RE: Results/ G.P. comments and next appointment - help!!

[Guest guest]

Hi Jane

You

ask where you should go from here, dare I suggest that you go and find another

GP - one who actually cares about his patients.

Apart

from that, I would suggest you write yet another letter to your GP sending a

copy to the Head of Practice. Again, make a list of ALL your symptoms and Signs

- check these against those in our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk under Hypothyroidism.

If

he did not do all the blood tests you asked for previously, make a list again

of these again because these are VERY important, and tell him you specifically

want these to be tested because you know that thyroid hormone cannot be

properly absorbed into the cells if they are low in the reference range. Remind

him again that these specific blood tests are ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin

D3, folate, magnesium, copper and zinc.

Show

him your Genova adrenal results and copy out the attached 'Genova Quality

Assurance' to show him in case he dares to try to pooh pooh their credentials.

Tell

him that you are aware that the NHS ONLY test to see whether patients have

's disease (too little or no cortisol level) or Cushing's Syndrome (too

high a level of cortisol) and does NOT test for adrenal fatigue and the right

level of cortisol is needed to get the active hormone T3 into the cells.

Tell

him that the NHS thyroid GLAND function tests ONLY test the level of thyroid

hormone being secreted by the thyroid GLAND - and that they DO NOT test to see

whether the thyroid hormone is actually getting into the cells nuclei. There is

a large minority of sufferers who are unable to convert their thyroxine to the

active hormone triiodothyronine (T3) and it is this active hormone our body and

brain requires - NOT thyroxine. Tell him that you wish your Free T3 to be

tested to see whether your level of the ACTIVE hormone is low. Many people who

can't convert do well on T3 alone. Tell him that if he cannot bring himself to

order a Free T3 blood test (this should be ordered alone btw, without adding it

to a request for TSH and FT4 to be tested) or cannot bring himself to give you

a trial of T3 alone, that you now wish him to refer you to an endocrinologist,

preferably one who specialises in thyroid disease rather than diabetes..

Take

your basal temperature before you get out of bed for 4 or 5 days running and

write these down for him and if he snorts yet again, tell him that this is

precisely the reason you need to see somebody who understands about thyroid

disease.

Again,

tell him that you would like this second letter of requests to be placed into

your medical notes

Some

people do OK with a break in taking levothyroxine - but after a few weeks, they

often start to get back symptoms again. When you stopped before and started

slowly on Armour, which you say didn't work and caused you arrhythmia, this

could well have been because you were suffering with low adrenal reserve and

should have been on some form of adrenal supplements - or you could have been

suffering with low ferritin, low B12, low vitamin D3 or any of the other

problems mentioned above which MUST be treated

Many

of us have to take the plunge and take our health into our own hands if we are

ever to get well again. If you have not bought Dr Peatfield's book 'Your

thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy' I would suggest that you buy this. If you go

to our web site, look in the right hand column and you will see 'Buy Anything

From Amazon'. Click on that and then type the title and author 'Dr Barry

Durrant-Peatfield' into the search box at the top. This costs about £8 now.

TPA-UK will be given about 5% of the cost to go towards the cost of our

campaigns. Dr Peatfield tells you how to look after yourself.

Can

you let us have the results of your cortisol and DHEA levels at the four

specific times they were done, i.e 8.00a.m., 12 noon, 4.00p.m. and again at

midnight - and give us the reference ranges for each of those times.

As

mentioned above, NHS serum thyroid function tests only test the level of

thyroid hormone secreted by the thyroid gland and if that secretion is 'normal'

you will be told your thyroid function is 'normal' They do not test to see

whether this amount of thyroid hormone secretion is being converted to the

active hormone T3 which is required by every cell in your body and brain to

make it function. This is your answer to give to your doctor if he says your

TFT's are normal and you don't need thyroxine. However, having said that, just

to confuse things even more, it just might be that your thyroid has gone back

to functioning normally and you do not need thyroxine, but only time will tell.

you do not mention whether you are actually suffering with any symptoms right

now, or showing any signs of hypothyroidism.

Luv

- Sheila

My adrenal test came back from Geneva Diagnostics today:

Total daily cortisol 15.4 (range 21-41 nmol/L)

DHEA Cortisol ratio 2.18

My temperature is low at 36.1.

QUERY

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday to discuss blood results. He will say

that a) they are normal, and that I should not be on thyroxine anyway. I

have been on 150 mg of thyroxine for 15 years.

Why are the test results not significantly different since I have stopped the

thryoxine?

(When i first got tested I had been ill for years, the results were borderline

and the doc said I did not need to be treated. I insisted and within a month

felt significantly better.)

The adrenal test shows a level of fatigue. However, as I understand it, this

test will be discounted by my G.P. What do I do now?

My G.P. snorted when I mentioned the temperature.

Where do i go from here? Have you any ideas of what I should ask for?

Thanks,

Jane

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Genova Quality Assurance.pdf