I've waited over a year to get past my anger with this doctor. I am a retired RN. I had a thyroidectomy at Ascension Sacred Heart in July 2025. Apparently my surgeon put in for a consult with this MD. Either he or a staff member from his office came to see me in Recovery. Whoever came, obviously, did not know that patients can be "awake" in the Recovery Room but it's a case of "the lights are on but nobody's home". I learned about the consult after requesting my records and reading it. Dr. Mamish declined to see me because I was on Armour Thyroid and refused to switch to Levothyroxine.
It was obvious to me that nobody had looked at my prior Ascension SHH Endocrinology records and seen where I had been on Levothyroxine for about 20 years and it was his predecessor who switched me to NDT around 2018. I had two problems with Levothyroxine. #1 I wasn't splitting off the T-3 very well. #2 One of the side effects can be "large joint pain". I almost killed my kidneys with NSAIDs. I had so many steroid injections in my joints over those years that I could qualify as a porcupine due to the number of needles! No way was I going to switch back. My final pathology diagnosis was Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, multiple nodules and an incidental finding that one of those nodules contained Papillary Cell Carcinoma. No expansion outside the nodule and nothing in the actual thyroid gland.
OK, no Endocrinologist and I can't see my PCP for 6 weeks, so I did what any experienced Critical Care Nurse would do. I made an 'Executive Decision" and doubled my NDT dose from 90 mg to 180 mg. No side effects. PCP decided to leave me on this dose.
All in all, I believe I dodged a bullet by being declined as a patient.
IMHO, any doctor who doesn't look at all options and look at each patient as an individual with varying responses to different medications, is not much of a doctor. It tells me this doctor has developed a protocol for Levothyroxine and expects every patient to fit that mold.
When you develop a side effect that significantly impacts your life, it's time to get away from that drug. I did and feel better than I have in 30 years.
My PSA:
BTW, to anyone who is hesitant about Porcine thyroid. In 1986, the FDA and The manufacturers got together and switched from measuring Iodine levels to T-3/T-4 levels. The ratio is 4:9 and is a stable dose in every pill. The Iodine level, since 1891, was not stable and that's why Synthroid was invented in 1970.
The good Lord gave us a thyroid with 4 factors. Why wouldn't you replace those same 4 factors? Why just do 1 factor? read more