{"id":4303,"date":"2011-09-27T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=4303"},"modified":"2021-09-08T10:51:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T15:51:06","slug":"hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","title":{"rendered":"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I hear this question virtually every time I see Alan, an extremely healthy, energetic man in his forties who could easily pass for someone in his twenties. He comes to the office once a year for a check-up (he\u2019s always just fine), but since we cross paths at our health club I\u2019m reminded about his \u201ccase\u201d fairly often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t explained to him that when doctors do write up cases, most prefer those in which they themselves play a starring role for having made a great diagnosis or initiated a treatment that rescued someone from the fiery jaws of near-death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Devil\u2019s Dictionary<\/strong><\/a>, American writer Ambrose Bierce defines \u201cpositive\u201d as being \u201cmistaken at the top of one\u2019s voice.\u201d With Alan\u2019s case, I got the opportunity to be both positive (in Bierce\u2019s sense of the word) and, when it came time to celebrate Alan \u201cgetting well,\u201d took my place at the sidelines to watch the parade go by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several months ago Alan arrived to report his thyroid gland was both painful and enlarging. I could feel the enlargement and ordered some thyroid tests, which showed that his gland was producing too much hormone (called hyperthyroidism). The diagnosis was pretty straightforward: acute thyroiditis, a sudden inflammation of the thyroid, cause unknown. Sometimes, and for reasons unknown, a person\u2019s immune system starts producing antibodies against the thyroid. Other times there are no antibodies, just inflammation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing really happened over the following few weeks until his thyroid tests began to change. Now he was drifting into thyroid underactivity (hypothyroidism), Alan\u2019s loss of thyroid function unsurprising to me as it\u2019s a fairly common consequence of thyroiditis. At this point he was feeling a little tired, so I wrote him a prescription for Armour thyroid to replace his lagging hormone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan balked immediately, asking \u201cDo you mean I might have to take a pill for the rest of my life?\u201d I admitted this was a possibility, and suggested we wait a couple of weeks and see what direction his tests were going. He definitely preferred this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks later his numbers were worse, his thyroid pumping out even less hormone. If he was feeling any fatigue, he didn\u2019t let on. I handed him another thyroid prescription, to replace the discarded first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. I think I\u2019ll try Mari instead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan chooses Mari Stecker<\/a>, our traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) specialist<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlan, you can work with Mari all you want. You\u2019re significantly hypothyroid. Your gland is pooped out from the inflammation. Take the thyroid, it will make both of us feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, \u201cme, feeling better,\u201d was not Alan\u2019s priority, so it was thanks-but-no-thanks to my prescription. With much difficulty, I refrained from sulking about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan preferred to try TCM, and since I had no explanation for why his thyroid should suddenly start acting up he scheduled a visit with our Mari Stecker, who does have considerable experience with thyroid disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chinese philosophical and medical theory, yin and yang are the essential components of the material universe. Everything that exists is essentially yin or yang, but most commonly a combination of the two:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The yin principle<\/strong> is dark, moist, passive, and female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Yang<\/strong> is fiery, active, outward-expanding, and male.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless your gender, good health is a balance of the two, poor health an imbalance. Treatment is usually a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs that seeks to restore healthful balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan himself is a very yang person: boundless energy, extroverted, thin, and always moving. In Chinese medicine, overactive thyroid is a sign of excess yang (or, conversely, a deficiency of yin). Something–perhaps stress at work–had thrown off his usual healthy yin-yang balance, first with too much yang, more than usual even for energetic Alan, and then too little. Mari would set out to correct this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week or two later, Alan\u2019s thyroid tests worsened. And there I was, hovering around the door of Mari\u2019s treatment room waving my thyroid prescription. Mari, who\u2019s unflappable, asked me to please just be patient. Things would turn around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within eight weeks, by following his herbal regimen and acupuncture treatments, Alan\u2019s tests were normal, his thyroid back to its usual size, and he was feeling fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I watched the parade go by without me in it, Mari opined, \u201cDid you expect anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now I have written up Alan\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be well,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hear this question virtually every time I see Alan, an extremely healthy, energetic man in his forties who could easily pass for someone in his twenties. He comes to the office once a year for a check-up (he\u2019s always just fine), but since we cross paths at our health club I\u2019m reminded about his \u201ccase\u201d fairly often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,2,531,67,3,246],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acupuncturetraditional-chinese-medicine","category-blog","category-case-studies","category-h","category-knowledge-base","category-thyroid-adrenal-sex-hormone-issues"],"yoast_head":"\r\nHey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-27T10:00:22+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-08T15:51:06+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case\",\"name\":\"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-27T10:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-08T15:51:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\"},\"description\":\"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\",\"description\":\"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\",\"name\":\"wholehealthchicago\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wholehealthchicago\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?","description":"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?","og_description":"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.","og_url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","og_site_name":"WholeHealth Chicago","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago","article_published_time":"2011-09-27T10:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-08T15:51:06+00:00","author":"wholehealthchicago","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_site":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wholehealthchicago","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case","name":"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-09-27T10:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-08T15:51:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19"},"description":"Since Alan was feeling fine, I told him there wasn\u2019t much to be done, that he could use aspirin to relieve any pain, but he preferred not to do that.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/27\/hey-doc-when-are-you-going-to-write-up-my-case#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hey Doc, When Are You Going to Write Up My Case?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/","name":"WholeHealth Chicago","description":"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19","name":"wholehealthchicago","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wholehealthchicago"},"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28649,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303\/revisions\/28649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}