The biggest 'faux pas' in medical history

With great difficulty Linda , I can understand why GP s are reluctant to prescribe medication for something the blood tests say are not needed but  going back over the years the only thing doctors diagnosed hypothyroidism with was basal temperature and touch and symptoms. They were given NDT ( natural desiccated thyroid ) if the patients symptoms disappeared they stayed on for life if the patient did not get any better other causes were looked into. In 1973 thyroidoligists decided that the TSH test would be the best test for diagnosing thyroid problems so all medical students were taught this is the way we diagnose hypo and hyper , gp s and endocrinologists followed this and to this day they stick rigidly to this test. !!  Dr Derry states " 7 years later in 1980 two new illnesses appeared that had never been heard of up till then, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia . Is this because the TSH test is unreliable were thousands of patients with all the awful symptoms of hypothyroidism being told there is nothing wrong with your thyroid , because the TSH test says so!!! Dr Derry who has practiced for 30 years believes so !! He in his lectures states , " I still diagnose and prescribe the old way that I was taught signs and symptoms and all of my patients symptoms disappear ! If I stop their treatment or they do , for various reasons , their symptoms return. It is a pity most of us don't have a dr Derry or a Lowe or skinner . As I have said before I was " diagnosed with CFS as all my tests were repeatedly normal my life I can only describe as a nightmare until I found a doctor who thought outside the box and went by symptoms . He started me on a low dose of thyroxine and upped it over time the relief to be free of those awful dibillitating symptoms since then I have been diagnosed with hashimoto disease ( autoimmune thyroiditis) which is the biggest cause of hypothyroidism . I am not saying every one has been misdiagnosed and everyone has a thyroid disease I do not want to insult or annoy anyone suffering with such  a dibillitating illness I just want people to know that if it happened to me and it happened to Diane and thousands of patients treated and cured by doctors such as Lowe skinner and Derry it could happen to you . Sy 

Hi ravenwood, been a while just wondering how you are doing now ? Any improvement in your health ? Any more tests done any help at all from GP s doctors specialists ? Any definite diagnosis ? Hope so 11 years is a long time to feel ill sy 

I think you have delved too deeply into thyroid stick to the simpler stuff . The thyroid effects every part of your body if it is not working properly your body suffers !! I take it you have been " diagnosed with ME/ CFS or and fibromyalgia ? Chronic fatigue syndrome is a collection of symptoms . Why wouldn't the thyroid gland suddenly go , as you put it, whack? Why would any part of your body not  suddenly go whack? If you want to research thyroid go to dr Gordon skinner , dr John Lowe , dr durrant peatfield, dr David Derry , these are doctors from the old school who go by Signs and symptoms the basal temperature pulse rate they don't put all there faith in blood tests they have been proved over and over to be unreliable. There has been a lot of controversy over the range levels many doctors think they are set too high which means many patients are  told they do not have a thyroid problem, when in fact they do!! The range level in other countries are set much lower I believe the USA has recently lowered the range of blood tests . Another point , the active hormone T 3 needs to be in the cells it is no use or purpose floating around in the blood stream and it has been proved that some people are hormone resistant which means the T4 ( thyroxine) does not convert to the active hormone T3 ( Thyrononine)  and this is what the body needs , the T4 has to convert to T3 for you to be healthy. All these doctors have done years of research and patients who come to them with diagnosis of ME/CFS and fibro have been treated and cured by prescribing thyroid replacement hormones . as I said earlier , I am not saying everyone diagnosed with CFSor fibro has been misdiagnosed and they have hypothyroidism I am just saying it is a possibility it happened to me and thousands of grateful patients of these particular doctors it could happen to you. Doctors these days are so afraid of being sued that going against the blood tests is not something many will do it took me years of suffering with  all those awful dibillitating  symptoms before I found a doctor who agreed everything pointed to hypothyroidism and gave me a trial of thyroxine and I got my life back!!! 

 

I think you are quite right that many have hypothyroidism and are un-diagnosed.The blod tests are high-and there is a huge fluctuation in the release -times of hormones.At 6am,the hormone may be dangerously low,and when you get tested at 10am,may have fallen within acceptable levels for a blood test.Reliance on clinical features of a disease is always more important than a (high) level of irculating hormone any given minute.Adrenal  stress tests are useful too,as cortisol affects every hormone-producing gland in the body.Very misunderstood are hormones-even by some endorinologists.And their effect on the body is huge-particularly after multiple viral infections .

Hmmmm , I obviously said something moderator didn't like , not sure why only want to help . I agree the adrenal stress test is a good idea dr peatfield is a great believer in the connection it has to thyroid . There needs to be more doctors diagnosing by symptoms not the TSH and T4 blood tests . I did have the 48 hour urine test  for adrenal tumor which was border line so had to have 24 hour stress test which was normal . Hope you are doing ok Beth ?