Friday, May 18, 2007

Quiz: What Type of Doctor is Best For You and Your Thyroid Treatment?

A reader asked me exactly this question, and I hesitated to answer because I've been "around the block" thyroid wise, and finally found a guy I trust (an endocrinologist). But some people like having their primary care physicians monitor things, and there are also some general medicine doctors who might have a specialty in endocrine problems...and then there's the alternative docs. The bottom line: if yo have (or suspect you might have) a thyroid problem. you NEED a specialist. If you have "unexplained infertility," thyroid is one of the first places you should start.

So again, I turn this over to About.com's thyroid guru.

"Quiz: What Type of Doctor is Best For You and Your Thyroid Treatment?
from Mary Shomon

What type of doctor is likely to be the best fit with your approach to health? For some people, it may be an endocrinologist, others want someone who focuses specifically on the thyroid, and for some, an alternative or holistic doctor is best. Take this quiz to explore some of your own feelings about your health care, the style and personality of your doctor, your thoughts about alternative medicine, and you'll get an automatic assessment of the type of doctor you might find best for your health care.
Take the Quiz.

5 comments:

  1. I had good experience with an endocrinologist 6 or 7 years ago. I had a thyroid nodule aka tumor that was "indeterminate" so I had to have half my thyroid removed to make sure it wasn't cancer. I'm fine now but get my hormones checked annually by my regular doc.

    Nodules are a very common and usually benign (though scary) condition that few know about...note any swelling or lumps in the side of your neck. If you have other thyroid-esque symptoms AND a lumpy thing in your neck that should tell you something.

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  2. Yes, a bunch of med studnts I know had lumps--it was precancer from the xrays!

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  3. I am still trying to learn what "precancer" is. Mine was totally benign (though how long it would it have stayed that way I wonder?). But my friend's was pre-cancer. The scaaaaaary part is this woman and I grew up next door to each other, meaning we were exposed to the same environmental toxins like, say, fertilizers, pesticides, who knows??

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  4. usually any kind of nodules = tumors = cancer i.e., nodules are never good. And yes, most cancer seems to be environmental...eeek!

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