoying because they seem to offer little in the way of advantage, but a lot of concern over whether there is going to be some new drug they want me to take. Why should I have to see a doctor to have my Levothyroxine prescription renewed, anyhow? I don't have a thyroid anymore, and they're not going to grow back, so the prescription renewals should be automatic. For that matter, why can't I get more than 30 of them at a time? As far as I know, Levothyroxine isn't a recreational drug. Are they afraid I'm going to sell them on the black market?

Apart from my annual check-up, they periodically call my wife's phone (because I never answer mine) to tell me I have a doctor's appointment? A doctor's appointment? Why do I have a doctor's appointment? My annual check-up is in the fall, and I didn't make a doctor's appointment. Sometimes, I get the feeling that if they need extra money to pay their bills, they just call all of the old people to tell them they have a doctor's appointment.
Click to expand...
I wondered about the annual check up. I don't see a doctor if I have no symptoms. I figured that I was saving insurance company money that way but as I have no fee for Advantage, maybe they make their money from the pharma companies and keeping up with meds?
 
It has long been a gripe of mine that I can't get blood pressure prescriptions renewed unless I see the doctor. She says I must take the BP meds, but if I don't go in for a 'checkup' they won't renew my Rx? And of course when I see her, she orders the full range of blood work so I have to have lab work as well, and then the lecture about statins, blah, blah.

It has been mentioned on the forum before that it is prudent to keep the checkup appointments for another reason... access to a doctor when you really need a doctor. There is a lot to be said for being able to get in to see a doctor when you need to, as an established patient.

Unfortunately, my last blood work showed high levels of potassium in my blood so I had a re-test a week later. It was still high so now I have to worry about that. I'm sure yet another prescription will be the 'remedy'.
 
If I want my BP meds, I have to see my primary care doctor 2X/yearly. If I don’t take them, my BPhas been known to climb to 196/106 and I was still doing barn chores not feeling all that bad.

After 22 years as a patient, he’s not near as bad as he used to be about trying to give me meds I don’t want. “Not near” being the operative.

I do get the blood work.

I have BCBSTN, which is expensive but also the Golden Insurance Child in Tennessee, so I don’t pay much out of pocket yet.

Thankfully I live in a rural/Ag county where there are still a lot of senior & geriatric farmers and farmers wives —- we are all used to hard work, don’t bother us with stupid stuff doctor, because we don’t have time for all that nonsense —- just give us what we need and go on to your next patient….

When I left the doctor’s office this last time, he turned at the door, smiled and said to me “—-take care of those horses, they are blessed animals—-“. I thought finally he gets me😇😇
 
My thyroid gland was doomed after head and neck radiation 20 years ago. I was on Levothyroxine for a couple of years but thanks to an emergency care doctor discovered natural dessicated thyroid hormone. She guided me to 'Stop the Thyroid Madness' and I learned how all that really works and just how little and unwilling most doctors are to address the treatment. I order my NDT from Thailand and have been self medicating without a doctor for many years.

Almost all doctors refuse to prescribe anything but T4 (Levothyroxine) despite all mammals on the planet having thyroid glands that produce T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. I don't need a big pharma medical degree to see that isn't the best solution. Doctors are taught to check TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) that is produced by the pituitary gland and is an inactive hormone, not the true T4 and T3 levels.

stopthethyroidmadness.com

Your Hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's and Thyroid Treatment Resource - Stop The Thyroid Madness

Thyroid mistreatment using T4 medicine, the TSH lab test, and Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism mismanagement are too common. Find out the truth about this ongoing scandal.
stopthethyroidmadness.com
 
John Wick said:
My thyroid gland was doomed after head and neck radiation 20 years ago. I was on Levothyroxine for a couple of years but thanks to an emergency care doctor discovered natural dessicated thyroid hormone. She guided me to 'Stop the Thyroid Madness' and I learned how all that really works and just how little and unwilling most doctors are to address the treatment. I order my NDT from Thailand and have been self medicating without a doctor for many years.

Almost all doctors refuse to prescribe anything but T4 (Levothyroxine) despite all mammals on the planet having thyroid glands that produce T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. I don't need a big pharma medical degree to see that isn't the best solution. Doctors are taught to check TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) that is produced by the pituitary gland and is an inactive hormone, not the true T4 and T3 levels.

stopthethyroidmadness.com

Your Hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's and Thyroid Treatment Resource - Stop The Thyroid Madness

Thyroid mistreatment using T4 medicine, the TSH lab test, and Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism mismanagement are too common. Find out the truth about this ongoing scandal.
stopthethyroidmadness.com
Click to expand...
I am still able to get my Armour thyroid from me doctor, but it seems like I have to have a battle with the medication provider (CVS) because they want me to change over.
I also take kelp pills twice a day, and some natural desiccated thyroid that I get on Amazon, and it keeps my thyroid working right. They test it with my labs several times a year, just to make sure that it is still doing okay.

We have changed doctors several times , trying to find one that we like, and who listens to us. The one we really liked doesn’t take our insurance anymore, so we struggled through trying to find a good one again.
This year, our Medicare insurance company, Devoted Health, decided to offer virtual primary care online. Bobby and i talked it over and decided to try that, and it has worked out really well for us.

We have online doctor visits, and since it is a video appointment, we do not have to drive anywhere or in traffic for the appointment, and we can wait in our own home. The appointment will be scheduled in an hour (8-9 AM) type of thing, so we just sign in and wait for the doctor to come online.
The Devoted doctors listen to any concerns, and if we need a specialist, they give us a referral, just like a regular doctor does. If we need to see a doctor for some kind of emergency, we could go to the ER or a walk in urgent care clinic. Bobby and I seldom get sick or need that, so just the online visits work great for us.
 
John Wick said:
My thyroid gland was doomed after head and neck radiation 20 years ago. I was on Levothyroxine for a couple of years but thanks to an emergency care doctor discovered natural dessicated thyroid hormone. She guided me to 'Stop the Thyroid Madness' and I learned how all that really works and just how little and unwilling most doctors are to address the treatment. I order my NDT from Thailand and have been self medicating without a doctor for many years.

Almost all doctors refuse to prescribe anything but T4 (Levothyroxine) despite all mammals on the planet having thyroid glands that produce T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. I don't need a big pharma medical degree to see that isn't the best solution. Doctors are taught to check TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) that is produced by the pituitary gland and is an inactive hormone, not the true T4 and T3 levels.

stopthethyroidmadness.com

Your Hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's and Thyroid Treatment Resource - Stop The Thyroid Madness

Thyroid mistreatment using T4 medicine, the TSH lab test, and Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism mismanagement are too common. Find out the truth about this ongoing scandal.
stopthethyroidmadness.com
Click to expand...
Do you understand why TSH is ordered @John Wick ?
 
One way to deal with providers when they mention statins or any other drug you you not wish to take is to say, "You can prescribe that if it makes you feel better, but I will not fill the script or take the med."
 
What don't I know about Levothyroxine? I've been taking it for several years now, and I am unaware of any negative side effects, and things seem to be pretty much in order as far as any health issues that seem likely to be related to my lack of thyroid nodes.
 
Yes, I understand. The problem is your TSH level can be in the guidelines and you can still have hypothyroid or hyperthyroid symptoms.

Also the standard range is very different from the low end to the high. Most thyroid patients never had a baseline reading done before thyroid issues happened. Since what is a normal TSH reading can vary wildy between individuals, how can such a wide guideline determine if your thyroid health is normal for you? It can't, you need the complete labs on T4, T3, free T3, reverse T3, cortisol and adrenal function. Without those the doctors do not have the information they need.

There are also physical symptoms that if correctly identified can tell you quite a bit about your thyroid health/function.
 
John Wick said:
The problem is your TSH level can be in the guidelines and you can still have hypothyroid or hyperthyroid symptoms.
Click to expand...
That would be difficult to tell since many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism, and perhaps to a slightly lesser extent, hyperthyroidism, are things that we expect in older ages, while there are many other possible causes for others. For example, I have a very low pulse rate, but this was true when I was in my 20s and 30s. After a couple of decades of sitting in front of a computer and paying little attention to diet, my pulse rate rose, but dropped down again once I started exercising regularly and doing a better job in my diet.
 
I sound like a broken record, but sedentary lifestyles can be a major issue for hormonal levels. All of the walking you do Ken should be a big help (y)

I understand that aging brings changes to our body. But aging combined with little or no exercise is a recipe for declining health.
Yes, exercising takes more effort as you get older, but a little sweat and misery is much preferred to the alternative.
 
John Wick said:
But aging combined with little or no exercise is a recipe for declining health.
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Definitely. Although age has shown itself in some areas, in others, I feel better than I did a decade ago. Moving back to the issue of doctors' appointments, my frustration comes from the fact that doctors' appointments are now being scheduled for me rather than by me, and that they seem to have little to do with my health. Any actual problems that I might advance are pretty much ignored, while the discussion nearly always revolves around numbers and statistics related to my latest blood test, or to one blood pressure reading taken at the office by someone who is going about it all wrong, and ignoring the readings that I take throughout the day, nearly every day. People should not be medicated on the basis of one reading, particularly one taken at a doctor's office. I refer to what I ordinarily see as doctoring by the numbers.
 
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Just for the record, TSH is monitored as a check on the feedback mechanism set up within the body and a "normal"
TSH simply means that your body thinks the T4 level ( which I think is the parameter monitored by the body). It is, in intact people, the signal that the pituitary sends to increase or decrease the secretion of thyroid hormone to thee gland. That can be affected in some people by iodine and iron and perhaps other nutrients, and the inability to secrete sufficient thyroid hormones leads to goiter as the gland tries to enlarge to meet the needs of the body. The true monitor of thyroid function is the hypothalamus, which secretes TRH (Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone) to tell the pituitary to secrete or stop secreting TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) which in turn determines how much T4 (Thyroxine) the thyroid gland(s) should deliver to the body. TRH can be measured, but it is a very expensive assay, and, since most doctors don't understand much of this, TSH is now simple and relatively inexpensive to monitor. Those on levothyroxine or other thyroid supplements should have their TSH measured every year or two to ensure that the level of supplementation is meeting the needs of the body while not overdosing. As I have said before, post-menopausal women, probably the biggest supplemented group, seem to be happiest when their TSH level is around 1.0 mIU/L. Any lower and they become jittery and (more) short tempered;), and higher tends to lead to sluggishness and weight gain. Men don't seem to be as sensitive to their thyroid levels but probably should stay between 1.0 and 2.5 mIU/L. Again, this is just my opinion, but endocrinology is very complicated stuff, and every time something is altered, it can cause changes in other things and lead to different issues.

I know this is TMI for most, but ignore it all if you wish.
 
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