M.B.
Endos are usually the worst docs to see for thyroid and overall hormone health. Their training focuses far more on total failure of the gland rather than many of the basic imbalances that many of us have, in particular due to autoimmune diseases. Very few endos know anything at all about autoimmune diseases. There is an excellent Texas Thyroid Yahoo group, where you can ask all these questions and get answers from 100s of people that have had their thyroid successfully treated, along with other hormones balanced:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas_Thyroid_Groups/
Tell the moderator that M. B sent you - I'm very active in the group having dealt with this issue for 5+ years and being one of the ones whose feeling well now that I have adequate thyroid hormone in my body.
I know nothing about the Fem center, but I'm not particularly impressed with the info on their website.
They have alot of fear based banners wrt breast cancer - heart disease is actually the leading cause of death in women and the prices on their brand of supplements are extremely high. I don't necessarily disagree with docs that sell supplements but there are many, many brands that are very high quality for less than half the price of their products (e.g., Whey protein and 120 Arginine capsules for $26.00, etc. ). Also, per their FAQ, they don't do saliva tests, which are almost always absolutely necessary to find adrenal problems. And, itt also looks like they use Nurse Practitioners alot - while I think NPs are usually really good for acute things - I don't think they have the training to deal with some of these ocmplex issues and you're paying usually a premium for the services at these sorts of specialty practices. I had one of my worst experiences with an NP that was trying to explain to me what TSH meant - I likely knew far more than her about thyroid hormones.
There are write-ups on two of their docs in the doctor database for the Texas. It is far more difficult than it might appear to resolve these issues as most traditionally trained MDs work based on the "drug it up or cut it out" approach to dealing with problems. Whereas, alot of the alternative doctors just think you need a bunch of supplements or change your diet. While dietary changes and supplements can helpful, one often needs the best of both worlds and finding the best is really, really difficult.
I suggest you consider Dr. Margaret Christensen she is a traditionally trained MD - used to be a top OB/GYN in Dallas), who switched to functional medicine and specializes in treating women:
www.christensencenter.com
She has many of these same issues and will treat you with bioidentical hormones as necessary. She does believe in addressing nutritional and dietary issues - a HUGE one is gluten intolerance and I don't know a single endo that will test for that yet there's HUNDREDS of research articles highlighting that this can trigger thyroid and other hormonal imbalances as well as cause ovarian and intestinal cancers.
