Yorkshire & Humber Armour policy dated 9th Sept 2010

[Guest guest]

I found this on the internet while looking for something else, and thought

people might be interested in it. The summary says:

Treatment

(brand name, manufacturer): Armour thyroid

(thyroid tablets USP, Forrest Pharmaceuticals) and other non- UK licensed

products

For the treatment of: Hypothyroidism

Background: Armour thyroid has been requested by patients who would like such

treatment to be funded by the NHS despite the availability of UK-licensed

thyroxine products.

Commissioning position: Armour thyroid for the treatment of hypothyroidism is

not routinely funded.

Effective from: 24th September 2010

Summary of evidence: Armour thyroid is not a licensed medicine in the UK.

Licensed thyroxine preparations are available and widely prescribed.

There is no rationale behind the use of a combination of levothyroxine and

liothyronine, or of dried thyroid hormone extracts. A combination of the two, in

both non- and physiological proportions, has not consistently been shown to be

more beneficial than levothyroxine alone with respect to cognitive function,

social functioning and wellbeing in a limited number of patients.

Regards

Nadia

[Guest guest]

I have seen this statement being bandied around by several PCT's

and Endocrinologists giving out copies to their patients who dare ask for a

trial of natural thyroid extract. This is cruel in the extreme, and I would

like to ask each and every doctor who does this to do the research necessary to

check whether such a statement has any truth in it or not, and not just to take

the word of the British Thyroid Association who first wrote this. They put out

such information because they know that should they let it be known that

natural thyroid extract makes sufferers of the symptoms of hypothyroidism well

again, the drug companies who manufacture levothyroxine (or the key workers in

the thyroid world) would no longer be making the millions of pounds they are. Natural

product cannot be patented so no money can be made, but synthetics can. Their

response speaks volumes. We have responded on numerous occasions to the RCP and

BTA et al asking them to cite references to the scientific evidence to back up

their statements, but never once have they done this. In my own rebuttal to

their statement, I cited over 140 references to show their statements are wrong

- see http://www.tpa-uk.org.uk/resp_bta_armour.pdf

I would suggest that you write to the Yorkshire and Humber

Armour giving them a copy of the above response which came from Thyroid Patient

Advocacy Registered Charity - and ask them why they continue to ignore the

scientific evidence that has been available for over 40 years that shows a

large minority of sufferers are unable to regain normal health on levothyroxine

alone, and why the are leaving so many patients without the thyroid hormone

replacement that would make them well. They have no right to refuse sufferers

of the symptoms of hypothyroidism a choice of treatment if the

synthetic levothyroxine doesn't work for them. Send them copies also of the

letters from the MHRA that tells doctors they can prescribe natural thyroid

extract if levothyroxine doesn't work (see attached) but because it remains

unlicensed in the UK, the responsibility for prescribing it lies with the

doctor.

Tell them also that we are in the process of compiling a

register of counterexamples to levothyroxine-only therapy who remained with

symptoms whilst taking T4 only and yet regained their health again when T3 was

added, either synthetic or their medication was changed to natural desiccated

thyroid extract. So far, we have 485 counterexamples in our register. This

number is greater than the number of participants who took part in their flawed

clinical trials using T4/T3 combination therapy that showed adding T3 was no

better than using T4-only.

Natural thyroid extract was the ONLY medication given to ALL

sufferers of hypothyroidism for over 50 years before the synthetic

levothyroxine was manufactured, and then NDT fell out of favour as doctors were

told levothyroxine was the gold standard and worked for everybody. We have

since found out that it does not.

It is the harm that such statements are causing to patients that

worries me. As far as the NHS is concerned, if you are unable to tolerate

synthetic levothyroxine, you are left to suffer the symptoms which gradually

get worse, leaving patients without any other treatment to help them, and now,

the RCP and BTA are recommending that not even synthetic T3 is needed because

T4 does everything. Ever since Professor Weetman had his paper

" Whose Thyroid Hormone is it Anyway? " published in Medscape and

Clinical Endocrinology, where he wrote that those patients who still complained

of symptoms of hypothyroidism who had normal thyroid function test results, and

who were taking levothyroxine are suffering from a " functional somatoform

disorder " - meaning, it's all in our head, that doctors have now convinced

themselves we are a load of moaners who need antidepressants and who tell their

patients to get more exercise, go on a diet or " get a life " . If ONLY

doctors would think for themselves and not hide behind the skirts of the BTA

who are very, very wrong.

Let us know how you get on Nadia should you wish to respond to

them.

Luv - Sheila

I found this on the internet while looking for

something else, and thought people might be interested in it. The summary says:

Treatment

(brand name, manufacturer): Armour thyroid

(thyroid tablets USP, Forrest Pharmaceuticals) and other non- UK licensed products

For the treatment of: Hypothyroidism

Background: Armour thyroid has been requested by patients who would like such

treatment to be funded by the NHS despite the availability of UK-licensed

thyroxine products.

Commissioning position: Armour thyroid for the treatment of hypothyroidism is

not routinely funded.

Effective from: 24th September 2010

Summary of evidence: Armour thyroid is not a licensed medicine in the UK.

Licensed thyroxine preparations are available and widely prescribed.

There is no rationale behind the use of a combination of levothyroxine and

liothyronine, or of dried thyroid hormone extracts. A combination of the two,

in both non- and physiological proportions, has not consistently been shown to

be more beneficial than levothyroxine alone with respect to cognitive function,

social functioning and wellbeing in a limited number of patients.

Regards

Nadia

1 of 1 File(s)

MHRA confirmation re Natur1.doc

[Guest guest]

I can see that they talk about armour, but they also talk about not using T3.

This is patentable i think so there must also be another reason why they dont

want patients using T3. I wonder if it is due to the extra cost in bloods

testing etc.

Seems crazy as it is much better to have healthy people using less drugs. Also

getting the labs to fully adopt full thyroid testing surely cannot be that much

more expensive.

[Guest guest]

Oh, right that is very interesting. It will be good to find out if this is true

in the future.

If it does come to fruition then we will get access to some form of T3 i

suppose.

In the meantime most are denied proper care.

>

> I believe the BTA and RCP are discouraging practitioners from prescribing

> any form of T3, either synthetic or natural because a certain professor

> beloved by all is (ahem!), with the aid of another professor, is very

> involved in the patenting of a slow release T3. I believe that leaving us

> all without any form of T3 is going to make thousands of us sufferers of the

> symptoms of hypothyroidism very ill, so once this patent is released

> (heavens knows when), trumpets will sound from above that this slow release

> T3 is the saviour for us all. It will make the drug companies millions and

> th

[Guest guest]

Here here .

 

I think both time and expense are a lot to do with why they don't prescribe T3. As well as doing the blood tests they have to be trained how to interpret them. Its so much easier just to look at TSH and say yes you need some more thyroxine or no you don't. 

 

Regards,

Lin

[Guest guest]

I found a very interesting article which seems to spread further light on the

blood cell activity

http://www.ei-resource.org/articles/related-conditions-articles/temperature-dysr\

egulation-in-stress/