How often can your GP test

[emmamc1986]

I would like to know how often can your gp test for thyroid. I think I had last test at beginning of the year. I have all of the symptoms of under active. last time i went and asked her she sad no and that was a couple of weeks ago.

[silverfox7]

Have commented on your other post above.

[Ellie-Louise]

It's annually where I live in West Sussex, (unless you have just been diagnosed and the doctor is getting your meds to the right level).

[Catjane]

When it was suspected by my GP ( Scotland) that I had an under active thyroid in February 2013 I was tested and it was confirmed but he waited a month and I was tested again to make sure the 2nd blood tests confirmed my condition and the prescription that I would require. I was then put on levothyroxine 50mg a day. I was retested 6 months later and then prescribed 100mg. Once you are considered stable you usually then get tested once yearly unless your symptoms change. I put on excess weight around age 55 ( post menopause) and whatever exercise I did it was no use until I went on a Weightwatchers programme and put on the medication. A year and a half on it is still difficult to keep the weight off without continuing to focus all the time on what I eat. You do have to be patient waiting for things to improve.

[TSH110]

My doctor would test if I said I had any signs and symptoms of feeling hypo he does it on an as needed by the situation basis (as per the limitations mentioned above of course) even though it is technically just once a year. He was thinking about a test recently but I told him I felt fine not at all hypo with the exception of some skin irritation but nothing else so he decided it was not necessary. - the test is quite expensive so I feel it was the right decision.

I do not like the approach being taken in your case by your GP who should run the test plus vitamin etc checks to make sure there are no underlying reasons for the symptoms coming back. I was feeling really bad last winter and he did thyroid and full blood tests and found I was very deficient in vitamin D. Once that was treated I began to feel much better and I was really awful before the supplementation the depression was unbearable and my mind and body in action were glacial! Perhaps try to see another GP at the practice which is what I did when I got the cold shoulder like you - that negligence cost me my job, which is no laughing matter. I am so glad I voted with my feet and got a compassionate human being who listened and did tests because they were needed not because a calendar said my year since the last one was up. Whatever happened to common sense and thinking through the ultimate consequences for patients who are left unable to work effectively because of debilitating symptoms that doctors are supposed to be controlling - capability procedures for poor performance at work never seem to touch them of course.