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Stupidity Award of the Year: the UK’s NHS states that T3 has “little or no clinical value”

The following Guest Blog post has been written by UK Thyroid Patient Carolyn and contributions added by Janie A. Bowthorpe

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Just when you think things couldn’t get more ridiculous….

Just a few days ago, the BBC reported that the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom has proposed that the medication T3-only, aka Liothyronine, has little or no value. Let me repeat: LITTLE OR NO VALUE.

The article also states: “The proposals could see an outright ban or tighter restrictions on some products being prescribed by GPs.”

Here’s the list, as reported by the BBC, of those they consider as low value medicines (and their annual cost to the NHS):]

  • £30.93m on Liothyronine to treat underactive thyroid
  • £21.88m on gluten-free foods
  • £17.58m on Lidocaine plasters for treating nerve-related pain
  • £10.51m on Tadalafil, an alternative to Viagra
  • £10.13m on Fentanyl, a drug to treat pain in terminally ill patients
  • £8.32m on the painkiller Co-proxamol
  • £9.47m on travel vaccines
  • £7.12m on Doxazosin MR, a drug for high blood pressure
  • £6.43m on rubs and ointments
  • £5.65m on omega 3 and fish oils

Also mentioned in the article after the above “low value” medications comes “suncream, cough and cold remedies and indigestion and heartburn medicines”. i.e. T3-only, which patients report has brought back MUCH better health, is on the same level as suncream.

The article states that the “NHS England confirmed the review would begin in April, but did not put any timescale on how quickly a decision would be made.”

Living in the UK as a hypothyroid patient

Those like me living in the UK and using the NHS (which by the way is not ‘free’, as we all pay into it through our taxes), appreciate that it isn’t a bottomless pit of money which can fulfill every single person’s desires. Some of the items on this list (see above) are easily and cheaply available over the counter in pharmacies and supermarkets.  I believe people also have a responsibility to purchase some things themselves rather than incurring the excessive cost of processing an unnecessary doctor’s prescription.

But T3 isn’t available over the counter, although it is in some other European countries.

The sole reason T3 is on this list at all is the cost. Just look at that amount of money: £30.93million annually— that’s a lot of money, and who wouldn’t want to save that.

But despite this drug called Liothyronine (aka T3) costing pennies to make, and costing a couple of Euros on the mainland, it costs over £9 A TABLET to the NHS. No wonder they don’t want to prescribe it.

A loophole in legislation around generic medicines has been massively exploited and the cost has been steadily increased by the sole licensed supplier. So rather than investigate that situation of being totally ripped off and putting a proper system of value-for-money purchasing in place, the answer that is being proposed is to withdraw T3. What a failure of proper management of resources; I expect better of my government officials.

I have friends with the genetic mutation which means they literally cannot convert T4 to T3, even before we get into the debate about T4-only thyroid hormone replacement detailed below. They are being condemned to a long slow death.

A health care system which is held up as a model for the rest of the world is going backwards.

We aren’t all able to change doctors and a private prescription would be prohibitively expensive for most people, even if the doctors working in the private sector would be prepared to step outside the cruel guidelines still in place for treatment of hypothyroidism in the UK.

I can only hope that someone listens to the cries of outrage following this proposal and takes some sensible action to correct this massive pricing discrepancy. Getting proper treatment with T3 or NDT shouldn’t be this difficult and is a false economy.

Before I was refused any treatment due to the guidelines, I was off work ill for months. I was working full time within weeks of starting Natural Desiccated Thyroid; back paying my tax and supporting the NHS.

Let’s talk a minute about T3

For those who might be new to this, a healthy thyroid produces five known hormones: T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. Those five hormones are a wonderful symphony of what makes a healthy thyroid function. (Chapter 2 in the revised STTM book gives excellent detail about all this)

And hypothyroid patients were treated with all five hormones from the 1800s onward via pig or sheep thyroids…until the early 1960’s when Knoll Pharmaceuticals decided to promote its “new and modern” treatment for hypothyroidism–T4-only. i.e. no direct T3. T4 is a storage hormone meant to convert to the powerful and health-giving T3. And everyone fell for this promoted fallacy that somehow, giving patients only one of five thyroid hormones was a hunky-dory way to treat hypothyroidism. (See Chapter 1 in the Revised STTM book! Learn the truth!!)

But they were dead wrong. T4-only, aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, Unithroid, Eltroxin, Levaxin, Norton, Eutrosig, Oroxine, or Tirosint, seems to have failed millions of patients in their own degree and kind, over the years, forcing all who are prescribed it to live for “conversion” alone. Yes, some do better than others! But the large amount of people who have NOT done well is profound….just as it’s profound how many T4-users report feeling far better when they added direct T3 in their treatment, or Natural Desiccated Thyroid.

My final message to the NHS

You are seriously wrong to state that the medication Liothyronine (aka T3) has little or no value as a way to cut costs.

Your conclusion means that you will end up subjecting your fellow UK residents to a lifetime of continued hypothyroidism thanks to being forced to live for conversion alone on levothyroxine as a sole treatment for hypothyroidism (See seven studies/articles at the bottom of this blog post). Your conclusion also seriously harms those who have the DIO1 or DIO2 mutation, which prevents these individuals from converting T4 to T3 adequately.

Get with it, NHS. Wise up. Stop this massive ongoing cruelty to thyroid patients.

UK THYROID PATIENTS: Share this blog post anywhere, everywhere. Let’s send a firm message to the NHS. Copy and paste: 

https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/2017/04/02/stupidity-award-nhs/

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RESEARCH SHOWING THAT T3 COMBINED WITH T4 GIVES BETTER RESULTS (from https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/medical-research):

  1. Here’s a study from 1996 which underscored that both T4 and T3 are needed to remove hypothyroidism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8641203 (And it followed research from the previous year showing that T4-only did NOT do the job—see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC185993/)
  2. As far back as 1999, the New Journal of Medicine reported superior results of a synthetic T4 and T3 combination treatment, especially on the brain and other tissues.  http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/340/6/424
  3. And another one titled Thyroid Insuffiency: Is Thyroxine the Only Valuable Drug,   http://www.encognitive.com/  Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine (2001), 11, 159—166
  4. And here’s another one from 2009: http://www.eje-online.org/cgi/content/abstract/EJE-09-0542v1 (has a fee) but here’s where you can at least see the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19666698 They evaluated depression and anxiety rating scales as well as patients own preference.
  5. Also this one:  http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0013/ea0013P316.htm
  6. At first blush, this Amsterdam study appears to give the same propaganda of T4 only. But as you read on, it mentions this: Third, recent animal experiments indicate that only the combination of T4 and T3 replacement, and not T4 alone, ensures euthyroidism in all tissues of thyroidectomized rats. From 2001, Developmental Endocrinology to Clinical Research: http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ArtikelNr=48140&Ausgabe=227546&ProduktNr=224036
  7. John C. Lowe’s Four 2003 Studies of Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapies: Logical Analysis and Ethical Implications  Excellent article (16 pages) about the efficacy of using T4 and T3 in treatment, and not using the TSH, and so much more.

 

50 replies

20 Ways that Hypothyroid or Hashimoto’s Patients are Gaslighted

It would make an incredible horror movie. THE PLOT: stunningly convince hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide that what isn’t a good thing, really is. That what appears to be so, isn’t. 

Or that leaves only look green because of alien filters in your eyes. That ripe apples fall because invisible evil hands pull them down. That fire doesn’t burn your skin–it’s only your imagination, so ignore the fake pain and blisters. 

That giving you only one of five thyroid hormones…a storage hormone called T4 with the name of Synthroid, Levothyroxine, Eltroxin, Oroxine, etc…is all you need to adequately treat your hypothyroid state. 

Because if those in authority say so, it must be so…right?

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The gaslighting of hypothyroid patients for decades

If you have never heard of the term “gaslighting”, it describes a form of manipulation by an individual or enterprise. The result is to cause you to doubt your own intuition, intelligence, perceptions and natural wisdom.

Here’s what gaslighting does: 

  • implies a person in authority knows what he or she is talking about or doing, over your own inner wisdom and observations.
  • makes you question your own self
  • makes you second guess what is going on and your own perceptions
  • spins a false interpretation of reality.
  • tries to put the blame on you
  • makes you feel crazy
  • is a way to benefit the person or enterprise pushing the delusion for their own aims.

20 ways that Hypothyroid or Hashimoto’s patients are gaslighted–which ones are you?

  1. Authoritatively putting you on only one of five thyroid hormones as if it’s an adequate treatment, as if relying solely on “conversion” to get T3 is all you need (Yet all along, there was a proven treatment that contains all five thyroid hormones, including some direct T3, called Natural Desiccated Thyroid. But of course, you aren’t told, or it’s efficacy is grossly misrepresented)
  2. Telling you that Synthroid or Levo etc is the gold standard of hypothyroid treatment i.e. adequate, easy to dose, reliable, then sending you off into the world (Yet for all too many, sooner or later, T4-only meds have been problematic for millions, in their own degree and kind, for over five decades, as reported by patients worldwide about themselves, relatives, friends, etc)
  3. Implying the TSH lab test, aka Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, is a reliable way to diagnose or dose by.  (The TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone, with a lousy “normal” range, and with a history of lagging behind for years and thus preventing diagnosis, and more)
  4. Implying that those continued symptoms, whether at the beginning or the longer you stay on T4-only, are somehow your fault, about your life situation, or in your imagination (examples in #5, #6, #7, for example. See the best list of symptoms on the net)
  5. Telling you that you need to “eat less” or “exercise more” (as if easy weight gain is totally your fault or in your control, instead of the fault of a poor treatment with T4, or the use of the TSH)
  6. Sending you to a therapist (as if your hypothyroid-caused depression isn’t related to your T4-only treatment…when it definitely can be… or can be due to the lack of a diagnosis)
  7. Saying your afternoon fatigue is due to “being a mother” or “part of getting older” (yet we see that need for a nap go away for the majority once optimal on NDT or T3 with optimal iron and cortisol)
  8. Implying that you have “separate” conditions which now need more medications only (like rising cholesterol, higher blood pressure, depression, fibromyalgia, and more…all which can be clearly related to a poor treatment and which either go away or improve, say many patients, once they have T3 or NDT in optimal amounts)
  9. Stating that Natural Desiccated Thyroid (with all five hormones) is outdated and thus a reason to avoid it (Hmmm. Then I guess so is listening to the radio, talking to people live on the phone instead of on Facebook, or sending a real birthday card instead of an internet one…should be avoided since they are outdated.)
  10. Saying you’ll get heart or bone issues if your TSH goes below range while optimal on NDT or T3 (Patients have noted that it’s not only normal for the TSH to go that low when optimal, but they see improved bone and heart health! A low TSH on NDT is NOT the same as a low TSH with Graves disease!)
  11. Stating that it’s rare for anyone to be above 2 grains, aka one grain is 60 or 65 mg depending on brand, so your continued symptoms aren’t related (Yet there are many patients who aren’t optimal until the mid-or-upper 2’s, or in the 3-5 grain range. It’s individual where optimal falls.)
  12. Implying that continued hypo symptoms while on NDT or T3 proves they aren’t needed (There are understandable and correctible reasons.)
  13. Stating that Natural Desiccated Thyroid is not for Hashimoto’s patients (which is contrary to the majority of Hashi’s patients on NDT who have reported great gains once they get up to their optimal amount)
  14. Stating that iodine is the worst thing for every and all Hashimoto’s patients (in spite of those with Hashi’s who discovered that iodine lowered their antibodies if they used it correctly with supporting nutrients. It’s individual and each Hashi’s patient has to find out for themselves). 
  15. Saying that NDT or T3 for those over 60 is dangerous (yet many patients this age range report huge improvements from using it safely and wisely, such as starting low, building in small doses, watching labs, learning how to read labwork, etc)
  16. Implying there’s no such thing as adrenal fatigue/hypocortisolism (yet many get low cortisol, as proven by saliva testing, due to the inadequate treatment of Synthroid or Levothyroxine, and suffer from it.) 
  17. Stating that the use of hydrocortisone (Cortef) in the presence of extremely low cortisol three or more times (as proven by saliva testing) is dangerous or should be kept low (in spite of how patients have successfully learned how to use HC safely and wisely as outlined in chapter 6 of the revised STTM book)
  18. Underscoring that if you are “in range” with your lab result, you are doing great (We learned that it’s where we fall that has meaning, not just being in range.)
  19. Stating that you should not go by what is said on the internet, such as on Stop the Thyroid Madness (STTM) or the books (in spite of the fact that it’s all based on 15 years of repeated, solid, patient reports and wisdom; can include studies to back it up on several pages; has the support of many other practitioners….etc)
  20. Implying you are a “difficult patient” because you dare to state what you have learned that is contrary to what the doctor says (See Things we have learned)

So you see, the horror movie plot has been a reality for hypothyroid patients.

Like a few years ago. A couple saw the STTM book in my vehicle and struck up a conversation with me. She was on Synthroid; he was on Levoxyl–both T4. They had each been on their T4-only treatment for 12 and 14 years respectively. They felt their hypo was perfectly treated and they believe in their doctors. So the other problems they dealt with were separate: his rising cholesterol, her depression, his fatigue, and her weight gain. But of course, they felt those have nothing to do with their T4-only treated hypothyroid, as some of it was their own fault, and their doctors are right…leaves aren’t really green, invisible hands make ripe apples fall, and fire doesn’t really burn.  Gaslighting.

Sad.

  • Check out the best list of hypothyroid symptoms on the net, totally based on reported patient experiences, reliable, and not culled from other cold lists to bulk it up. They can even occur on Synthroid or Levothyroxine, report patients over the years.
  • Have you Liked the STTM Facebook page? One of the most helpful thyroid Facebook page on the internet and based on reported patient experiences and the wisdom gained. 
  • See research that can back up what patients have learned (and there is more on individual pages)

P.S. The photo is an actor portraying a zombie. It’s simply to represent a horror show.

109 replies

TV personality Dr. “Drew” Pinsky is SORELY misinformed about desiccated thyroid!

YOU GOT IT WRONG DR. DREW!Note: though this STTM blog post will be mentioning a US presidential candidate, we will NOT approve comments that make political comments in any form.  We DO invite you to comment about the problem of medical professionals like Dr. Drew Pinsky being completely ignorant about the efficacy of Natural Desiccated Thyroid! SPEAK YOUR MIND!!

Recently, Dr. David Andrew “Drew” Pinsky (also known in the media as Dr. Drew) while being interviewed on KABC’s “McIntyre in the Morning,” made a ridiculously misinformed comment about the fact that Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is on natural desiccated thyroid to treat her thyroid condition.1

The Washington Times stated that Dr. Drew and another doctor came to some “startling conclusions“ and were “gravely concerned“. The Times quoted Dr. Drew as saying

“Both of us concluded that if we were providing the care that she was receiving, we’d be ashamed to show up in a doctor’s lounge. We’d be laughed out,” he added. “She’s receiving sort-of 1950-level care by our evaluation.”

The article narrowed it down with this quote from Dr. Drew:

“She also has hypothyroidism, and she’d been treated for hypothyroidism with something called Armour Thyroid, which is very unconventional and something that we used to use back in the ‘60s,” Dr. Drew said. “And by the way, wow, Armour Thyroid sometimes has some weird side effects.”

Here are SIX REASONS Dr. Pinsky is exactly the kind of doctor that informed thyroid patients report avoiding like the plague

1) To the contrary to what Dr. Drew stated, this so-called “unnconventional” medication from “back in the 60’s” was being used on thyroid patients starting in the 1890s…and was clearly successful for six DECADES as the primary treatment for hypothyroidism, and as medical reports reveal.

2) This so-called “unconventional medication” was only substituted with Synthroid starting in the 1960’s (which is synthetic and only ONE of FIVE thyroid hormones) because money-eyed Knoll Pharmaceuticals promoted it as a way to make moola….and doctors stupidly fell for it. See Chapter 1 and 2 in the revised STTM book for verified history about the introduction of Synthroid followed by the successful use of NDT for decades.

3) The “conventional medication” of using only one of five thyroid hormones (aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, etc) has caused a multitude of problems for thyroid patients for over 50 years, as they have reported. The body does NOT force us to live for a storage hormone alone. Read //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/t4-only-meds-dont-work  i.e. the use of Synthroid, Levoxyl and Levothyroxine has been the treatment producing “grave concerns” for too many patients. 

4) Natural Desiccated Thyroid has changed lives ten-fold, report patients who started back on it around the turn of the 21st century! The results have been clearly superior to T4-only for all-too-many thyroid patients. Read //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/natural-thyroid-101

5) Any “weird side effects” from Natural Desiccated Thyroid has explainable and correctible reasons for most of us, ranging from misinformed doctors using the lousy TSH lab test to dose by, to keeping patients on low doses far too long, to the fact that NDT will reveal either inadequate iron levels or cortisol issue (the latter two which by the way, Dr. Drew, are due to the lousy and inadequate treatment with T4-only for most). Study this: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ndt-doesnt-work-for-me

6) As far as Dr. Drew’s comment about being laughed out of the doctors lounge….that is exactly why informed patients are disgusted with, have so little respect for, feel immense frustration by, and run as fast as they can from doctors who would do that.  

All of YOU are the reason we are yelling “Stop the Thyroid Madness!”

Thyroid patients worldwide are sick and tired of the robotic way medical practitioners worship the TSH lab test, the complete and biased ignorance many have about Natural Desiccated Thyroid or even T3 in one’s treatment, the blindness to obvious clinical symptoms of a poor treatment with T4, and the failure to understand how a healthy thyroid works and why!

It’s NOT about a “conventional” storage hormone alone any more than it’s simply about a pituitary hormone!

To Doctors: LISTEN TO THYROID PATIENTS! OPEN YOUR MINDS!

We are not brainless little peons who walk into your offices: we do live in our own bodies and thus have some wisdom about what works and what does NOT; we DO know that our lives have changed thanks to Natural Desiccated Thyroid and going by the free T3 and free T4, NOT the TSH. //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/things-we-have-learned

To Thyroid Patients: WANT TO TELL DR. DREW HE’S WRONG ABOUT NDT??

Go here: https://www.facebook.com/drdrew/ Also share this link to this blog post: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2016/08/18/tv-personality-dr-drew-pinsky-sorely-misinformed-desiccated-thyroid/

 JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

 

 

 

 

 

REMINDER: Note: though this STTM blog post mentions a US presidential candidate, we will NOT approve comments that make political comments in any form.  We DO invite you to comment about the problem of medical professionals like Dr. Pinsky being completely ignorant about the efficacy of Natural Desiccated Thyroid! Speak your mind!!

  1. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/18/dr-drew-pinsky-gravely-concerned-about-hillary-cli/

STTM graphic HEY DR. DREW....

85 replies

The Scandal: Thyroid Patients are Speaking Out, Wall Street Journal, and a new video!

STTM photos of people from video UPDATEDThe push continues, fellow thyroid patients.  And it’s getting louder and more widespread.

This week, Wall Street Journal columnist Melinda Beck, who writes a weekly health column, hit an important gong with her wonderful attention-getting article titled “Doctors Hear Patients’ Calls for New Approaches to Hypothyroidism.”  

“Doctors and patients have been at each other’s throats for decades over how to treat a little gland in the neck–and patients may be gaining ground.” ~Melinda Beck

Beck underscored the sad reality that doctors have been relying “on a single form of treatment for hypothyroidism”, aka T4-only like Levothyroxine or Synthroid.  And it’s been travesty.

Why T4-only as a sole treatment is a scandal

As I explained in detail in the revised Stop the Thyroid Madness (STTM) book, a healthy thyroid produces five hormones: T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin, with T4 being the storage hormone, and T3 being the powerhouse of all the thyroid hormones. In that healthy thyroid, T4 will convert to T3, but the gland also produces “direct” T3.  That is an important distinction.

Yet this “single form of treatment” with simply a storage hormone, which was thrust upon thyroid patients by 1960 (see Chapter 1 in the revised STTM book for excellent historical details), has forced us all to live for conversion alone…and hundreds of millions of us over the past five decades have a paid a hefty price. There are simply too many reasons why the conversion of T4 to T3 can be impaired, ranging from genetic factors, to diet, to stress, to illness, to age.

That is exactly what compelled me, in 2002, to start what is now the largest active thyroid group still on Yahoo, and later, the largest “system of thyroid groups” on Facebook, called the FTPO (For Thyroid Patients Only) groups–the only system of patient groups endorsed by Stop the Thyroid Madness.

How patients are dismissed

In addition to quoting a few doctors, Beck interviewed thyroid patient/advocate Mary Shomon, who stated “It’s so much easier to tell a woman to get up off the couch or hand her a prescription for antidepressants.” Also interviewed was thyroid patient/advocate Dana Trentini, who feels her second pregnancy ended in miscarriage due to only being dosed by the TSH, which in her case was left high–another hefty problem in the treatment of thyroid patients.

Major kudos to Antonio Bianco, president of the American Thyroid Association

When the American Thyroid Association (ATA) has been the height of disappointment for informed thyroid patients with it’s strong emphasis on “synthetic thyroxine” as well as its poor details about NDT, it was extremely refreshing to see him quoted as stating: “I credit this to patients pushing doctors and saying, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t feel fine’.” followed by Beck’s words that Bianco ‘has refocused the research to search for answers for such patients’. You give us a light of hope, Dr. Bianco.

Seven areas that patients beseech their practitioners to be wiser about…

1. Levothyroxine, Synthroid and all other T4-only medications

They have failed far too many of us. It’s not about exercising more, eating less, seeing a therapist or putting us on a myriad of other medications to treat conditions which are actually the results of that failure. Learn from us.

2. Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT)

What has been vividly changing lives is Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT), not T4-only medications. NDT has been around since the 1890’s–it worked then and it works now. Learn from us.

And to the contrary, NDT’s T4 to T3 ratio of 80/20 (as compared to the human ratio of 93/7) has not been a problem for the vast majority. Instead, problems are usually “revealed” on NDT due to a cortisol issue and/or low iron–both common problems that arise with patients who have been put on T4-only, or who have been left undiagnosed.

3. The TSH lab test

The TSH lab test is and has been as much a failure for thyroid patients as has T4-only. To be held hostage to a “pituitary hormone” has been a complete **nightmare** for thyroid patients. Even one of your own esteemed colleagues, Jeffrey Dach MD, as well as many others, know the travesty of the TSH as explained in chapter 4 of the practitioner-written book Stop the Thyroid Madness II.  Learn from us.

4. Lab tests that count, and how to read them

It’s the free T3 and free T4 lab tests which have been superior for either diagnosis or dosing, not the TSH. And a key observation noted by informed thyroid patients is “where” a result falls in the so-called “normal” range that has meaning. Many key lab tests have helped us in our journey towards feeling wonderful again. Learn from us. 

5. Symptoms that go along with hypothyroidism

To the contrary, there are clear symptoms that go along with the right lab tests to reveal hypothyroidism. Depression is overtly common in an undiagnosed or poorly treated hypothyroid state, as is afternoon fatigue, poor stamina, dry skin, hair loss, rising cholesterol, rising blood pressure, painful joints, and/or others. How do we know as informed patients? Because they go away when optimally treated on Natural Desiccated Thyroid. Learn from us. 

6. T3 added to T4

Adding T3 to T4 has proven to also be far superior to T4-only, and to the contrary, it has NOT been “difficult to sustain therapeutic levels” if practitioners will simply learn from their patients how to use T3-only with T4. The same goes for the even more superior Natural Desiccated Thyroid. Learn from us.

7. Listening to your patients instead of dismissing them

Finally and most importantly, though we appreciate the intense medical training that all our doctors have received, it’s time to consider that we, as informed patients, might have something valuable for our doctors or practitioners to consider and open their minds to. It’s not just about clinical trials. It’s time to RESPECT AND LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENTS, THEIR EXPERIENCES, CLINICAL PRESENTATION, AND THEIR OWN INNATE WISDOM. Learn from us. 

ANNOUNCING: A new powerful YouTube video in honor of thyroid patients worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n0NfAUyOKo   Please share this video to your blogs, private Facebook pages, groups, Twitter, email. Join the PUSH!

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Head on over the Stop the Thyroid Madness Facebook page and Like it for daily inspiration and information!

43 replies

Oh Jolly. Guess What the Endocrine Society Has Spouted This Time?

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”  ~Saul Bellow

STTM ignorance graphicAnd here we go again.

On April 1st, 2016 (which is April Fools Day–how appropriate), out comes an article in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism which presents the latest updated position statement of the Endocrine Society, titled Compounded Bioidentical Hormones in Endocrinology Practice: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement.

In other words, their last position statement on certain compounded medications came out in 2006, and this one trumps that one. And the implication is towards “increased regulatory oversight of all bioidentical hormones.”

Sounds innocuous enough, right? Certainly they are trying to be protective of us, right?

First, in case you don’t know much about the Endocrine Society, it’s existence began a century ago and is today the oldest “largest global membership organization representing professionals from the intriguing field of endocrinology.” Members come from 110 countries representing approximately 28,000 members, with 40 percent of them located outside the United States. They include scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students. And you’d think that a society with such a vast array of members from 110 countries might have some innate wisdom, right?

Gulp.

The first gist of the article is first about compounded sex hormones…and here’s my summary of their position:

  1. There is no other rationale for compounding your sex hormones other than having an allergy or intolerance.
  2. Compounded hormones are risky.
  3. Compounded hormones are dangerous.
  4. Compounding Pharmacists, who are licensed professionals, are thus dangerous if their product is dangerous.
  5. Reported successful patient experiences (and their improved lab results) with compounded sex hormones has no validity; only “randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials” have validity.
  6. Because there are no FDA-approved testosterone preparations for women, it should be completely avoided…so I guess the opposite logic applies?? i.e. that one should embrace FDA-approved medications like statins or the antibiotic Cipro with all their numerous side effects in all-too-many??
  7. Synthetic estrogen and synthetic progesterone is the way to go.
  8. Big Pharma products are the way to go.
  9. Give all your money back to Big Pharma

If you have a subscription to Medscape, here’s a good summary of what the Endocrine Society stated about compounded sex hormones, including DHEA, but I think my summary above says it all.

But here’s where it really gets nauseating for informed thyroid patients

Says the same Endocrine Society, as outlined in the Medscape article above (instead of my interpretation):

  • Levothyroxine (LT4) is bioidentical and a highly effective and safe therapy and is the treatment of choice for hypothyroidism. The complex tissue-specific deiodinase system converts T4 to T3 and supplies the proper amount of T3 to each of the body’s tissues according to its requirements.
  • Clinicians should evaluate patients with persistent symptoms (despite adequate LT4 therapy) for other causes of their symptoms and encourage patients to engage in healthy lifestyle measures.
  • Some of these patients may benefit from combination LT4/LT3 therapy, desiccated thyroid hormone, or compounded thyroid hormone, as long as symptoms and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) (free T4) are monitored carefully.

Oh really??

To the contrary, millions of thyroid patients from the past 50+ years have noted and/or reported on the following while on T4-only:

  1. Unresolved or accumulating problems like depression, adrenal stress, anxiety, easy weight gain, difficulty losing weight, easy fatigue, poor stamina, easy sickness/slow recovery, joint pain, painful feet, hair loss, dry skin, rising cholesterol, rising blood pressure, heart problems, kidney problems, other mental health issues, and hundreds more as reported here.
  2. A poor conversion of T4 to T3 due to a myriad of real biological and normal life events which can negatively affect that deiodinase conversion of T4 to T3, such as aging, the normal stress of life circumstances, inflammation, low iron, and just plain bad genetics, to name a few. The body is not meant to live for conversion alone!
  3. Lousy outcomes from being held hostage to the dubious “normal TSH lab range” are rampant. The TSH is a pituitary hormone and can never discern if all our tissues and organs are getting enough thyroid hormone from conversion alone.

So all of you who are esteemed members of the Endocrine Society, we as informed thyroid patients who live in our own bodies and have our own intelligence and wisdom,  challenge you to consider the following questions:

  1. Can you really call T4-only “effective and safe” in light of the myriad of continued hypothyroid symptoms that patients have noted or reported for 50+ years while on Synthroid, levothyroxine, Tirosent or any other brand of T4-only…sooner or later?
  2. In light of the fact that T4-only results in numerous organic and tissue problems like depression, a low metabolism, joint pain, high blood pressure, rising cholesterol and so much more…does it really meet the body tissues requirements?
  3. If T4-only meets all the body’s tissue requirements, why does nature cause a healthy thyroid to give not just T4, but also direct T3 and calcitonin?
  4. If all those continued and persistent hypothyroid symptoms on Levothyroxine are due to “other causes” or “unhealthy lifestyle choices”, why in the world do these same individuals see them all go away when they get on Natural Desiccated Thyroid and find their optimal dose (which has nothing to do with the TSH)??
  5. Why is it that when patients are held hostage to the dubious TSH range, they continue to have clear and/or rising hypothyroid symptoms?

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

– Have you Liked the Stop the Thyroid Madness Facebook page? It gives you daily inspiration and informative information based on years of thyroid patient experiences and wisdom as record on the Mothership of Thyroid Patient Experiences: STTM!

– You can comment to the Endocrine Society as to their views right on their own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EndocrineSociety/

– Check out this video by Hugh Melnick MD about the superiority of NDT over synthetic T4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muorjvQ4DUE

– Share this blog post below. Let’s spread the word about this!

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