Do GPs PCTs and Labs all avoid the T3 testing to avoid treating it if low?

[tegz]

It seems obvious from many posts on here and elsewhere that T3 testing and provision of the hormone is taboo in the NHS- apart from Endos, who again seem to have thyroid 'blindness by TSH numbers' in many cases.

If the T4 issue has been fudged for decades, with established protocols with NDT all but forgotten, how much more difficult to get a replacement therapy that will cost more and be more difficult to manage- even if more effective?

T3 doesn't seem to cause depression- it actually lifts it, so that's another escape route out of the window for our harrassed medics.

It's hard not to be a conspiracy theorist these days but humanity's been 'at it' for millennia and money's short -like the will to address thyroid illness properly.

[rosetrees]

I am beginning to think it is because the pharmaceutical companies push T4 as a miracle drug. Obviously it rakes in the dosh for them. What I don't get is why they don't also promote T3. That ought to bring in as much money for them, but maybe it doesn't. If they pushed T3 as the "wonder" drug, T3 testing would magically become fashionable and the "must have" test. Perhaps we are shouting at/bashing the wrong people? Maybe it's times someone asked a drug company how much profit there is in a T4 as opposed to T3. A freedom of information request?

[tegz in reply to rosetrees]

Isn't Levo generic? It's been around long enough..If so, it won't be making that much profit.

[shaws in reply to rosetrees]

They will usually only test for T3 if your TSH is outwith the range. It doesn't help when people feel awful and a little T3 sometimes goes a long way to some improvement.

[Hidden]

I don't see the profit in the levo per se, but in the multiple drugs we end up taking when on it, for residual illness and symptoms. I wanted to say so much more at the meeting last week about this but was advised not to. The fact we develop diabetes and heart disease if under treated means something surely, when endos seem to specialise in diabetes much more than thyroid.

[tegz in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, that's 'conspiracy squared' - only for the connoisseur

Quite likely an unconscious agenda, where the push for change MUST come from outside, where we are acting now.

[rosetrees in reply to Hidden]

You could very well be right. In fact you probably are.

[tegz in reply to rosetrees]

Rigging of the Market?

We need action similar to the anti lobbying laws being brought in to stop corruption in parliament. It's been going on for years and all major parties are involved.

The Drug Co's worked out a strategy years ago and it has worked brilliantly- so well, that no one on the 'receiving end' even notices, apart from us patients!

[shaws in reply to Hidden]

Laladrew, you are so right. A survey should be done on the 'other prescriptions' given to people with thyroid gland problems most of which only arise when they are not on the correct medication for them and being denied trial of alternatives. Some are also 'diagnosed' with anything but a thyroid gland problem.

Well done in the Scottish Parliament. I realise you would have liked to voice your opinions more forcefully if allowed to do so.

[Hidden in reply to shaws]

Thanks Shaws. I have been trying to find the data on the multiple medications thyroid patients are prescribed but it seems in Scotland it isn't collected. A friend is a practice manager though and says she is regularly horrified when she looks at the other meds a patient on levo takes, and this only increases as time goes on.

[shaws in reply to Hidden]

I will start with a few and others can add theirs:-

Betablockers

Pain relief

Anti-depressants

Antacids (where they may have low instead of high acid) - do they get complications?

I forgot to say about the people diagnosed with mental health issues

[Moggie in reply to Hidden]

At my local hosp diabetes get four and a half days a week and endocrine gets 2 hours. I told the receptionist exactly what I thought of that and will be telling my endo the same.

Moggie x

[Hidden]

tegz that this document exists make me nervous for our care scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Do... A few short months after this document/meeting, the co involved got Scottish Medicine Consortium approval for more expensive insulin marketing in Scotland, then a few months after that withdrew a long standing, reliable and cheaper one, plunging NHS Scotland in to chaos. Did the powers that be not thrash that sort of thing out in their meeting? thepharmaletter.com/article...

martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/sc...

Nhs scotland spent 1 BILLION on Diabetes care last year, TEN percent of the budget. This insulin producer awarded an endocrinologist their highest honour for services to Endocrinology novonordiskfonden.dk/en/con...

It's maddening.

justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/May...

[tegz in reply to Hidden]

A recent expose on Stoma care covered a similar trend where 30% the ACTUAL NH Service funding was provided by equipment suppliers who would then expect their products to be used on patients [& for a lifetime, at that ]- though technically a free choice.

Yeah- we know! Don't step out of line, if you know what's 'good for you'.

[Hidden]

Good thing we don't know what's good for us tegz.

[tegz in reply to Hidden]

T3? - if I can find a friendly Endo to sell me a bag

[jezebel69]

When it comes to cost I'm puzzled. My gp has dealt with every possible thyroid related problem with other expensive tests and/or treatment. My tinnitus for example got me a hearing test and a hearing aid that I dont use. My post nasal drip that results in sinusitis was treated by a consultant who put me on 6 months anti-biotics. High cholesterol? Statins that I refused.....surely it would just be cheaper to test my thyroid properly even if just to exclude it. If they leave my hypothyroid poorly treated for long enough I'm sure to need insulin