Re: Looking For Good Doc In St. Louis Area - Getting Desperate
Tbren - you might try to do a search for St. Louis and see what pops up under previous discussions on this board. When I was diagnosed and given meds but did not start feeling better my general practitioner sent me to my endo. After seeing my endo and still not feeling better, he sent me back to my GP, who said my thyroid numbers looked fine and there was nothing else to do. I searched the top docs website and asked for some advice here and was hearing some good things about Dr. Christian Wessling in Webster Groves. He is a Naturopath who also is an MD. (naturopaths are not licensed docs here in MO.) When I called they told me Dr. W could not see any new patients for months but they got me an appt pretty quickly with Cindy Willbrand, who works in the same office. Cindy is a licensed Naturopath (no MD) so Dr. W also sits in on some visists, and any scripts I get from the office are from Dr. W. I was not sure I believed much in the whole naturopathic thing, but I feel like these people truly gave me my life back! They look at the whole picture and if you say your not feeling 100% they actually work with you to try to find out why and make you better!
I was on the boards alot back then and I have a whole library of thyroid books. I learned quickly that Midwest really knows what she is talking about, and she is one who was seeing Dr. W so that is why I decided to give their office a try.
Dr. Tipu Sultan, in Florissant, is one I was also considering. He is on the top doc lists and actually my husband's chiropractor suggested I see him. (I had already made an appt with Cindy though and was happy with her.)
Someone on the boards recently (but just moved to Springfield) was happy seeing a Dr. Cunningham. I remembered his name from my previous research and he was one I was thinking about going to if I did not go to Dr. Wesslings office.
I live in St. Peters so it is quite a drive to Webster Groves, but when you feel bad you are willing to drive to the ends of the earth to find someone who makes you feel better!
Hang in there and good luck! (And let us know who you go to and if you are happy.)
Re: Looking For Good Doc In St. Louis Area - Getting Desperate
I have been seeing Dr. Wessling for 5 years and have been pleased with his treatment of my hypothyroidism and related issues. I have to tell you though, that my last visit with him in July was less than satisfying. I realize that anyone can have an "off day", but I had a test result - not related to thyroid - which came back abnormal. He ordered a retest a month later to make sure it wasn't lab error. It came back questionable too, but he told me all was "normal". I took myself to a specialist who confirmed the result was indeed not "normal". I'm still in the diagnostic process, but it appears I have a second autoimmune disease now. I feel that Dr. W shrugged it off instead of addressing it head on.
Despite that, I'm not prepared to condemn him. I may even continue to see him for my thyroid, since I only have to recheck it annually now. But I have understandable doubts about him now.
lkitty70 recently recommended her new doctor in another thread... Dr. Gayathri Raman who's located near St. John's Medical Center in Creve Coeur. She does health features on the local Fox station, which I've seen. I like the looks of her and what lkitty has said about the way she's treating her thyroid. If I do decide to switch, I will consider her a good option.
I researched Dr. Cunningham recently and came up with nada. I simply can't find any public information on him, his hospital affiliations... nothing. And I just discovered that Top Docs has removed his name from their recommendations. That's worrisome. Just doesn't seem right not to be able to find any info on an MD anywhere, so I think caution is in order there.
Re: Looking For Good Doc In St. Louis Area - Getting Desperate
Yes, I just saw Dr. Raman last week and really liked her. She was very friendly and outgoing and easy to talk to. She is also Hypo herself so understands a lot about it. There is supposedly a really good endo. in the same office with her, Dr. Rudee Suwannasri, that I have also seen good things about.
Looking For Good Doc In St. Louis Area - Getting Desperate 
