Why You MUST Review Your Lab Tests Yourself!

A Reader Letter

A reader wrote to share some excellent advice for women who are trying to get pregnant.

Dear Mary,

I just purchased and read your book. It is a wonderful help to someone newly diagnosed. I have a little piece of advice to give your future readers. I was only diagnosed because of testing done for infertility. (Oddly enough over a year ago, I was tested for thyroid issues by my doctor investigating newly triggered anxiety, and those numbers were fine.)

Anyway, my doctor said all my numbers were fine, and TWO months later, another doctor in her practice saw me because my usual doctor was away. This doctor took one look at my chart, and said, "I assume you're being treated for your thyroid condition."

WHAT THYROID CONDITION?

Unfortunately, that doctor made that observation two days before my Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) -- which ultimately, of course, failed. I could have been saved the trouble, time, anxiety, and money on that procedure had I been given full awareness of what it meant. Needless to say, I'm no longer seeing that doctor.

So, my advice to your future readers is to emphasize what you already say in your book. Take a copy of your own tests. I could have saved myself three months of important (at my age -- 40) child-bearing months had I just taken a look at the results myself. Any idiot can read a lab report as they give you the norms as well as your own test results.

Any idiot, I guess, except my doctor.

Feel free to use my story to tell people that it's okay to be vigilant about their own care. What if I had never had that chance appointment with the other doctor? How high would my TSH be today? It's a scary thought. You think you take the tests, and that's good enough. But sometimes, it's not!

Could there be others out there misdiagnosed -- by the doctors, not the bloodwork? Probably.

I just wanted to offer my own anecdote in case it can be a useful warning to others of an important point you make in your book.

Thank you again for a wonderful book. I'm looking forward to a much more "positive" experience in more ways than one!