RLC Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Stop The Thyroid Madness Skip to content

Tag: RLC

Glad to see some reason creeping in with thyroid patient discussion!

IMG_2564If you have been keeping up with my posts, you’ll know that thyroid patients have been facing a shortage of desiccated thyroid for many weeks, probably due to sharp increased demand i.e. thyroid patients have been finding out how lousy T4-only treatment like Synthroid has been for them, and how much better desiccated thyroid is.

That demand became especially true after a reformulation of Armour by Forest Labs in 2009 drove patients to RLC’s Naturethroid and Westhroid. The “new” Armour caused a return of hypo symptoms plus new maddening ones, including palpitations and sleep problems never seen before.  As Julia Roberts said in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman: Big mistake, Big, Huge.

In addition, it didn’t help when Time Cap Labs, a pharmaceutical which made plenty of desiccated thyroid for other pharmaceuticals, stopped production after being contacted by the FDA. This action was probably in line with their aims to make long-term unapproved drugs become approved, even if the timing was incredibly stupid.

As all the above was happening, panic ensued!

We’ve heard all varieties of negative presumptions from thyroid patients about what caused the shortage, including an FDA conspiracy and an overt belief that desiccated thyroid is about to be removed.  Patients have threatened law suits, blamed pharmaceuticals, and/or sent numerous letters to FDA pleading to keep desiccated thyroid as if it was to be gone tomorrow. Even I, at first, fell in line wondering about the FDA.

But it started to dawn on me, as it has others, than we have been jumping the gun, not giving enough emphasis to facts and reason.

And finally, facts and reason are starting to appear on blogs and groups:

1) Yes, Forest Labs, the makers of Armour, and RLC, the makers of Naturethroid and Westhroid, state they have not been contacted by the FDA. We have no reason to disbelieve them!

2) Yes, RLC is working hard to catch up, as is American Laboratories, both state. We also have no reason to disbelieve them!

3) Yes, thyroid patients who know the superiority of desiccated thyroid have always been there to support them. Glad to see that recognition in blog and group postings.

4) Yes, as health writer Mary Shomon has stated, information-gathering, brainstorming, and communicating with our doctors is a good thing to be doing.  That is contrary to making panicky negative predictions about desiccated thyroid,  rallying for law suits, and feeding ideas to the FDA that may not be there in the first place.

5) Yes, we need to put energy in letting the world know about the superiority of desiccated thyroid treatment in our lives. That is where our power lies in the face of clueless Endocrinologists and their equally-clueless medical boards like AACE.

6) Yes, we need to listen to and support the pharmaceuticals and laboratories which give us the desiccated thyroid we need. It’s they who have to walk the line with the FDA. Let’s listen to their cautions and support them.

Strangely, there are still misconceptions being reported by patient blogs and posts:

1) That we don’t know what caused the shortage. But we do! Demand is as logical as it gets.  All of us have succeeded in getting the word out! That is exactly why I created STTM in the first place!  And by emails I get every week, it’s clear that it’s been working.

2) That groups like the Coalition for Desiccated Thyroid (CDT) have a wait-and-see attitude. That is as silly as saying STTM wants to ban T4 or encourages self-treatment. There are simply some thyroid patients who don’t agree with the extreme panic and negative presumptions that have been going on, and want more reason in our pro-activity!  Patients have been encouraged to spread the word in any way possible about the superiority of desiccated thyroid and how it’s changed lives, NOT to feed dire negative predictions which only end up giving ideas we don’t want to give! You are most welcome to join the Coalition above in addition to other groups.

Good for patients and advocates alike for putting more reason and fact in this situation.

I’m also glad to see some strategic, pro-active behind-the-scenes work going on as a just-in-case line of activism. That is the way it should have always been–a plan for action “just in case”, not dire predictions and fear mongering as if it all WAS going to happen.

We’ll get through this, folks. Here are options for thyroid treatment in the meantime. And if you want to talk to other patients, join our thyroid patient Community Call this Friday. Details are found in the September 7th blog post.

37 replies

This is not the time to wield pitchforks and torches

The subject line of this post was just given to me in an email by a wise and cautious person. And I agree with it.

We have facts. We know that Time Caps Labs cannot make desiccated thyroid. We have read, without seeing the actual press release, that Major Pharmaceuticals has been told to stop. I’d sure like to see this release….

We know that Armour didn’t work well for most and became hard to find. We also know from RLC, makers of Naturethroid, that there is at least a 3 month backorder.

And, we know from American Laboratories that they are making the production of desiccated thyroid powder their #1 priority. Demand was greater than supply.

But beyond that as I write this, we know no more. And to speculate in only a negative direction can be a disaster. To march with our pitchforks and torches is only shining a spotlight in the direction of the FDA, and they may not be friendly.

There are positives. ERFA has allowed us to order their Canadian thyroid. There are other sources out there which I have mentioned below, as has health writer Mary Shomon.

And there are other facts: hundreds of thousands of us, if not into the millions, KNOW that desiccated thyroid really is safe and VERY effective. We KNOW that endocrinologists are totally wrong in their opinions.

So, what you can do is put emphasis on the latter FACT of effectiveness when it comes to you. Write your story.  Give a “”before on T4 and an “after on Desiccated thyroid”. Then send it to me for the Stories of Others page. IF…..and I say IF….something drastic happens from the FDA, we then start providing out testimonies and do what we need to do…one after the other after the other. That is our strength.  Facts, concern, but not panicking and carrying pitchforks and torches which may backfire on you. This is not yet the time, if it even passes.

Janie

*Want to be informed of these posts? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the Notifications on the left at the bottom of the links.

*Spread the word! STTM t-shirts are now 50% off.

22 replies

What the recent Medco scandal is actually telling us–i.e. there’s more to this story

medcoI have been watching with interest the past week about the justified ire of patients being expressed all over patient groups in the internet. And in case you’ve been too busy with school starting or end-of-summer activities, it involves one of the nation’s largest mail order pharmacies as well as the largest Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM):  Medco.

In a statement you can read right on their website, they state:

1)  there is a “nationwide shortage of porcine-derived desiccated thyroid”
2)  they are “uncertain about continued availability.”
3)  “ask your doctor if a synthetic thyroid medication, such as levothyroxine is right for you.”

In Medco’s direct message to doctors, they state;

1)  desiccated thyroid does not have the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  Federal Drug approval”
2)  the FDA  “may remove any remaining unapproved products from the market.”
3)  the shortage is due to this “uncertainty”.
4) “the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist recommends levothyroxine over desicccated thyroid, liotrix, combination of thyroid hormone, or triiodothyronine (T3) for the treatment of hypothyroidism.”

Clarification on their statements

If you are just now finding out about this,  do note the following:

1) There is not a nationwide shortage of all desiccated thyroid. There is a shortage of Armour because of its 2009 reformulation. (See my blog posts below about problems with the newly formulated Armour.)
2) Naturethroid by RLC Labs continues to be available. They are working hard to keep up.  See my post on Naturethroid.
3) Desiccated thyroid was around long before the establishment of the FDA, so they are grandfathered in and still work with the FDA guidelines.
4) There has been no statements by the FDA that they are removing desiccated thyroid.

An even more important revelation in this entire Medco scandal

There is actually an underlying message in the entire Medco fiasco that you should find even MORE disturbing: the continued  promotion of T4, aka levothroxine, as an adequate treatment of hypothyroidism.  And this is not just a faux pas of Medco, it continues to be the ignorant opinion of far too many doctors, medical schools and medical boards. All you have to do is look at what has happened in the UK with the Royal College of Physicians to see the idiocy abounding.

Over 100 years ago, desiccated thyroid was found to be an excellent treatment for hypothyroidism.  I give precise details about the first use of desiccated thyroid in Chapter 2 in the Stop the Thyroid Madness book. It worked!

But in the early 1960’s, the tide turned thanks to a batch of desiccated thyroid that turned out not to be what it said it was.  This is documented in the 1970 Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.  And pharmaceuticals, especially  Knoll Pharmaceuticals who first tableted levothyroxine aka Synthroid in 1955,  jumped to promote T4-only as a “new and modern medication”.  (See page 41 and 42 in the STTM book).  And doctors and medical schools fell for it hook, line and sinker.

And to this day, levothyroxine continues to be purported as an acceptable and logical treatment choice for hypothyroidism.  But patients all over the world beg to differ.  T4 medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, Oroxine and others simply leave all patients with their own unique amount and degree of lingering hypothyroid symptoms, no matter how high you raise it.

I also find it hugely disturbing to refer to AACE (American Association of  Clinical Endocrinologists) as if they are the grand poopah of knowing what’s right for thyroid patients. They are NOT.  Millions of thyroid patients who have switched to desiccated thyroid, T3, or a combo of T4 and T3 will tell them hands-down that they have gotten FAR better results, and most especially with desiccated thyroid like the “old” Armour, and now Naturethroid.

Visiting numerous thyroid patient groups will reveal how patients feel about Endocrinologists they have visited throughout the years.  Their experiences are far from flattering. In other words, with a few exceptions, thyroid patients are NOT impressed with Endo’s.

Medco’s statements are definitely a concern for patients and range from presumptous to unfactual.  But those statements only represent a far wider problem around the world in the medical community.  Clinical presentation and wisdom has been thrown out the window by doctors.  So patients have to continue spreading the word about the far superior treatment of desiccated thyroid, and their problematic experience with T4.

Want to be informed of these posts so YOU can be informed? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the Notifications on the left at the bottom of the links.

***50% off sale!! All STTM t-shirts are now on sale. I love sales. Not only do they help support this site, they are a great way to spread the word. Go here.   Did you know that Laughing Grape Publishing will send a STTM book directly to your doctor?

13 replies