Hi, mrsD:

Quote: "I suffered for over 20 yrs... it took one year to slowly reverse with the medication." I cannot imagine suffering that long, especially knowing how bad the symptoms of hypothyroidism can get. Unfortunately, this disease has no cure.

Pharmaceutical companies certainly prefer us to take medications for the rest of our life to control diseases' symptoms rather than finding cures for us, because they earn much more money if we have to take medications, especially expensive ones, for a long time or for the rest of our life. I wonder what the CEOs of these pharmaceutical companies must think the day a non-curable disease affects one of their loved ones, knowing their company could have cured that loved one had they tried to find a cure.

You are right when you say that some male doctors treat their female patients worse than their male patients. This occurs all over the world. These male doctors seem to think that their female patients are being hysterical when they complain about this or that symptom or disease. This happened to me sooo many times to be treated as hysterical! Often, these doctors do not have the guts to tell us in the face that they think we are hysterical; they just write it in our medical records. They probably forgot we could ask to see our records. These doctors should be, for exemple, careful when they treat a person of "druggie" because, if that person is not a druggie, he/she could sue these doctors for "deffamation". I was on the verge of doing it several times and, of course, it was always with male doctors. However, I am usually quick to put them back in their right place and to point out their errors. This is why they hate their patients using Internet and getting smart about their own health, diseases, symptoms...

I wonder why your doctor refused to prescribe a radiouptake test for you, knowing what you had and that you needed this test. No patient, male or female, should have to insist to get the tests they need. When I knew in my inner self that something was very wrong with my thyroid (it did not take a rocket scientist to know that!), I had to insist several times to get a thyroid blood test and then, I only got the TSH test, which is certainly not enough to determine the health of my thyroid. This occurred with my primary care physician. When I went to see an endocrinologist on my own, knowing these are the specialists for thyroid problems, he asked me several times which doctor sent me to him. I did not tell him "No one" because I needed to receive medical care from an endocrinologist and I did not want him to send me away because I did not have a referral or letter from a doctor. I knew my primary care physician would never give me a referral to an endocrinologist because the public health insurance company always complains to him about the expensive cost of my medical care, harassing him to keep these costs down. Of course, if that insurance company is looking for trouble with me, I have no problem with suing them all the way to the European Court for Human Rights. This public health insurance company knows what to expect from me if they want to try messing up with me.

Quote: "I couldn't find a female endo in my area at all. All men!" In my area, all endocrinologists are also male.

Quote: "No explanation as to why ... injury or previous infection damage are the most likely causes." I did not know infections could damage the thyroid. Could, for example, a strep throat damage the thyroid?

Thanks for your information and for sharing your experience. I feel less alone and better understood.