Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Why Can’t I Find a Good Doctor?

Out of all the questions I get on my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis Support Group, it is most sad when I see the ones asking for a better doctor in their area. The reason is because we all have different needs and just recommending a doctor that might have been great for one person, may not be great for another.

There is one thing I can say I have learned over the last 10 years while interacting with fellow Hashimoto’s sufferers: Your journey and what part of it you are on is highly important when looking for a doctor! There are stages a person goes through AND there are personalities to take into consideration.

For example, I see it as a funnel of troubleshooting. Here’s the process you might find helpful to go through in your mind as you decide where you are in the process of trying to find the right help for your situation.

1. Are you already diagnosed and on medication? If so, you are probably in the phase where you need to fine tune your approach if it is not working with your current doctor. If you are not diagnosed, that would be the first step. Find a doctor willing to test you for Hashimoto’s which can be your current doctor or find one who will. Some of you are in areas who allow you to do this yourself through a lab who offers this without a doctor’s requisition.
   
2. For many, you might want to look into a natural doctor who prescribes natural thyroid medication or a Functional Medicine doctor (the linked post helps you to understand why this approach is so helpful) to help you determine the root cause of your symptoms first. Perhaps your body is just needing nutrition, diet change, or natural interventions in other lifestyle habits that can really help your symptoms.
3. Are you naturally minded and already diagnosed? If so, you might consider looking into diet and lifestyle interventions (if you are already diagnosed) and other ways to help yourself like the weight loss and blood sugar balancing supplement that has made a huge difference in my life after over 20 years of debilitating symptoms. My story is on the front page on my new blog there which I created so others can have access to it through me.
4. Do you like to do your own research and come up with your own plan while on the treatment protocol of conventional medicine? If so, there is a whole resource area I have put together that might help you find the approach you would like to look into. There are also online events that have so completely educated the community this year, I was actually dumbfounded after all the years I struggled to find the same info looking into the nooks and crannies of the internet. If you want to basically take a “course” on thyroid health, those events are highly recommended and the links to them are in my last post here. They were FREE to the internet community in May and June and now can be purchased at a great price giving you immediate access to all the resources and information currently available. It is like having everything from the experts in one place.

So, in the end, my journey had to go WAY beyond conventional medicine! My full story is here. In short, I had to, in a nutshell, learn about how going gluten free can be a huge factor in calming the immune system, get testing through Functional Medicine and direction from doctors practicing this type of medicine, work to get the gut healed (Google Leaky Gut + Hashimoto’s and you will see why), and had to learn more about body chemistry so I could adjust my nutrition to get a better body balance. After all this, I added the supplement that is helping me tremendously and I feel I am finally living again!

So, what doctor should you see? It all depends on where you are in your journey! I hope this gives you a better idea on how to proceed. It took me 10 miserable years to stop looking to conventional medicine for a new pill to make me feel better. And from there, another 10 years of searching for natural interventions that worked. (I left out things that didn’t work for me like NAET, EFT, other alternative doctors, and diets like the Mediterranean Diet, The Maker’s Diet, juicing, and gluten free processed foods, among others.) My hope is that my journey might help others get to better choices earlier in their journey.

For easy reference, here are links for different types of doctors and references I commonly refer people to:

Institute for Functional Medicine (search page)

Doctors who prescribe natural thyroid supplements

Certified Gluten Practitioners

Gluten Intolerance Group Medical Professional Referral Listing

You may want to look into other alternative approaches other than those listed. It is highly recommended that you interview or have an initial consultation with any doctor you find in these searches to make sure they are right for you. You might want to ask for references from others who are currently under their care or check the internet for reviews before committing to their protocols.

Here’s to continued healing!