Anyone know of any doctors in Southwestern Ontario that treat PCOS, fertility and hypothyroidism? I have been seeing an obstetrician but he is too busy to get an appointment very often. Has anyone been to the Kitchener Fertility Clinic? It's called K.A.R.M.A. I may get referred there. I heard it's great.
hello
there is a fertility clinic in Hamilton as well, i went there once, apparently the doctors there are pretty good with treating PCOS and infertility.
At the West End Clinic in Hamilton, there are two doctors who treat infertility. Dr. Hughes, and Dr. Daya. Dr. Daya is familliar with PCOS, and is my RE. It took 9 months from the date of referral until my first appointment (to be fair, they were in the process of moving into the new building). You must have a referral to see him, however, so expect some kind of wait. He's good, though very much against nautral therapies and herbs. We have an "agree to disagree" policy on that one. He no longer asks, and I no longer tell.
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My family doctor referred me to Dr. Potts. He's an OB/GYN in Kitchener and it took over 6-months to get an appointment with him.
I have found it extremely difficult to find doctors in Ontario. It took me several years to get a family doctor but at last, I have one and I'm on the road to discovering life with PCOS.
There's a fertility clinic in Kitchener and I think it's on Victoria street, but don't quote me on that.
I lived in Kitchener until last year when I moved to Toronto.
At that point I didn't realize that I had PCOS.
I knew something was wrong but didn't know what.
When I expressed concern about my lack of periods and really abnormal hair growth to my family doctor. (Dr. McKinnon) He said, "Well in family practice we don't deal with body hair go see an aesthetician and maybe your lack of periods is due to a sexually transmitted disease"
As well my gynaecologist was aware that I had pcos and never told me.
Because of this my respect of doctor's in the K-W area is pretty obsolete
The clinic you speak of maybe a great place but I would consider trying other places.
Are you able to travel out of Kitchener?
I am currently at the Toronto Centre for Advanced Reproductive Technology, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is rated one of the top clinics in North America. http://www.tcartonline.com/ I was started on treatment within 2 months of my initial referal the wait there was short to get in for my initial consultation.
It’s just my opinion though maybe the doctors at K.A.R.M.A. are more competent than the doctors that I have dealt with in the Kitchener area.
Good Luck!
I had a bad experience with the first doctor I went to in 1999 but just because he was a "quack" in my opinion, I didn't give up on finding a good one.
I know it's frustrating when you know there's something wrong and a doctor won't take you seriously.
I live in Stratford now and I still travel into Kitchener to see my doctor.
Sorry you had a crappy experience but don't put all the docs into the same basket. There ARE great ones in the K-W area
__________________ TTC # 1 since 1998
Dx PCOS: 2003
Current Meds: Provera to start my cycle
Clomid for CD's 5-9
Metformin 500mg x 3 times a day
June 23/04- Sonohysterogram. Tubes are both clear.
I should have not stereotyped all the doctors in K-W as bad.
Maybe for you, you have a great one that is helpful and actually keeps you informed with what's going on.
I was not all that lucky. I was/am frustrated that I was unable to have any help from any of the doctors that I dealt with. One of my doctors told me that I needed an AIDS test because of my age and the way that I dressed even though I was with the same guy for 7 years and I insisted I did not need one.
I also had some sort of infection that 2 different doctors told me was a pelvic infection, my family doctor said nothing was wrong with me even though I had a fever of 103`, extreme stinky and pusy oozing discharge, vomiting, pain and hallucinations Another doctor told me it was an infection gone bad from my LEEP procedure that my gynaecologist did. And the best was my gynaecologist telling me not worry about it cause the antibiotics were working. Till this day I still don't know what was wrong with me.
I am very bothered by the fact that both my family doctor and my gynaecologist were aware that I had PCOS and neither said anything to me about it.
I am sorry that I have hostility towards the K-W area doctors but every experience I have had in the 24 years that I lived in Kitchener was bad.
I don't even want to start with the problems that I have had with K-W Hospital/ Grand River (Whatever they are calling themselves.)
Living in Stratford would really limit your options to doctors and I am sure that there are excellent doctors there. Though Stratford really is not that far from Kitchener. Living in Kitchener I felt my options were limited I could not get a new family doctor since I was considered to have one and because of that I have had bad experiences.
If you have a doctor that is as good as you say make sure you keep them because my opinion of doctors in Kitchener is that they suck!
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Well, you have every right to feel that way and after reading your last post, I would feel the same way, no doubt about it.
Some doctors have ZERO people skills.
I really hope you get on the right track there in Toronto. Best of luck!
__________________ TTC # 1 since 1998
Dx PCOS: 2003
Current Meds: Provera to start my cycle
Clomid for CD's 5-9
Metformin 500mg x 3 times a day
June 23/04- Sonohysterogram. Tubes are both clear.
Just wanted to give an update. Dr. Daya no longer works at the West End Clinic. He stepped down amid some scandal (he was performing surgeries on women who apparently didn't have the condition that the surgery was intended to treat). Dr. Megan Karnis is my new RE. I haven't seen here yet, though.
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Hi,
I'm new to the PCOS community and new to this blog as well...
I have an appointment at K.A.R.M.A in Kitchener on Friday the 12th of September. I was referred to this clinic in April, but the original date was for November. They had a cancellation so I was moved up by about 2 months. (yeah!)
I am not sure what to expect but I look forward to meeting Dr. Camponaro. Their website is very detailed and they seem to have a lot of resources on site.
I will post a blog as soon as I get home from my appointment and let everyone know how it went. I wish there was more info on this place - I have been looking for people that have been here but haven't found many yet.
I highly recommend Dr. Stephen Power in London. He is an reproductive Endo an a OBGYN. Best Doctor I have ever had. Sadly I moved away but he is awsome
cysterls
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I totally recommend Dr MArtin and the SOFT clinic in London. My wait was less than 2 months and there are two other doctors that work there now, so the wait may be less. After 4 IUIs I was successful. He's great and if you need more info about the clinic to give to your doctor so you can get a referral there just let me know!
Since originally posting my above posts things have changed for me. I no longer live in Ontario and have since lived in Calgary and presently live in British Columbia. I want to expand on my original thoughts by saying most (not all) of the doctors within Canada are idiots. When I originally read the OP I was little unknowledgeable when it came to thyroid problems. My experience with my own thyroid has taught me that doctors are only as smart as the books they read as many of them are unable to think outside the box or consider anything that isn't considered by themselves.
Things at TCART didn't work out the way I would have liked, nor did they work out at the Markham Fertility Clinic, The Regional Fertility Program, and Genesis Fertility Clinic, Victoria Fertility Clinic or any of the others that we went to but there are different clinics for everyone. What I didn't realize was while a patient at TCART and many of the other clinics that we went to is that they should have been treating me for hypothyroidism. Heck my doctor in Kitchener should have been treating my thyroid based on test results since obtain from 2001.
I have met with RE's, endocrinologists and GP's all across the country telling me I was an idiot that didn't go to med school and should just be the patient when I would question my thyroid, TSH levels, and symptoms. When I started bringing the new reference ranges that were implemented a few years back by the American board of Endocrinology to my appointments to try and have the doctors understand where I was coming from, I would be dismissed from the office without any answers and even more questions.
Fortunately for me, my DH & I moved once again and when I found a new family doctor I made a slight change to my medication list adding on a minimal dose of thyroid medication. I filled the Rx and before I knew it, I started to feel better. Significantly better. My next step was to find a new RE, which I did. This doctor went one step further and discovered why I should have my thyroid treated. My dose was significantly increased and voila my non existent periods that I would not get with out Provera were restored. I told one endocrinologist that said my lab work showed that I had ovulated that she was a liar as I have never ovulated in my life with out the help of my trusty Puregon injection Pen. Boy did I feel like the idiot when a couple days later when my period showed up. This happened every month for 5 months straight (Never, ever has this ever happened on its own) and I was simply amazed. The only thing to seemingly coincide with this mini miracle was my TSH levels. Whenever I can maintain a TSH level of around 2.0 I ovulate & get periods. At the time that I got 5 in a row and began losing all the weight that I was told that I had gained due to PCOS, I was under a doctor's care that was titrating me regularly but when we were returned to the care of our physician (for other reasons) my TSH would not regulate and my periods disappeared. It has been almost 2 years since we originally met with this RE and although I can get my family doctor to admit that is extremely coincidental, I can't get anyone to follow up and continue titrating my dose. My levels fluctuate more than a rollercoaster. I have driven numerous 4+ hour trips (one way) to the largest medical hub in our area to have multiple doctors tell me that my levels are well with in the Canadian reference ranges and therefore they won't treat me based only on lab work.
Here's my thought though... On numerous PCOS documents it says that PCOS can mimic hypothyroidism and that is why it is important to have thorough testing to differentiate between the two. They are now discovering that ovarian cysts are very common in the normal female population. Anyone that has the type of cysts caused by undeveloped follicles is going to higher male hormone levels and therefore have irregular hair growth, and possible hair loss. My lab work doesn't resemble that of one who has PCOS...so what's not say the diagnosis has been wrong along. I'll never know. Especially not with the inept doctors that I have been dealing with. The best thing I ever did was tell my doctor I was on synthetic thyroid medications when I wasn't.
So the moral of my extremely long post is that even if you have the best doctor in the world, your health & care is really up to you. A good doctor will not dismiss your concerns and will not be insulted when you suggest a possible prognosis. They will use that knowledge to help others. A good doctor will follow through on all the tests, not just the ones that they think you need because they have already made their diagnosis up in their head. A good doctor will catch the problems before they arise and destroy & devastate your life.
Unfortunately I had to learn this based on experience. Some may agree with what I have written, while others not but if I manage to encourage one person to take control of their medical care, see another doctor, or even get diagnosed after their own research...than posting my experience wasn't such a bad thing. I don't know if Kassy ever comes around SC's anymore but I really hope that she was able to find the doctor and care that she needed because as I have learned it is a very difficult challenge.
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Ontario Doctors 
KARMA in Kitchener 
My very long post... 
