So... last week I fired my Primary Care Manager of 5 years and yet another endocrinologist. Firing my PCM was pretty tough for me to do - she's been pretty much excellent to me since I've been her patient, and really takes her time with me. But after her telling me "maybe this is your new normal", I knew a change had to happen. My endo, or ex-endo rather, just wasn't cutting it. A year solely on Synthroid and not being listened to when I would say "Hey!!! I mean it!! I'm really not feeling human!" was just ridiculous. It took me a whole year of seeing this doctor before she finally listened up and grudgingly gave in and added Cytomel to my routine (when I had asked about Armour, all she had to say was that she didn't think I would like it). Pfff... I had still yet to get a doctor who would run the FT3 test instead of Total T3 even though I had been asking for it. I've seriously come to dislike the majority of the medical community in my neck of the woods. It seems as though they all have a bad case of tunnel vision.

I did my research, and happened to stumble across a doctor that was listed on Mary Shomons' thyroid About.com website whose office is only 45 minutes from my home...... and better yet I could have him as my new PCM with Tricare Prime!! Hell yeah!!

My first appointment was yesterday - and it really took my breath away. He asked me all sorts of questions - from what I do all day, what my husband does, how many children I have, nutrition, exercise.... he wanted to know everything, because you never know if something in your life could be adversely effecting you, like stress. No one has ever bothered asking me before, and I was just amazed! He also took the time to explain to me absolutely everything from testing, things I need to remember to ask the doctor I see for my Graves Eye Disease, and also threw out there that even though he is an internal medicine doctor - that he's trained with some of the top Endo's in the US.

The final thing that just blew me away - was that he just straight out told me that he prefers to treat with Armour. Really? So. Freaking. Cool. He said that because Synthroid is a synthetic its a lot rougher on the body, and that a lot of people on Synthroid will have more of a difficult time converting the T4 to T3. And then taking Cytomel is even more rough on the body - because its so potent, he said it hammers you. He said his patients have had the most success with Armour - and that's what I'll be on in a couple weeks after he is able to get all my previous records, and my lab results back which will include FT3.

Before I left my appointment, he made sure to tell me that he wants me to be dead honest with him about how I'm feeling each future appointment. He doesn't believe in basing treatments solely on the lab tests, but rather on alleviation of symptoms.

How freaking cool is this? I can't help but feel really lucky to have found such a great doctor that my insurance will actually cover. I had just been telling my husband that if this one doesn't work out, we were going to have to bite the bullet and pay out of pocket for a holistic doctor. Anyways.... I was pretty thrilled, and just had to share!