It’s All Due to the Thyroid: Lessons Learnt From a Patient's Perspective

Symptoms associated with thyroid pathology can mimic and overlap with a myriad of other diagnostic possibilities. Based on the patient's educational status, underlying fear, anxiety, online medical search, the patient can erroneously attribute various symptoms to thyroid pathology. We present a case of a 79-year-old female with a history of Hashimoto's hypothyroidism, meningioma, who erroneously attributed many of her symptoms to hypothyroidism despite having normal thyroid labs. The patient had symptoms of fatigue, dysphagia, and proximal muscle weakness. Surprisingly the patient already had an existing diagnosis of dermatomyositis and Zenker's diverticulum which could clearly explain her above symptoms. Moreover, the patient did not follow up for whole body scan and other tests that were ordered for cancer screening, which is the standard practice for dermatomyositis. The patient helped us identify the deficiencies in the current health system regarding patient counseling. We identified factors that could act as communication barriers if not properly addressed which include: (1) patient’s prior medical knowledge, (2) patient’s own underlying fears about their health conditions, (3) use of effective patient education tools, (4) minimizing or avoiding use of medical jargon, (5) role switching to verify patient's understanding, (6) repetition of relevant information, and (7) involvement of the patient in shared decision making. It is important to recognize that thyroid gland dysfunction is the most commonly self-diagnosed condition by patients and the blame can be shifted to thyroid despite evidence to the contrary if effective patient education and counseling are lacking. Understanding the psychological state of the patient along with addressing the underlying fears, and effective patient education with repetition is the key for patient compliance and management.