I found a Dr. who prescribes Armour... tell me what you think???

[leilajax]

OK, so I'm trying not to get too excited, but I just got off of the phone with a doctor (yes the actual doctor MD, not the nurse or administrative assistant was the one who returned my phone call) who told me that he doesn't treat Hashimoto's patients based on blood levels alone.  He said "that's what an endocrinologist does.  I treat the symptoms and if you have hypothyroid symptoms than I will prescribe synthroid, however most of my patients don't respond to it very well, so if it doesn't work for you we'll try dessicated thyroid hormone."  I nearly started to cry when he said that!  I honestly just found his name on a website that recommended certain doctors for thyroid problems, so I didn't know very much about his practice and also, I thought it was a little odd (though refreshing) that he personally returned my call.  So I asked if he was more of a homeopathic type doctor or...  He said that he's an MD and not a homeopathic doctor, but he does like to take a holistic approach.  He also, doesn't take insurance, so it's going to be $300 out of pocket to see him.  I kind of am picturing myself going to some sort of home office rather than an office building, but I'm so excited to have found someone who's going to look at the big picture and treat my symptoms because I can't take anymore of this sitting around and waiting for my body to kill my thyroid **** anymore!

Honestly, what do you guys think???  Should I be happy or hesitant???

[mspetrify]

I have a great doctor who will prescribe Armour in Maryland.  He takes insurance and is a real MD.  His name is Dr. John Billon with
Upper Chesapeake Primary Care.  Hope that helps you.  He has been prescribing for my son for the past year.  Good Luck to each of you and getting the treatment you need.

[kittyrugerboxers]

Hello Barb135,  I too live in Florida, South of Tallahassee, and my Hashi doc just up and left in Feb.....I am running LOW on Armour and I have NO idea what I will do??!!!?? I hae been to SOOO many docs here and they ALL PUSH Synthroid, and Synthroid DID NOTHING for my Hashi....I am so distraught..who know a doctor could just leave like that while people depend on them to survive?? All of the doctor's I find in Florida either do not take insurance (I can't afford out of pocket), and the ones who take insurance are booked for a year out OR are 5 hours from my home and NO way to be sure they will "properly" treat with Armour meds or if they follow TSH levels to keep their patients SICK?!?!? If you know of any ideas to help me find a GOOD Armour doc, please let me know, thank you so much for your time, Terrie  

[LazyMoose]

Dr

It all depends on what anyone can afford.

I actually found a semi-retired "cash" MD  who prescribed desiccated thyroid. He was open minded and fed up with insurance companies. I had no insurance at the time. He was under $50, yep, I lucked out. He made lots of $ in the past and looked at his "new" work almost like community service.

Now I actually found an MD with holistic interests that I found through networking who also takes insurance, and is fairly open minded (with me). With Insurance he even covered reverse T3 testing, that was a first. I'm a believer in making sure the Dr knows I understand thyroid disease, that's what finally worked with me. These guys still dont have a great plan, they mostly follow what I want to do.

I will admit, being a guy might be easier in dealing with and getting Drs to listen to what I have to say. That said, In the past I ditched at least six Drs that were "TSH only".

The true holistic or natural path Drs in this state cost too much and dont really know more about thyroid than anyone can learn themselves, and were $300 a visit + labs. At four visits and labs per year (I have Hashimoto), I save $1500 a year by not going to these guys. Chiros in this state have jumped on the thyroid bandwagon charging $5000 for a "plan", but cant prescribe thyroid medicine.

I found options, not everyone has options. It is a good idea to know at least two Drs that will treat thyroid properly, for back up. So if you see this Dr and everything goes well, its still a good idea to keep your eyes and ears open for an open minded one that takes insurance too.

[Ericamegan]

I saw many drs under my insurance plan with no luck. I asked at many pharmacies for a dr who would prescribe Armour and all of them said they couldn't give out that info.   I finally decided to see a holistic dr, who I pay out of pocket.  She worked traditionally with insurance companies for 29 years and then started her own practice after being fed up with them.  She has even written a book about transforming the health care system. "Be the Change: Transforming Health Care From the Inside Out"

The first appt was $400 and she spent about an hour with me going over my issues.  Each additional appt has been $125.  I've seen her a total of 4 times and she said I should now be fine seeing her 1-2 times a year.  I have my labs done at Quest and they are always covered by insurance. I almost canceled the first appt with her because I was worried about the money. I now believe this was the best money I have ever spent!  I first saw her back in April and my health has improved greatly.  I take Armour thyroid and she mostly looks at Free T3, Free T4, RT3 and other hormone imbalances.  

I'm not sure if your guy will be a winner, but he sounds promising! Good luck and let us know what you decide!

[stella5349]

Impressive! I would go to him if that was my choice to get his treatment plan options.

Very very lateral to my physicians base plan for treatment.

[LazyMoose]

"There's no way to look up who prescribed the Armour."

Well, that's unfortunate.

My guess:
1)They just dont know how to use their computer (or too lazy to think).
2)Company policy not to tell info
3)Employees that wont go out of their way to help someone

Showing up in person helps. Customer service went out the window a while ago.

Many autoimmune hypothyroidians have GI issues. In the case of slowed digestion , IBS and reflux, T3 is known to help. Some have some food intolerance's they need to figure out too.

[leilajax]

I went to his website last night and also looked up several reviews on him.  Most people were unimpressed by the fact that he does (as I suspected) work out of his home office.  It seems that a lot of his patients have gone to him for an "HCG (or HGC, I don't really remember) Diet Plan" to loose weight, however two of the 10 reviews was from thyroid sufferers and they greatly recommended him.  If you have a brief moment... this is his website (www.drbloem.com).  Would love to hear what you think!

[leilajax]

I tried the calling pharmacies last month and though they have filled Armour prescriptions and admit there are many doctors in my area that prescribe it, they say that they couldn't tell me who those doctors were unless they filled the prescription that day.  "There's no way to look up who prescribed the Armour."

[leilajax]

I am a skeptic, too, but I'm desperate!  I've seen 3 endos and 2 PCP's and none of them have been able to help me.  They all go off of TSH results and have me on the "watch and wait" plan.  While I wait for my immune system to kill my thyroid into submission enough for my TSH to be high enough to treat, I am suffering.  Also, complicating things is the fact that my TSI results were high enough to indicate Grave's, so the Grave's on top of the positive Hashimoto's possibly could be throwing off my TSH results, but I really don't know a lot about the combo.  None of the doctors that I've seen even consider Armour, which is a red flag for me.  Not that I want to jump on Armour, I just would like to know that it is a possibility.  I honestly just want a doctor to put me on some sort of plan to deal with the underlying autoimmune issues in a holistic way to relieve my symptoms while I "watch and wait".  $300 is a lot of money for me, but I spend double that in copays a month hopping from doctor to doctor in hope for some sort of help.  Lastly, I've started a regimen of all of the recommended vitamins and have yet to notice a difference, possibly because my gut is having difficulty absorbing them, so I'd really like to know what's going on there and my GI's only solution was "try miralax":(

[stella5349]

I presently rely on an MD who also does not use insurance in any part of her practice and is very open to holistic "functional medicine" instead of satin and placebo treatment options.

There's plenty of reason why these certain doctors stay out of the insurance network and I'm betting more and more will be popping up very soon in the near future with the new laws coming.

I guess I always attempt to see the glass as "half full" than "half empty" and you $300 visit sounds pretty generalized. What "does" that $300 bucks include? Is it only a consultation or does the doctor perform labs, saliva tests, vitamin testing, hair analysis, acupuncture -etc during the initial visit? If so, on some level adding services to this appt, that $300 is pretty cheap in the spectrum to get your health back much faster.

Depending on your individual health needs, there is one thing in common with all functional and Integrative docs, you can expect to find they will take everything in a whole and mold an individual plan to find you a path designed for you.

Find the docs professional creditials first. That will help ease the skepticism for you to know if this is right or wrong.

[LazyMoose]

Well......for $300, personally I would look a little more.

One thing you can try is go to several pharmacies and ask if they have any desicated med (Armour, Nature Throid or NP Thyroid) customers, then ask the pharmacist if you could get the Drs names that are prescribing these prescriptions. This should be OK since the patients names are kept out of the picture.

I have done this, it works..

[Barb135]

Being the skeptic I am, anything that sounds too good to be true, probably is.  Many doctors that don't accept insurance have a "different" approach that isn't always the best.

If you have the $300 to spend, probably okay, but be aware that you'll have to go for more than one visit, meaning each visit will be $300.  Some just keep you coming back to get more money.

Questions to ask:  Will this doctor accept labs you've already had done or will he require new labs?  Will the labs he does be covered by your insurance, included in the cost of the visit or will they be over and above the $300 visit.

While we all figure that no cost is too great to get well, this could cost you a considerable amount before it's over and there's no guarantee that just because he prescribes Armour, he will be better than others.

Best of luck to you.