BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Thyroid Health Not So Great Thyroid Doctors

Many of you email me daily telling me stories of thyroid doctors or doctors you've been to and they've done nothing to help you.
Or they have made you even sicker!
Please use this space to post their names so that others don't have to follow in your footsteps.

Please don't waste your time & $ on these so called doctors from the Chicago area, Dr. Frederick Ellyn, Dr. Frohman, Dr. McNett, Dr. Fred Schutz, Dr. Ross Slotten, Dr. Mark Stolar, Dr. Sturgeon, Dr. Larry Faines, Dr. Linderman, Dr. Bajramovich. I also went to Mayo Clinic In Rochester, Minnesota & was treated very bad. Please avoid these doctors. Some of them mis-diagnosed me. Some of them ripped me off finacially with natural treatments & cures. When you become real ill sometimes people get very desperate to get well & there are con artists who take advantage of that.

Dr. Frohman actually laughed at me & some of my terrible symptoms. Dr. Stolar was the worst. I was his patient for a yr. & he told me that he would help me & he kept giving me hope. Then he mis-diagnosed me & sent me to a surgeon. This surgeon just told me it was all in my mind & menopause. I am still not in menopause & he made these remarks about 6 yrs. ago when I became ill.

Many of these doctors gave me meds that either did not do a thing but cost $. Or they made me feel much worse with horrible side effects. My personal story is way too long. But I would say Dr. Mark Stolar was the worst in that he pretended to care. He really gave me hope & then turned out to be a nut case, calling my home & threatening me. He also held on to my medical records until I told him that I would report him. I did report some of these doctors to the state medical board. Those boards have other doctor's in charge & they rarely take any kind of action against a Dr. even with sexual misconduct. Or even if a patient has died. They are real reluctant to take their liscense away. Or do anything else to them. It is even hard to suspend them.

I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to let people know who to avoid in the Chicago area. I hope I at least save 1 person or more the aggravation, frustration & emotional stress of dealing with these jerks. Thanks for listening.

Can we really do this? If anyone wants drs for hypERthyroidism to avoid, let me know and I'll name names and tell you why. Take care, Fay

HELLO,
Why not? People recommend doctors too so why not warn people about the doctors who are not good? I wish I would have known because all some of them did was waste my time & $. People need to know. Not all doctors are good & ethical. Good night & I hope everyone has a good weekend. Judy.

HI,
I just wanted to add something to my previous post. If anyone had a bad haircut, incompetent auto repair or any other kind of bad service, they would complain to the person in charge or tell friends about it. You would also want to know if there was a predetor or rapist in your area, especially if you have kids. the original post was asking people to give names of doctors who did nothing to help you or even made you worse.

Maybe some people want to look at this without e-mailing you (Fayge) I know I rather post it here than to give out my e-mail to everyone & then try to find the time & energy to answer it, if I would get alot of people asking. It is time that we stop being secretive about it. Also anyone who went through bad medical care should not want to protect the doctors who are incompetent, uncaring or both. I'm not afraid to post these names. We have have freedom of speech. It is bad enough that most doctors & the administration just stand by wrong doing, no matter what.

I owe it to other people to let them know so they can be informed. Fayge you would be of more help to post the names of bad doctors instead of expecting people to ask you personally. There is also a post for good doctors & the last time I looked noone has posted anything there. That would help too. I do know of a good Dr. but he is not a thyroid/endocrine Dr. Please stop being afraid to speak up about this. All it does is protect bad doctors. Thanks for reading this & listening. As with any posts in any section you can take what you like & leave the rest. If we all were the same or had the same thoughts the world would seem very boring. Best Wishes, Judy.

OK, Judy, I'll bite ;-)
My experience is with Graves, in southeast Michigan (northern Detroit suburbs).
Dr. Ospina and Dr. Fahdanelli, his former associate, will absolutely not prescribe anti thyroid drugs. If one does get on ATD with either of these drs, you have to be especially proactive in following your care.
Dr. Charles Taylor and Dr. Donald Meier are ex docs of mine. Dr. Taylor only prescribed ATDs after serious arm-twisting, then proceeded to administer them incompetently. I switched to his associate, Dr. Meier, who told me that even though I ended up in remission, he still would have recommended RAI. Neither respected the new TSH guidelines or thought FT3 testing especially necessary, which makes me very leery of recommending them for hypo people.
I don't have personal experience with Dr. Sheldon Stoffer but closely followed labs of a hyper friend, and was very depressed by a testimonial I read somewhere from a sadly clueless patient. He goes by TSH alone and again, by the old standards. Like many endos I'm concerned about, he doesn't seem to know that it's normal for TSH to stay suppressed in hyper patients, so should NOT be used for dosing ATDs.

I think that's enough for now. Take care, Fay, in remission for nearly 6 years after 14 months on methimazole.

Hi Fayge & everyone else,
I'm happy to hear that you are in remission & the treatment has helped you. It is very sad that many doctors are like this. I'm still dealing with some of the same things. I hear this stuff from all over & it is terrible. Especially with thyroid problems & diseases. Other things too. Thanks for sharing. It is 6 yrs. now that I am still not diagnosed. All of my symptoms are getting worse every day. I am seeing my Dr. this Tues. I was totally healthy before I became ill. I was never really sick a day in my life. Very active too. Now, I can barely function. So, I hope that 1 day real soon I can share with people that some Dr. finds out what is going on for sure & that I will be in remission too. Take care & Thanks so much. Judy.

I thought it was just the UK that had problems with doctors telling us it was all in our mind etc. We thought our cousins over the pond had it so much better than us and I am shocked and sorry to learn that you hit the same brickwalls as us. I have had private tests that clearly show I have autoimmune thyroiditis(Hashimotos Disease)...my doctor told me they take no notice of auto-antibodies and are only interested in T4 and TSH. Mine of course are in range(oh how I hate that expression) as Hashimotos gives false negatives. Going to see an endo soon, he's highly recommended so I can only hop.

Hi Ebs. Do you get T4 or Free T4? FT4 is more accurate. And what ranges are given for the TSH? While some labs give different ranges for the T's, the TSH range is fairly consistent, and the American Academy of Clinical Endocrinologists has revised the ranges. You can check it out at www.aace.org . Is the upper range for TSH on your labs closer to 3 (the new upper range) or 5 (the old range)?

Hi,
I am new to this forum. I have had similar problems. It is tragic that our medical health professionals are so uneducated when it comes to Thyroid Dysfunction and other areas. I've heard similar stories from other patients battling problems.

My story is similar to your but I think with a twist. I was battling Hypothryoidism. As with your stories, my physician kept brushing me off, saying it was "women's problems". He didn't even look at the blood levels which showed a wildly swinging TSH values and antithyroid antibodies. I was in agony for about 9 months. Then I demanded to see my own blood results. I was in tears and I got to the point where I was begging for them to pay attention to me. I couldn't take it anymore. When I saw how my blood results showed that I was clearly having a problem related to a malfunctioning thyroid I was horrified. I demanded to see a specialist.

Gradually, we got the tyroid under control. I was on Synthroid for 3 years and my blood results were stable. I felt great. It was a world of difference! It was great.

Then last September I felt pain / pressure behind my eyes when I looked up, down, left, and right. I ignored it as a strange headache but it continued. Then I had swelling all around my eyes and into my forehead in the mornings. I went to my optomitrist. He stated they eyes themselves were healthy and that it must be something systemic. My primary care physician gave me 4 different medications for allergies. Meanwhile, in November, my blood levels showed that I had suddenly gone Hyperthyroid. The doc lowered my dose. I asked if this could be causing my eye problems. They said no.

I followed all the instructions for the allergy meds. Nothing worked. I threw all my products and bedding away. That didn't work. They started me on a low does 5 day Medrol steroid. That didn't work.

My bloods for thyroid showed I was still Hyper in December, January, and in Feb. Each time I asked if the eye problem could be related. Each time I was told "no".

My eyes were getting worse. The pressure was getting worse. The swelling was lasting longer and longer. I had visual disturbances from the pressure on the optic nerve. In December in a panic, I called my primary care physician who still insisted it was allergies. I didn't think so. Still, I agreed with his wishes to send me to an allergist. The allergist did the full scratch test and injection test and told me that it wasn't allergies; it was Thyroid Dysfunction. I told him my doctor's did not believe me and asked if he could write a letter. This was at the beginning of February. He did write the letter. My primary care physician and endocrinologist did nothing.

I did searches on my own. I found that periorbital edema (the eye swelling) can, indeed, be part of Thyroid Eye Disease and can be a problem, especially in the morning. No one had bothered to check! It goes along with the eyes bulging. My eyes had started to bulge in December. No one was listening to me.

I wrote to my doctors in mid February telling them that I was very concerned and was going to stop my Synthroid. I did. It was the only thing that gave me any relieve at all! That was also the only thing that managed to get the attention of my doctors. When my PCP saw me this week, he was horrified at my appearance. Meanwhile, I had been off the Synthroid about one month and my eyes had actually improved. However, my Hypothyroidism had returned! My TSH was 25 mIU / ml. I have to start over with the Synthroid with the lowest dose and work my way up. Meanwhile, I still have the problem with the eyes

Yes, it is terribly frustrating dealing with these doctors who want to ignore everything as a "women's complaint" and who want to listen only 5 seconds or so in order that they may pigeonhole someone's diagnosis into Plans A, B, C, and D.

I also understand that it is unusual for someone to go from Hypo to Hyper! If anyone can help me out with this aspect... please do!

I could also use the name of a good endocrinologist and opthamologist in the Southern New Jersey area.

Hi Linda. My computer's acting up so I'll be brief.
You may want to get hold of Elaine Moore's book, Thyroid Eye Disease, and contact her at her site on suite101. If your hypo had clearly become hyper I could give you more direct help. Maybe you should still check out the graves_support@yahoogroups site. Their homepage has lots of great info. You seem to have thyroiditis, which is different.

It is GREAT that you are getting hold of your labs. That is one of the single most important things we can do. But as useful as TSH and antibodies are, you also need to know the rest ofyour thyroid panel, i.e. Free T4 and FT4. Elaine will be sure to ask you.

Good luck and take care, Fayge

HELLO LINDA,
You can also check out this great website called about.com thyroid disease guide. I think you can get there with newsletters@about.com. The lady who started it is Mary Shoman. There is so much good information. The site also has message boards & forums where many othe people share what is going on with them.

In my opinion if a dr. is not listening to you, it is best to get another opinion. I went through a nightmare of being mis-diagnosed & un-diagnosed for 7 yrs. At some point in time I also had a slow thyroid. It is a very long story. But what happened was this past Valentine's day I had to get surgery on my stomach & esophagus. I'm feelign much better. But I went through many doctors not listening to me at all. I had to get very aggressive.

I was all over the city of Chicago & suburbs trying to get help. My husband & I even went to Mayo Clinic twice & they were terrible. That place is good if you already know what you have. But they really drop you & won't try very hard to find out. I'm sure some people had good experiences there but we did not. I was told by many doctor's it was "all in my mind", it was menopause, it was anxiety & everything but what it really was.

I really had to fight for my right to know what was wrong. I finally found a wonderful family Dr. & surgeon who actually care about their patients. You know your own body & what is right & wrong going on with it. Don't allow any Dr. to just dismiss you. I was never sick a day in my life before I became ill. This may sound funny but through out my illness I always looked very healthy. So, that was another strike against me. I was told there was nothing wrong with me because I did not look sick! Some doctor's told me you look good & you don't look sick, so nothing is wrong! But my husband & daughter seen how much I was suffering. I hope that everything works out for you.

It is lousy to for anyone to be so ill & to get the run aound & not believed. But please fire any dr. that is not listening to you & not taking full action to help you. I'm from Chicago so I am sorry to say that I don't know of any endo doctors in your area. But on the aboutthyroid.com website they have list of good doctors in every area. Now, please keep in mind that not all of them are good. I tried a few in my area & they were not good. But some of them may be. It is a hit or miss thing at times. But this site can give you some more info & help. Some of the doctors helped people alot too. Take care of yourself & keep us posted. Best wishes, Judy K.

Below are three docs from the good docs list on another board I follow.

1) Dr. Gary Kershner 18 Leonardville Road; Middletown, New Jersey 07748 (732) 671-3730; Fax (732) 706-1078

He's open to armour and treats subclinical hypo to the patient, not just to numbers.

2) Dr. Thomas Cacciola; 403 Fairview Ave.; Paramus, NJ 07652; 201-261-8386

early 2007: He sees 5 to 6 thyroid patients a day. He listens to your suggestions about your treatment & just
doesn't brush off your symptoms. Tests the free's, prescribes Armour. UPDATE 12-07: patient states he did NOT test the
free's, getting too busy, and wouldn't listen to new ideas. So all he does is prescribe Armour.

3) Elaine Hardy, MS,RN,APN,C.;Holistic Family Healthcare, PC; 319 Airport Road
Hackettstown, NJ 07840; 908-850-0888;
BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Anyone have Dr. Don Michael of South Bend, IN? Info? I have been to his site, but ya never know. I just want to be really sure that he is as great as the claims before I pay him hourly and find my daughter's insurance won't cover him. I appreciate any help.

About Doc Don in South Bend: he seems good, just a pity that you can't find someone on your insurance. If you know what to ask for and demand, you should be able to get the tests and meds.

Hi everyone, thanks for the help. I found a couple that accept her insurance and she chose one in chicago. located 1/2 block off the train stop. he seems pretty good. he was impressed with the online blood tests I ordered. he has no idea how many thyroid sites/boards I visited to make sure I could get the MOST current useful info to him to begin treatment as soon as possible! she is back on synthroid and also cytomel. she seems pretty good. no more sweating. brain fog is minimal. constipation is bad but she is learning to love good old prune juice! lol still losing weight on phentermine which is boosting her self confidence immensely. and she is very excited about new classes at school. I have her on organic foods, some supplements/vitamins and purchase fluoride free water to drink. Life with her lately is wonderful compared to when she arrived back at home in May! She was a mess. Thanks again everyone.

Hi everyone, I am yet another Newbie and I am very happy to be able to tell you my opinion. I have been looking for a way to expose my doctor. Dr. Stanley Hartanowicz, MD.. Kettle Creek Road, Toms River, NJ. I started out with Hypothyroidism, I trusted this man, he started treating me and I was impressed at first, then he started to increase my Naturethroid without retesting my blood. Getting to the point, he doubled my 1 grain meds to 2 grains without tests. I sensed something was not right so I sought out another Doctor a friend and a few others told me about. He tested me and found that my expert endo. had messed me up so muich that I am not showing Hyperthyroidism results. He then asked about other things I was worried about. It seems that that terrible dr. gave me hormones without the benefit of blood tests. It is a good thing I stopped taking them, I felt uncomfortable, because he over medicated me for them also. He ordered 1.5 mg of Bi-est and 200 mg of Progesterone. When my new doctor heard this he sat down in misbelief, he could not understand how a doctor could give such I high level of progesterone without the aid of blood tests. Today I am home trying to find ways to warn people of this and also i am now doing the right thing, I am taking a 24 hour urine test and a 24 hour saliva test. Others will follow to make certain that I am being treated properly. My new Doctor is Dr. Peter Bhirro, Lacey road Forked River NJ PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHO WE TRUST. I think this is as wonderful idea!!! Cindy

Dr. Emmanuele at Loyola in Chicago is a great endro doctor. I had Thyroid cancer and I find her to be very good at helping me

I am in north central Illinois. I am in desperate need of finding someone. I've gone through a number of tests. My blood sugar levels fluctuate, usually hypoglycemic but spike easily. Heartrate increases with any exertion. Blood pressure is up. Lots of other things too. My family doc thinks its just stress. An endo he sent me to said its all in my head and that I only have panic/anxiety. I did see one doc on your list who said I had thyroid and adrenal issues, but now I'm not sure about going back to him. Do you have someone you can recommend?

what was your experience with Dr. Schultz?

I also was a patient of Stanley Hartanowicz and found him to be incompetent and dangerous when it came to hormone replacement and especially thyroid. He doubled my NaturThroid and it sent me over the top -- insomnia, anxiety, mood swings -- for months until I realized I needed another doctor. He is also a fan of iodine replacement and thinks nothing of overdosing. I found out the hard way that when I choose a doctor, I make sure where the area of expertise lies. And, I ask a ton of questions now before working with a doctor. If I even suspect they don't know what they're talking about, I'm out of there. I have found I have to do my homework and learn as much as I can about whatever it is I'm trying to correct before choosing a doctor. Patient beware!