I was so out of it when the alarm went off this morning, I started pulling office clothes out of the closet. It took me a few minutes to realize I wasn’t going to a job interview, but to a doctor’s appointment.
Finally, I met with the endocrinologist. Nice older gent, very sharp and a good communicator. He asked how I found him. I told him he was the senior specialist listed on the hospital website. “I thought you might have found me on Google,” he said. “I wrote a paper on subclinical hypothyroidism, that’s how a lot of people end up here.”
Nope, I told him. For once, I simply lucked out.
I told him I thought I’d been hypothyroid for a long time, but the tests didn’t confirm it. (I’d actually had a couple of tests that did indicate it, but when they were redone, I was normal.) Why did you think you were? he wanted to know. Brain fog, dry skin, low body temperature, I said.
“That’s just a variation,” he said. “Lots of people have a lower temperature.”
“Yeah, but when I get sick, mine goes even lower.”
“How low?” he asked.
“When I was sick in February, it was 93.3.” (I remember because it was the same as WMMR-FM, the classic rock station.)
He looked at me, but didn’t say anything.
So he ordered a more extensive set of blood tests but because of the holiday, I probably won’t get the results until next week. He told me it was unlikely that the new test would show much of a difference, but he’d have a better idea of possible causes. I asked (because I’m curious that way) if this had anything to do with why I have such strong reactions to such small doses of medication. He said yes, because I’d metabolize things much more slowly and they would have that effect – interesting, I thought.
Anyway, so we’ll see what happens. He told me to make a followup appointment in six weeks; the next available one was the end of August. Good thing we don’t have socialized medicine, huh?
UPDATE: By the way, blood pressure’s still good – 132/72. Glad I didn’t let the primary doc put me on statins!
Are those your feet? They appear quite normal temperature wise.
I think BP meds are oversold and that we’re seeing a downward revision of acceptable readings in order to sell medications. By the way, I work in healthcare and have absolutely no ability to tell if your feet look hot, cold or anything else in this picture!
Did the doctor tell you what tests he’s using? And, btw, did you ever have your Vit D level tested? If you wrote about it, sorry but I missed it.
The endocrine system is fascinating. So many variables. Good luck in finding out either what’s wrong or at least a direction (s?) you doc can take to find out.
Bunch of tests, I think he’s looking at whether I have Hashimoto’s. Vitamin D is low, I’ve been taking that for three months.