I am sick and it pisses me off. I don't have to be sick. I am certainly paying enough doctors enough money not to be sick. I have bipolar II disorder and now I have hyperthyroidism and the symptoms are basically, with some exceptions, the same. I have been researching thyroid disease since 2000 when I developed an enlarged thyroid, I mean huge, while taking lithium for BPII. Even after the Dx on lithium my thyroid never returned to a normal size. I have been scanned with radioiodine four times, had three ultrasounds but no one could find a test that came out any thing but normal. So I have walked around for eight years with the neck of a line backer until my blood tests finally showed something abnormal.

I had a hyper active thyroid so toxic the whole radiology department came to see me. They gave me I 131 radioiodine to kill the active thyroid tissue. The largest dose they've ever given to anyone! The thing is everyone expected me to be really really sick, and I wasn't. I told all my doctors, when asked, that I felt great. Not ok, not fine but GREAT. My only symptoms were intolerance to heat and a rapid heart rate. Beta blockers controlled the later and the sweat is still pouring off my head.

When I was initially diagnosed by my family doctor she referred me to my endocrinologist and he couldn't see me for three months. I admitted myself to a psych hospital so my pdoc could treat and monitor me because I couldn't wait three months.

That was last July and I am still waiting for a viable treatment. Last month my endo doc said I was hypothyroid. This month he said "it looks as if your are hyperthyroid", and made an appt to see me in three months and prescribed no meds.

Good doctors are so hard to find. I am stuck with the only endo doc that takes my insurance and I live in a major city. I went through this with my psych docs and I just feel like here we go again. I think the American health care system the AMA and med schools suck at what they do. Family doctors dabble in psych, endo, ob gyn, oncology, etc. and they basically have little to no training in these areas. You go to a specialist and they play the drug of the month club or the "this has worked for forty years" deal. Most people trust their family doc for comprehensive care and don't realize what a risk they could be taking. I know I did it. I didn't know any better. But learning these lessons the hard way is too much for me.

I am tired of fighting for every little advance in my treatment. I want real answers and viable treatment and I don't want to wait anymore!!!