Thank you all so much from all of us on Thyroid U.K. - hopefully you or anyone you know and love will never develop thyroid disease but if you do then I can’t recommend the HU Thyroid U.K. site enough.
🎄🎄 A very happy Christmas to you alll and hopefully a healthy New Year 🎄🎄
I’ve had Hashimotos for over 30 years and not sure what the issue is can you explain the purpose of the petition please?
I am not involved with the petition but I too have Hashimoto's. But as I understand the condition, there are two hormones, T3 and T4, both produced by the thyroid gland. Cells need T3 to function, but luckily T4 can be converted in the body to T3. So when the thyroid gland stops producing T3 and T4, for most people, giving them synthetic T4 is okay, because the body can convert it to T3.
However, some people can't efficiently convert T4 to T3. This means that even though they are taking the right amount of synthetic T4 they still have symptoms and feel really rough.
So why don't the drs prescribe T3? One reason is because the company making T3 charged a very high rate in the UK. Much higher than what they charge for T4.
So naturally people turn to the research. Researchers in the area and many patients who struggle only on T4 know that some people need T3 too. But there was a paper published many years ago that says people are fine on T4.
I am an academic researcher and I have read that paper. If I was asked to peer review it I would not pass it for publication. The methodology for analysing the results is poor, the dosages were wrong, and it is basically a mess. But it was what was used to justify giving T4 only, which in turn saves a lot of money for the NHS.
On top of this because T4 is very cheap it became easier to not do more research into thyroid disease and possible treatments. For example Hashimoto's is an autoimmune condition but they don't treat the immune system. Hence there is a clustering of autoimmune diseases where people have RA, thyroid disease, lupus and Sjögren’s syndrome. Imagine how wonderful if we treated the immune system to stop the progression of those diseases, rather than just hand out T4, then telling patients who are still feeling rough and in pain that it is their fault for not exercising, eating the wrong food or being depressed. And on top of that many people, especially women, are not referred to specialists so are left undertreated for many years.
Sorry, that was longer than I meant it to be, but as I understand the situation, that is why they are asking for the equivalent money that the drug company had been fined for overcharging for T3 to be used for research.
Thank you as I have no problem but do have other AI diseases.
Excellent! It Pays to share! Merry Christmas 🎁🎄
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