am I hypothyroid?

[Guest guest]

and if I am will I ever be diagnosed?I dont Know if I should keep on at

myGP or try to find a private doctor.Any advice?

Delainne.

[Guest guest]

> How long have you been ill and trying to get a disgnosis of why?

> Also, I don't mean to be rude, but how old are you? GPs commonly

> blame malaise on various stages of women's lives and use that as an

> excuse not to diagnose or treat the real problem.

>

> good luck,

> Tracey

>

> --- thanks for replying.I am 35,I had my lovely 4th child 16 months

ago,for about 1 year before i got pregnant i had symptoms of

tiredness and anxiety,low mood.Since the baby was born I have had so

many symptoms which I now Know to be hypo,the ones that affect my

life the most are extreem sleepiness and tiredness,finding it

impossible to lose the 2 stone baby wieght and being so slow of mind

with a terrible memory.The GP said I had PNDepresion and I was taking

prozac from last July tillI took myself off it in May. In the last

year I have repeatedly seen the doc,I have never been allowed to tell

him my full symptoms such as slow growing,thinning hair and not

having to pluck my eyebrows anymore,slow pulse.I am going on hols

tomorrow,when i get back I'll try the gp once more then i will have

to try private.thanks for listening,Delainne.

[Guest guest]

Ditto Delainne, except that I refused to take the antidepressants and

so aquired the label of being a difficult patient!

I am now 44 and my problems started around the time of the birth of my

3rd child who is now 10. So you are at the same age and stage as I was

back then. I had no problems with my previous 2 births and lost the

baby weight approprietly on those occasions. I've breastfed all 3 of

my children far more intensively than is the norm in the UK and yet

still piled on weight after the birth of my son. Even though I was

exhausted for most of his toddler years, I ended up walking a lot with

him just to stay awake. The muscle pain from the effort stopped me

falling asleep on the hoof. Ironic isn't it! So, I was exercising and

should have kept the weight off.

My mood was always OK, which was why I pooh-poohed the depression

diagnosis. My good humour was the one thing that stayed intact and I

didn't want to risk upsetting my brain chemistry in case that broke

too! I've seen people with PND and it is nothing like what I was

experiencing. I knew I had typical hypothyroid symptoms as my mother

is also hypothyroid (though she has a tendency to real depression too -

which worsened with tranquillizers but magically eased once on the

proper thyroid treatment).

BUT even with all my proof - and I've since done my family tree and

found EVERY blood female cousin is hypothyroid plus my

greatgrandmother's photo shows she had Graves disease- the GPs and

endocrinolgist kept prevaricating.

I've basically spent 10 years of my life arguing with doctors! You

know your body better than they do, especially after having had 4

children, so stick to your guns!

I've found the advice and support from other TPA-UK forum members

invaluable in starting to get my health back. The awful thing is that

stories like ours go back years and are still continuing. Its like the

medical profession hasn't learnt anything in all those years.

The trick now is to make sure you target the right specialist to help

you. Sheila has a private list of the good, bad and indifferent!

Have a good holiday and try to get some time to yourself to recover

from it if you need to!

Tracey

>

..I am 35,I had my lovely 4th child 16 months

> ago,for about 1 year before i got pregnant i had symptoms of

> tiredness and anxiety,low mood.Since the baby was born I have had so

> many symptoms which I now Know to be hypo,the ones that affect my

> life the most are extreem sleepiness and tiredness,finding it

> impossible to lose the 2 stone baby wieght and being so slow of mind

> with a terrible memory.The GP said I had PNDepresion and I was

[Guest guest]

At my GP surgery they expect you to come with one problem at a time

and to make a further 5 minute appointment if you have another

problem. For years I used to just present the doctor with my most

pressing complaint, whatever was bothering me most at the time.

Then eventually one day I presented him with a list of all my

symptoms, which ran to two columns of A4 paper. He was really

impressed (!) and for the first time seemed to realise what I was up

against. He was still unable to help me because all the standard

tests proved negative, but his attitude changed and he was more

concerned about my situation.

I have been trying the private route for the last 5 years and although

I haven't found the solution yet, I have a great deal more concrete

information about my physical illness. Maybe tackling the adrenal and

thyroid problems will prove to be the turning point. I feel it is

worth throwing whatever money I have at health problems because I want

to get my life back, and if I become well enough to work again it will

be cost-effective. Maybe then I shall have the stamina to try and

argue about a diagnosis with NHS doctors, but for the time being I am

not expecting any help from them.

Miriam

In the last year I have repeatedly seen the doc,I have never been

allowed to tell him my full symptoms such as slow growing,thinning

hair and not having to pluck my eyebrows anymore,slow pulse.I am going

on hols tomorrow,when i get back I'll try the gp once more then i

will have to try private.thanks for listening,Delainne.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi hon

Welcome and I hope you enjoy your holiday

I had to wait until I was sleeping for 3 days at a time and waking up

tired, nearly bald and a locum doc came into the surgery before I even

got a blood test. That was in the 80s. They were listening to me but

because they had already diagnosed me with anxiety disorder and

depression they would go no further.

''I have never been allowed to tell

him my full symptoms such as slow growing,thinning hair and not

having to pluck my eyebrows anymore,slow pulse.''

I know about the 'only one complaint at a time' scenario, which is

difficult when you have signs and symptoms which would lead to a

diagnosis, what a stupid concept that is. I feel for you hon.

lotsa luv

Dawnx

[Guest guest]

HI n

Sadly, you appear to have hit the nail on the head and it is not worth you wasting your time and energy (and more importantly your health) on the NHS doctors who have not been given the training to know how to deal with your illness. Outside doing blood tests, they haven't a clue - and if your blood tests are within the far too wide reference interval, they tell you that your health is normal and refuse to investigate further as to the cause of your symptoms.

All I can encourage you to do is to read, read and then read again about hypothyroidism and the associated conditions that go hand in hand with it from our website www.tpa-uk.org.uk The more you understand, the more you will know how to treat yourself, what the tests are that you need to get done, how to interpret those tests, what condition to treat first, and why and what the next step to take is. There is light at the end of the tunnel and we can walk you through it. We have had so many members who have come to TPA not knowing where to turn and been so ill they have had to leave paid employment, who are now back to good health and back to work - so never lose hope. Keep asking questions and rattle on until you get somebody, somewhere to answer - but I would leave the NHS doctors to get on with their handing out of antidepressants giving their wonderful advice on eating the right diet , the need to get exercise, pulling yourself together etc. etc.

Feeling a bit cynical today about our wonderful NHS - but then Dr P is holding his clinic at my home, and I am listening to some of the horrendous stories that some of his patients have to tell of their experience within the NHS. These stories would make anybody depressed.

On a positive note, the sun is shining today, the sky is blue, there will be new patients today who will find out that a healthy future is possible and they will regain their health again.

Luv - Sheila

I have been trying the private route for the last 5 years and althoughI haven't found the solution yet, I have a great deal more concreteinformation about my physical illness. Maybe tackling the adrenal andthyroid problems will prove to be the turning point. I feel it isworth throwing whatever money I have at health problems because I wantto get my life back, and if I become well enough to work again it willbe cost-effective. Maybe then I shall have the stamina to try andargue about a diagnosis with NHS doctors, but for the time being I amnot expecting any help from them. Miriam In the last year I have repeatedly seen the doc,I have never beenallowed to tell him my full symptoms such as slow growing,thinninghair and not having to pluck my eyebrows anymore,slow pulse.I am goingon hols tomorrow,when i get back I'll try the gp once more then iwill have to try private.thanks for listening,Delainne.>No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.2/1561 - Release Date: 18/07/2008 18:35

[Guest guest]

Hi Delainne, sorry to hear you're not having much luck with your GP.

Have you had any thyroid tests at all? You need TSH, free T3, Free

T4, thyroid antibodies doing. The best thing you can do before you go

back to see your GP is to type out the list of your symptoms and how

they affect you, this will go in your notes. I had to do that as head

goes blank when I see my GP, not good :-) If you have no luck with

current GP, would you be able to try another one? Ruth x

>

>

> > How long have you been ill and trying to get a disgnosis of why?

> > Also, I don't mean to be rude, but how old are you? GPs commonly

> > blame malaise on various stages of women's lives and use that as

an

> > excuse not to diagnose or treat the real problem.

> >

> > good luck,

> > Tracey

> >

> > --- thanks for replying.I am 35,I had my lovely 4th child 16

months

> ago,for about 1 year before i got pregnant i had symptoms of

> tiredness and anxiety,low mood.Since the baby was born I have had

so

> many symptoms which I now Know to be hypo,the ones that affect my

> life the most are extreem sleepiness and tiredness,finding it

> impossible to lose the 2 stone baby wieght and being so slow of

mind

> with a terrible memory.The GP said I had PNDepresion and I was

taking

> prozac from last July tillI took myself off it in May. In the last

> year I have repeatedly seen the doc,I have never been allowed to

tell

> him my full symptoms such as slow growing,thinning hair and not

> having to pluck my eyebrows anymore,slow pulse.I am going on hols

> tomorrow,when i get back I'll try the gp once more then i will

have

> to try private.thanks for listening,Delainne.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Dawn

Having at various points over the past few years told my doc about

various symptoms I feel that they were brushed off due to my

diagnosis of recurrent depression. I was telling my cpn the other day

and said how I feel that when you tell of symptoms like the ones I

have been having and you have a mental health diagnosis you are seen

as being a neurotic woman and given the brush off. She was shocked

that despite having bloods done for certain things I had never had

full bloods taken until a few weeks ago when it looked like I may

have kidney problems (my kidneys are fine by the way).

Has anyone else had a similar reception due to having a mental health

diagnosis?

Jen

> I had to wait until I was sleeping for 3 days at a time and waking

up

> tired, nearly bald and a locum doc came into the surgery before I

even

> got a blood test. That was in the 80s. They were listening to me but

> because they had already diagnosed me with anxiety disorder and

> depression they would go no further.

[Guest guest]

Hi Jen, I have had my symptoms blamed on being a young mother, being a

housewife, being a woman (!), depression (which was 10 years ago when I

lost my grandpa), even being married to someone older than me. My

previous GP is very sexist, last time I saw him he said he sees lots of

women like me whatever that's supposed to mean and that I'm

disrepectful for not trusting his opinion and not to go back to see him

because I have CFS and there's nothing he can do or indeed wants to do

for me. I stormed out slamming the door and changed to another

practice. I intend to complain to the GMC about him. It's obvious that

he only cares about money, not his patients and I'm not alone in

thinking this. It worries me that he said he sees many women like me

and they probably get the same treatment. Ruth x

>

> Has anyone else had a similar reception due to having a mental health

> diagnosis?

[Guest guest]

Someone ought to have told him that if he treated his patients correctly there might be less women 'like you' .

Reminds me of the case of the doctor treating diabetics giving them the wrong advice. All his patients ended up with serious complications. He then wrote a paper to say that ALL diabetics get complications (omitting to say what advice he was giving them as he took it for granted that all doctors gave the same advice). Other doctors who read the paper, presumed that the doctor was giving his patients the same correct advice as they were then believed that all diabetics got complications and therefore treated their patients as if it were inevitable. It became self perpetuating. When some patients didn't get complications it was not put down to the fact that they were being given the correct advice because "everyone knew they got complications".

But then I once overheard a conversation where one woman was telling the other that "everyone knows eating eggs gives you high cholesterol". It is the "everyone knows" that stops people thinking for themselves. And it would not surprise me that doctors fall into the same trap. Take Armour for example "everyone knows it is unstable", so the myth is self perpetuating.

Lilian

My previous GP is very sexist, last time I saw him he said he sees lots of women like me

[Guest guest]

Hi Ruth,

I imagine that if it keeps happening (as with yourself) the PCT will

be looking hard at his capacity/empathy as a doctor .... poor bed-

side manner leads to poorer patients ~ who then take much longer to

recover after an interaction of that sort. As independent

'contractors' the only way to make an impression is that they loose

too many of their patients.

Non-compliant patients may be the ones who do some of their own

research. Patients who are then patronised for having the temerity to

question God in his wisdom inflict clear wounds when they get angry

at such (non-) treatment......such ingratitude...bah...

The regrettable consequence is that the practice then acquires an

overload of 'compliant' and 'respectful' ageing patients and no young

mothers.

One GOD down...too many to go...

Bob

>

> Hi Jen, I have had my symptoms blamed on being a young mother,

being a housewife, being a woman (!), depression (which was 10 years

ago when I lost my grandpa)

[Guest guest]

Incidentally, what is the correct advice for people with diabetes? I

mean Type 1 here. I have a friend who is getting complications.

Thanks,

Miriam

>

> Someone ought to have told him that if he treated his patients

correctly there might be less women 'like you' .

>

> Reminds me of the case of the doctor treating diabetics giving them

the wrong advice. All his patients ended up with serious

complications. He then wrote a paper to say that ALL diabetics get

complications (omitting to say what advice he was giving them as he

took it for granted that all doctors gave the same advice). Other

doctors who read the paper, presumed that the doctor was giving his

patients the same correct advice as they were then believed that all

diabetics got complications and therefore treated their patients as if

it were inevitable. It became self perpetuating. When some

patients didn't get complications it was not put down to the fact that

they were being given the correct advice because " everyone knew they

got complications " .

>

> > Lilian

[Guest guest]

Agree with you there Lilian, this is one of my favourite quotes which

is very fitting:

" Do not believe in what you have heard; do not believe in traditions

becuase they have been handed down for many generations; do not

believe anything becuase it is rumoured and spoken of by many; do not

believe merely because some old sage are produced; do not believe in

conjectures; do not believe in that as a truth to which you have

become attached to by habit; do not believe on the authority of your

teachers or elders. After observation and analysis; when it agrees

with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,

then accept it and live up to it. " (Gautama Buddha, spoken 50 BC)

I have so much respect for all those people who question the 'norm'

and try to change the world for the better even at personal cost, Dr

P for example, one of many people who work tirelessly to help people.

They do exist within the NHS but unfortunately there are ones that

let them down. Ruth x

>

> Someone ought to have told him that if he treated his patients

correctly there might be less women 'like you' .

>

> Reminds me of the case of the doctor treating diabetics giving them

the wrong advice. All his patients ended up with serious

complications. He then wrote a paper to say that ALL diabetics get

complications (omitting to say what advice he was giving them as he

took it for granted that all doctors gave the same advice). Other

doctors who read the paper, presumed that the doctor was giving his

patients the same correct advice as they were then believed that all

diabetics got complications and therefore treated their patients as

if it were inevitable. It became self perpetuating. When some

patients didn't get complications it was not put down to the fact

that they were being given the correct advice because " everyone knew

they got complications " .

>

> But then I once overheard a conversation where one woman was

telling the other that " everyone knows eating eggs gives you high

cholesterol " . It is the " everyone knows " that stops people

thinking for themselves. And it would not surprise me that doctors

fall into the same trap. Take Armour for example " everyone knows

it is unstable " , so the myth is self perpetuating.

>

> Lilian

>

> My previous GP is very sexist, last time I saw him he said he sees

lots of women like me

>

[Guest guest]

What seems to be happening these days that if the number of people

suffering an ailment exceeds a critical mass, then the definition

of " normal " is changed so that illness is considered normal.

I'm not even being cynical. There is a skin condition (I cannot

remember its name but both my daughter and I have patches of it)which

used to be considered a defect when a small percentage of people

displayed it. It can be unsightly but it is no big deal. Such a high

percentage of the population now has it to some extent that, these

days, it is simply regarded a skin variation. I do hope the same

doesn't happen with thyroid problems.

Tracey

<snipped>

After observation and analysis; when it agrees

> with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,

> then accept it and live up to it. " (Gautama Buddha, spoken 50 BC)

[Guest guest]

>

> Incidentally, what is the correct advice for people with diabetes? I

> mean Type 1 here. I have a friend who is getting complications.

Miriam, the correct advice for all diabetics, whether Type 1 or Type 2

(I am Type 2 myself) is to maintain stable blood sugars around the

clock. Normal, stable blood sugars is the holy grail of diabetes

management and is perfectly manageable for all diabetics. The

attitude of doctors that diabetics can't be expected or even

encouraged to keep normal blood sugars is plain wrong.

All your friend needs to know can be found in this book:

Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: Complete Guide to Achieving Normal

Blood Sugars

Available on amazon. Dr Bernstein is a lifelong T1 and he is well

into his seventies and in perfect health. Although his method is

oftentimes tedious, I prefer it to blindness, neuropathy and salami

surgery. Personally, I was developing complications, but when I got

my blood sugars under control, they healed themselves.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Rosie

[Guest guest]

Hi Rosie

The name of Professor *Greet van den Berghe crops up time and again in

her work on critical care and managing blood glucose levels during a

critical period of illness ~ it seems to apply to survival as well.

*The Catholic Universiy of Leuven, Belgium.

best wishes

Bob

>

> --- In thyroid treatment , " miriam_hinch "

> <miriam_hinch@> wrote

[Guest guest]

Thanks very much Rosie. Maybe I'll recommend that book to my friend.

I am pleased to see Dr Bernstein's advice ties in with what

Taubes says in " Good Calories, Bad Calories " which I think highly of.

This charts the history of nutritional advice in the States and shows

how the public ended up being given recommendations that are in

conflict with scientific research!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/books/review/Kolata-t.html

Miriam

> >

> Miriam, the correct advice for all diabetics, whether Type 1 or Type 2

> (I am Type 2 myself) is to maintain stable blood sugars around the

> clock. Normal, stable blood sugars is the holy grail of diabetes

> management and is perfectly manageable for all diabetics. The

> attitude of doctors that diabetics can't be expected or even

> encouraged to keep normal blood sugars is plain wrong.

>

> All your friend needs to know can be found in this book:

>

> Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: Complete Guide to Achieving Normal

> Blood Sugars

>

> Available on amazon. Dr Bernstein is a lifelong T1 and he is well

> into his seventies and in perfect health. Although his method is

> oftentimes tedious, I prefer it to blindness, neuropathy and salami

> surgery. Personally, I was developing complications, but when I got

> my blood sugars under control, they healed themselves.

>

> I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

>

> Rosie

>

[Guest guest]

Well Tracey - considering that some doctors (such as Dr P) consider there are as many as 1 in 4 who suffer with a thyroid problem, perhaps it has now become too common a malady and it is now considered 'normal' for people to have this condition.

Luv - Sheila

What seems to be happening these days that if the number of people suffering an ailment exceeds a critical mass, then the definition of "normal" is changed so that illness is considered normal.

.. No virus found in this incoming message.

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