Thyroid, questions and perplexities: women are more curious
Why write to a doctor online? What are the symptoms that patients report? And what is the dialogue with the specialist?
To answer these questions, the thousands of questions received over the years at the "The Expert Answers" service of Thyroid ", by Cristina Cenci, anthropologist and expert in narrative medicine, were analyzed, which was presented as part of the nail initiative. and hair, as well as those relating to the regularity of the cycle. On the symptomatological front, the manifestations of tachycardia and bradycardia and throat discomfort, such as lowering of the voice, cough and a sense of suffocation are also of some importance.
Cristina Cenci, anthropologist and expert in narrative medicine, says: "Women who write online ask for clear answers on their symptoms and need a second opinion in addition to that of their doctor, they are confused and worried both because of the values of their exams, both for the anxiety of not being able to find the right therapy and the right dosage of the drug ".
Thyroid: What Are Patients Looking For?
Specifically, the questions mainly concern diagnoses and pathologies (55%), but a good part are also related to treatments and therapies (38%).
On the therapy, prof. Augusto Taccaliti, Endocrinologist at the Polytechnic University of Marche: "Sometimes we erroneously tend to increase the dosage to feel better and lower TSH values. This leads to an overdose. In this sense, the new liquid formulations based on levothyroxine help the patient not to exceed and bring the TSH back within the range ".
Patients often feel a lack of clarity in their relationship with the doctor (for example in the interpretation of tests) and have doubts about the efficacy and correctness of the prescribed therapy.
Cristina Cenci again: “65% of the patients who wrote express a predominantly negative opinion on the treatments followed. The therapies do not seem to cure these women's sickness ”.
The professor. Efisio Puxeddu, Endocrinologist at the University of Perugia has no doubts: "The good doctor is not the scientist who knows everything, but the one who manages to establish empathy with the patient".
There is no doubt that events and initiatives of this type not only bring doctor and patient closer, but also make use of the latest technologies to further improve the clinical and trust relationship between them.
