awww, that is a sweet hubby you have!

I am sorry you are so sick Butterfly.

I hear you about the wait-and-see approach. i got waited-and-seed all summer about bloodwork and i was having trouble going out due to near-fainting spells. then, i got sick and had to take other meds so i only was able to have labs last week. the fallout from not being able to go out sometimes was really damaging. and the whole being put off for tests was just infuriating. so i knowhatchamean.

Anyway good job making that appointments with your aunt's internist... Jan 2 isn't so far away. sucks about the deductible. perhaps worth putting a call in, if you can manage, saying you'd appreciate a call in case of cancellation. you can say you have an urgency and previous doc was unresponsive.

When you go to the the internist, as well as the endo records, i might also bring a note from your pdoc explaining his/her medical motivations for wishinig to treat with thyroid hormone supplementation before intervening with more psych meds, even if you are borderline or subclinical. elevated TSH indicates low thyroid function which can cause not only depression (typically "recognized" as a st), but also mood cycling. I suspect pdoc's rationale here is that giving an antidepressant, which can destabilize mood, would be best done after thyroid supplementation is done to restore normal function. Non pdocs may not appreciate the "cycling" aspect as relating to thyroid function. That's why i suggest a note from your pdoc.

I send you healing vibes. Hope you feel better soon.

~ waves ~

It is too bad that there is not an applause emoticon on here.

waves - will you be my endocrinologist??? pretty please??? you understand perfectly! See mdocs of the world, it's not hard if you would just L I S T E N when people talk.

It is a shame that you, and me, and Mari, and others on here have to walk our own doctors through how to do their job.

Good idea about getting something in writing from pdoc. I'm writing that on my dry-erase board so I remember to get that done. Great idea!