My first appointment was at 10am. I got to the office 9:50am, but the doors were locked. I could see through the glass doors that people are in the office and they clearly see me standing in the rain but they ignore me. Then the doctor pulls into the parking lot, parks his car and lets me in the office. The lady at the front desk (Dr. Gray's wife) says they don't open until 10am. What office schedules patients for 10am and doesn't plan that patients may arrive a few minutes early to check in?
I figured it was just a fluke so I let it go. Dr. Gray went over my thyroid tests, did an ultrasound of my thyroid and had some tests done. So far so good. His wife called me a few days later to tell me they got the test results and Dr. Gray wanted me to have a scan done of my thyroid. When I ask Mrs. Gray to explain to me what kind of scan will be done she gets very inpatient and short with me.
So I go to MUSC and have the scan done. About a week later Mrs. Gray calls me. She says they got the results, they know what's wrong and need me to come in to over the results of the scan. I ask her to explain to me what the results mean. Again, she gets very short with me and says "we'll go over everything when you come in."
So a few days later my boyfriend and I go into to see Dr. Gray to go over the results. Dr. Gray says the scan found a hyperfunctioning nodule and he explains my options. I want the more drastic option, which he recommends against. He says he does not believe my symptoms are related to my thyroid and wants me to take medication instead. He says "Try the medication and come back in four week to see how you feel." Okay, I said I'd give it a shot.
Well, after about a week on the medication I start feeling worse. One day I wake up extremely dizzy, nauseous, and feeling like I was going to pass out. I didn't feel safe to drive. It so happened on this same day I already had scheduled an appointment with a holistic doctor, so I went to see her that same day. She checked me out and explained that some people are sensitive to the medication the doctor had prescribed me. Since the the only thing that had changed was the medication, it was obvious it was not doing me any good so I stopped taking it.
Now, some people have a bad reaction to medicines, some don't. I don't fault Dr. Gray for that. What I have an issue with is the doctor's wife. When I called the office and told his wife what had happened, she was extremely rude to me. When I told her what the holistic doctor had told me about the medication, she bad mouthed holistic doctors like a politician talking about his opponent!
She said the holistic doctor would not be able to reduce the size of my nodule. I then said "Well, I'm confused, because Dr. Gray told me that he does not think my symptoms are related to my thyroid." Mrs. Gray said "Well, that must have been before we got the results of the scan back." I said "NO, he told me this AFTER you got the scan back. My boyfriend and I came into the office to go over the results of the scan and Dr. Gray told us that he wanted me to try the medication first and see if that made me feel better because he didn't think my symptoms were related to my thyroid." I told her I wanted to cancel my appointment and that I would not be coming back to see Dr. Gray.
Despite his wife's rudeness, I was willing to give Dr. Gray a chance. But after seeing him a couple of times I am NOT confident in his ability to handle thyroid issues. And after doing some research I found out that the tests he uses are outdated tests. He only tests the TSH and T4, when current research shows that the TSH is pretty much useless for measuring thyroid function. The most accurate test for thyroid function is the T3, which Dr. Gray didn't even test. And his wife's rudeness was the nail in the coffin for me.
I DO NOT recommend seeing Dr. Gray, there are plenty of other component endocrinologists that have better office staff. If you are having thyroid problems, I recommend you go to Merge Medical Center. I've been seeing them for a couple of weeks now and I'm already feeling better. read more