Well I have to say that I wasn't waiting around very long this time. If anything, they rushed me through as if scared to leave me waiting at all...perhaps throwing a tantrum is the answer to getting seen on time?
They sent me for another ECG, because although I was assured the last one was in the 'OK' range...it must also have been in the 'check again' range.
This time I knew exactly where to go, I was definitely less stressed, and took time out to pause and do some deep breathing exercises before entering the hallowed ECG room. This time my results were deemed 'excellent'! :-)
Upon returning to the outpatients waiting area I was ushered in to a consultation room almost straight away.
I was with a really friendly young intern, and very impressed with her. The appointment went OK - we discussed how I was feeling, if I feeling any different to last time I was in, and why that might be. She suggested a slight dose change because, despite my TSH being within range,, albeit at the high end, my T3 and my Free T4 have gone from being too high to too low. So we dropped my Carbimazole from 40mg/day to 30mg/day.
The consultation all went well, until she checked my blood pressure...she went white with shock, and spent ages peering into my eyes, presumably checking them for any damage. She reckoned that my blood pressure dangerously high, and didn't believe me when I kept insisting I felt totally fine. She claimed that she was almost tempted to admit me there and then, and expressed concern at allowing me to drive home. I continued to insist that I was fine, and that it was most probably White Coat Disease, but she wasn't having it. She conferred with the senior consultant, and they were querying my blood pressure medication...to which I sheepishly had to confess that I hadn't been taking it. Felt pretty stupid, having to confess that if I'm honest. I explained that our money was extremely tight at the moment, and the extra prescription costs were more than I could cope with right now. They gave me some freebie samples of the Centyl-K to go home with, and made me promise to fill that prescription before they ran out. And do you know, something about the abject fear in that young interns face as she checked and re-checked my blood pressure, made me determined to find the money somehow....she was really truly scared by what she was seeing, and was acting as if expecting me to drop down dead any second. That made me feel very bad for ignoring their advice.
They sent me for another ECG, because although I was assured the last one was in the 'OK' range...it must also have been in the 'check again' range.
This time I knew exactly where to go, I was definitely less stressed, and took time out to pause and do some deep breathing exercises before entering the hallowed ECG room. This time my results were deemed 'excellent'! :-)
Upon returning to the outpatients waiting area I was ushered in to a consultation room almost straight away.
I was with a really friendly young intern, and very impressed with her. The appointment went OK - we discussed how I was feeling, if I feeling any different to last time I was in, and why that might be. She suggested a slight dose change because, despite my TSH being within range,, albeit at the high end, my T3 and my Free T4 have gone from being too high to too low. So we dropped my Carbimazole from 40mg/day to 30mg/day.
The consultation all went well, until she checked my blood pressure...she went white with shock, and spent ages peering into my eyes, presumably checking them for any damage. She reckoned that my blood pressure dangerously high, and didn't believe me when I kept insisting I felt totally fine. She claimed that she was almost tempted to admit me there and then, and expressed concern at allowing me to drive home. I continued to insist that I was fine, and that it was most probably White Coat Disease, but she wasn't having it. She conferred with the senior consultant, and they were querying my blood pressure medication...to which I sheepishly had to confess that I hadn't been taking it. Felt pretty stupid, having to confess that if I'm honest. I explained that our money was extremely tight at the moment, and the extra prescription costs were more than I could cope with right now. They gave me some freebie samples of the Centyl-K to go home with, and made me promise to fill that prescription before they ran out. And do you know, something about the abject fear in that young interns face as she checked and re-checked my blood pressure, made me determined to find the money somehow....she was really truly scared by what she was seeing, and was acting as if expecting me to drop down dead any second. That made me feel very bad for ignoring their advice.
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