$480 for a doctor who ignored…
$480 for a doctor who ignored everything I said, then I solved it myself for $160
My TSH was 58. Normal is under 4.5. That's not a subtle problem, it's a five-alarm thyroid emergency. You'd think a thyroid specialist would be interested in what I had to say. You'd be wrong.
The intake form doesn't work. I couldn't select a pharmacy. I contacted support and they fixed it. Then they sent me three more emails and three texts telling me to finish the intake form I had already finished. When I pointed this out, support replied "per my last email" — quoting the email where they confirmed it was done. I don't think they read their own emails.
The appointment confirmation doesn't work on iPhone. Just errors, every time.
Before my appointment, I was told everything could be done from home — important because I live three hours from the nearest lab. Then during the appointment, the doctor handed me a list of tests requiring a six-hour round trip to complete. When I reminded her I was promised home testing, she had no solution.
Here's the real problem. I told the doctor in the first minute that I needed T3-only treatment (Cytomel) because my body converts T4 into reverse T3. She told me T3-only treatment would send my TSH back to 58. That is not true, and any doctor who understands thyroid function knows it. She refused to prescribe it and insisted on Synthroid — pure T4, the exact thing I told her makes me worse.
I later received an email from Paloma admitting they don't offer T3-only therapy at all. So instead of telling me that upfront, the doctor told me the treatment I asked for wouldn't work — framing a company policy as medical fact. That's the part I can't get past. Don't lie to a patient about the science to cover for what your company simply doesn't offer.
She also told me my T4 was "low" when it was within normal range, and told me my reverse T3 was "normal" when it was at the top of the range. She read my labs by picking whatever interpretation supported the plan she'd already decided on.
I tried the Synthroid she prescribed. Within an hour my heart was pounding. I became nauseous, vomited, and couldn't function for two days — the same reaction I get from any T4 medication. Exactly what I warned her about.
Paloma total: $480 for the appointment and labs, plus $60 for medication that made me sick.
I then ordered the exact T3 medication I asked for from a licensed overseas pharmacy: $160 for a 600-day supply. No appointment. No doctor telling me I'm wrong about my own body. No "per my last email."
To their credit, they did refund two months of unused membership when I cancelled. That's the reason this is two stars instead of one. But $480 to be ignored, prescribed the wrong medication, and lied to about why — when I solved it myself for $160 — is not care. I told her the problem in the first minute. She didn't listen.