Dr. Helen Shi Stafford, MD

Dr. Stafford listened to all of my concerns and was very affirming throughout my appointment. She is honestly one of the best doctors I have ever had at Kaiser and I highly recommend booking an appointment with her. Kaiser is lucky to have her.

I first went to Dr. Stafford because I was having some abnormal tremors in my arms and legs and she just immediately diagnosed it as benign tremors. She wrote me a prescription for propranolol to see if it would help and it didn't. Then, 6 months later, I went to her for other symptoms that appeared over time. Mind you, I'm not incredibly fit but I'm also a woman with a smaller frame and not considered obese. My symptoms consisted of losing 15 lbs without working out or dieting, trouble sleeping, tremors getting worse, abnormal period cycles, feeling incredible fatigued just by climbing a flight of stairs, no energy, heart rate increasing easily, which all point to hyperthyroidism. My mom and her side of the family has a history of hyperthyroidism too and I mentioned that to her and told her I wanted to be referred to an endocrinologist. She said she'd order a blood test for me, but if it comes negative, she thinks that I might be manic. And I asked her why she thought that was and… she said it was from trouble sleeping, shakiness, and rapid heart rate. I have no problem if I truly was manic, however I know what manic is. I had told her I was feeling physical fatigue and no energy and she also ignored everything else I mentioned to her like losing weight out of nowhere, fatigue, irregular period cycles, and family history with hyperthyroidism. When I read the after summary report, she noted "faster than normal speech" to contribute to why she thinks I might be manic. This was my second time consulting her for medical advice ever so "faster than normal speech" is completely subjective for her. When my blood tests came back, they were 4x the normal numbers someone should have for hyperthyroidism. I had to be the one to message her after they came back too and she just said, "Your labs are consistent with hyperthyroidism and you should be seen by the endocrinologist." The fact she immediately thought I was manic without seeing results first was what put me off the most. If she had any other suggestions of what my condition was, I would be open but she ignored the most important half of my symptoms to pre-diagnose me with mania. I thought that was unprofessional and definitely not someone I want as my primary care doctor. It just felt invalidating—I understand she's a doctor so she has more knowledge. But don't ignore my primary concern and make up another condition I might have without more evidence or reason backing up claims, especially when the other condition didn't answer my physical symptoms I was exhibiting.