RE: for Sheila info requested and medical students

[Guest guest]

WOW Jan, what a tall order this is. Seems you have got a very

'interesting' GP and I wonder what his own personal views are about patients

suffering with symptoms of hypothyroidism who are being advised by doctors that

levothyroxine is the 'good standard' treatment for them, and that it works for

everybody. Perhaps he should be encouraged to join us on this forum along with

those other doctors who have joined us, so he can get to hear first hand

the views of thousands of sufferers .

OK, so here goes, and

apologies if this comes out as a ramble and has nothing to do with what your

doctor wants you to talk to them about.

I guess I would tell it 'how

it is' Jan so the know the facts and the truth right from the start of their

career. They will already be aware that they have been taught little to nothing

about how the thyroid works, and taught only that the RCP, BTA make the

recommendation in their guidelines the they should use

" sensitive and

specific blood tests as the only method for the precise diagnosis of thyroid

dysfunction and for the monitoring of treatment with approved medications "

and that for those who have

been given a diagnosis

" Thyroxine

is the current standard thyroid hormone replacement recommended in the BNF ….

It has a half life of 7 days and is readily converted into triiodothyronine in

the body’s tissues " .

Doctors should must take into

account a patients symptoms and signs and family history, as well as blood test

results and if the patient presents with many of the symptoms and signs of

hypothyroidism but has normal TFT's, give the patient a trial of thyroid

hormone to see if that helps.

Also, there are thousands of

patients taking levothyroxine who still have symptoms because they are not

suffering with primary, secondary or tertiary hypothyroidism (these 3 can be

treated successfully with T4-only) - they are suffering with peripheral

resistance to thyroid hormone at the cellular level, and these patients need

the active thyroid hormone T3. Tell your medical students that Thyroid Patient

Advocacy has worked out through the research and studies done, that there are

over 250,000 such sufferers in the UK alone who should be treated with T3, but

the NHS are refusing and leaving them suffering.

Tell them also that TPA has

created a register of counterexamples to T4-only therapy, who continued to

suffer symptoms when on T4-only, but who's symptoms were mitigated or went away

completely when they started T3.

This has been done by way of

a response to the flawed T4/T3 versus T4-only studies that showed combination

therapy worked no better than T4-only. The number of participants who took part

in those flawed studies (and flawed they were) were 900. Tell them that

already, the register of patient counterexamples to T4-only therapy now stands

to date at 1404. The objective of this Register is to

draw to the attention of those responsible authorities throughout the world,

the dire need for an urgent re-examination of the existing protocol for the

diagnosis and management of the symptoms of hypothyroidism.

…and last - one very

serious point that you might bring up is the two completely

physiologically different definitions of 'hypothyroidism' given by the British

Thyroid Association (BTA) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the RCP

which is a cause for great concern and confusion amongst doctors and patients

alike - and ask your medical students to think about the implications of this

seriously.

The RCP defines

‘hypothyroidism as

" the clinical

consequences of insufficient secretion by the THYROID GLAND "

- meaning

'hypothyroidism' is ONLY associated with the THYROID GLAND. This definition is

the correct and narrow definition.

The BTA however, define

hypothyroidism as

" the clinical

consequences of INSUFFICIENT LEVELS OF THYROID HORMONES IN THE BODY " .

This ‘broad’

definition is associated with peripheral metabolism and peripheral cellular

hormone reception, which produces insufficient thyroid hormones in the body.

If the first definition is correctly called

" hypothyroidism " , this should be treated with levothyroxine sodium

(T4). Therefore, the second definition should not be called

‘hypothyroidism’. It should be given a diagnosis of ‘Clinical

Euthyroidism’, ‘Type 2 Hypothyroidism’ or ‘Euthyroid

Hypometabolism’ - and peripheral thyroid hormone deficiencies would be

treated with the active thyroid hormone replacement T3 and NOT T4. Around

here, you can get your own personal story in why you felt forced to get

treatment outside of the NHS recommended protocol.

I see the above as the main points that medical students should

be made aware of right from the start so they can start to question their

teachers, and be right at the start of at last, helping those left suffering and

making them well again so they can go on to live active lives.

Before you finish, tell them that there are Internet and local Thyroid

Support forums throughout the world with tens of thousands of members. Tell

them about Thyroid Patient Advocacy and how we have over 2620 members, all NHS

failures. If they were getting the correct diagnosis, correct thyroid hormone

replacement and support they needed by NHS doctors, there would be no need of

such support groups.

Sorry for the ramble and getting on my soap box, but we have to

use every available chance we can to 'educate' our doctors. This is one of the

aims and objectives of Thyroid Patient Advocacy as a registered charity

Hope this helps.

Luv - Sheila

Hi sheila, nice to speak to you the other day

regarding an appointment. Just to let you know that I will send on all the info

required next week , if that is ok. The kids are off school this week and

things are a bit hectic.

Also, my doctor has asked me to go and talk to some medical students about what

its like to be a thyroid patient. This will be the second time that I have done

this, though he did ask me another time too ,but as I was self medicating, and

hadnt told my doctor, i declined on that occasion. I asked my doctor if he

really wanted me, as he knows that I am self medicating, and he said yes, as

its better when a patient knows a little more about what is going on.

any advice, (apart from staying calm) please?

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