Need Thyroid Treatment

[sbaker8688]

I'm currently in my own country, and already have a ticket booked to Thailand (leaving soon). Unfortunately, I just got diagnosed with an overactive Thyroid today. There isn't enough time to do all the tests (ultrasound etc) necessary to give me treatment, because I'm leaving in a few days. So I will have to get treatment in Thailand.

Can you please recommend a good (hopefully the best) endocrinologist or thyroid guy? I can do either Bangkok or Chiangmai.

Thanks for any advice.

[Sheryl]

Dr. Rosanee at Bumrungrad Hospital (Bangkok) is the best thyroid expert in Thailand. However, this and pretty much all hospitals in Bangkok is only taking emergency cases right now due to the floods. This is true even in hospitals in areas which aren't flooded since many of their staff live in places that are.

So not a good time to come to Bangkok for anyone with health issues and probably not a good time to come to Bangkok, period.

The quality of care in Chiang Mai does not equal that of Bangkok, if it were follow up I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a doctor there but for initial work-up of a newly discovered thyroid condition, I can't really.

I would suggest you delay your trip by a couple of weeks if possible and start the basic diagnostic work where you are......especially if you can get health care free in your country. You'll be surprised how much it will cost you in Thailand.

[pumpum]

Are you sure about Dr. Rosanee being the best in the city? Any alternative rec's for thyroid docs here? I have been seeing her for a "surprise" goiter and she has admited that this is not her speciality...and I am not sure that she has the specialized knowledge that I need for my complicated condition. She actually tried to refer me to another doctor in the dept. stating it was not her "speciality"!

[pumpum]

Also, after getting the bloodwork and then doing some research online, it turns out that she did not even order the complete series, ie left out the thyroid antibody tests which would give me a complete picture of what I am dealing with.

[pumpum]

So I am pretty desperate for a true thyroid specialist endocrinologist in Bangkok, if anybody has one.

[Sheryl]

Dr. Roassanee is excellent, if she stated that there was something specific to your condition that put it out of her bailiwick and that there is someone el;se at Bumrungrad more appropriate I'd believe her and go with her recommendation.

BTW what is a "surprise" goiter?

[pumpum]

All of a sudden I looked and I had a goiter...it is not like it happened gradually.

Funny that you say this about her because she insinuated to me that her speciality is actually diabetes, not thyroid. Though she seems very nice...my condition is auto-immune thyroid disease - if she was a thyroid specialist she would definitely be able to treat this...it is one of the basic thyroid conditions a person can suffer from. She also said thyroid ultrasound was not her speciality and has someone else in the dept. do it instead. So if auto-immune thyroid disease is not her speciality...and she is also not comfortable doing thyroid ultrasound...I ask, with all due respect, what thyroid condition is she an expert in and qualified to treat?

[pumpum]

And I am also a bit shocked, after talking to some people who suffer from auto-immune thyroid disease and have been treated, that she would not test my blood for auto-immune thyroid antibodies, since this is the only way to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have this disease.

[pumpum]

I asked her specifically to do these tests and she said I did not need them. Yet I read contradictory information elsewhere....and the upshot is, without the blood test for thyroid auto-immune antibodies to confirm the ultrasound, blood and radioactive uptake findings, you are making an educated guess, not a diagnosis.

She failed me on several accounts...so there you go.

Still looking for other rec's if anybody has them! Hospitals other than Bumrungrad would be preferred.

[pumpum]

Another thing about my experience with her - minor, but still a bit weird - is that she had the nurse call me into her exam room and then started talking to me about my condition, telling me I lost a lot of weight, great!, etc. I was confused until I looked down at her desk and noticed that she thought I was someone else and actually had another western woman's file in front of her. I looked NOTHING like the other woman. I am glad that I looked down and this did not progress to any sort of treatment.

[Sheryl]

She is a thyroid specialist and has treated a number of TV members for thyroid problems including auto-immune ones. I don't know what the difficulty in your case was but this is the first such feedback I have heard.

Not unusual for an ultrasound to be performed by a different person than the examining doctor though -- an ultrasound tech or radiologist.

[pumpum]

The ultrasound was not performed by a radiologist or a tech...it was performed by the doctor's colleague in the endocrinology dept.

[sherylrob75]

I have suffered from Hashimoto's Disease for a few years now and am not doing well on the usual T4 medication - in fact apart from many other symptoms my eyebrows are falling out! I have been researching some websites and am now trying desiccated natural thyroid but know from my symptoms that I am also suffering from adrenal exhaustion. I recently visited my specialist at Phaya Thai 2 Hospital and they re-did the usual TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 tests and of course they show they fall in the normal range. I would like to have the additional tests being the Reverse T3 test, 24 hour adrenal saliva test, thyroid antibodies and B12 and Folate tested. My specialist advised they don't do the Reverse T3 or adrenal test at that hospital. Does anyone know where I could get the full package of tests done here in Bangkok?

[ericg1953]

I have a thyroid condition that requires a tablet daily and I recently went to see Dr. Rosanee for a checkup. As Sheryl stated, Dr. Rosanee is an excellent Dr. She was the most thorough and informative Dr. I have ever seen in Thailand and I have seen many over the years. So yes, I also recommend her. She took her time and was just great in all respects.

Edited April 27, 2012 by ericg1953