The Hypothyroidism Treatment Debate

[liverish]

FYI The Society for Endocrinology has its annual jolly (BES) at the EICC in Edinburgh this year and on November 2nd at 7.00pm there will be debate about the treatment for Hypothyroidism. The chair is Mark Vanderpump who makes his views clear in the blogpost here: endocrinologyblog.org/2015/... . In the 'Levo is a panacea and solves everything' camp is Tony Weetman from Sheffield and in the 'for Gods sake give them T3 too if T4 alone doesn't work' camp is Colin Dayan from Cardiff. Shame, if Ilived in Scotland I'd arrange for quite a few Hypothyroid folks to go lobby... but I'm in Brighton, its just too far!

This is the most recent statement from British Thyroid Association too if you've not read it. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi... The conclusion is as they don't have enough data they will stick with the status quo of T4 only, err, that status quo being preferable to the one they kicked out when drug companies persuaded them to drop NDT in favour of synthetic hormones (sorry, I think we must all have missed the data they came up with to support that move...).

[diogenes Remembering]

Well, at least Colin Dayan will be armed with our latest paper on the variability of T4-T3 conversion in humans and the resulting need for T3 supplementation in appropriate cases. I'm just disappointed that our forthcoming overarching review which describes it all (accepted now by the way with small modifications) may not surface until the meeting is over. Weetman's thinking is now "blown out of the water" however safely he thinks he is sailing along. The evidence is in - from Bianco, ourselves and others and no-one can any longer deny the facts (though the doubters will) - some people are poor converter-users in their extra thyroidal tissues and therefore need different treatment, involving at least T3 supplementation. NDT will be a harder nu to crack simply because no-one will fund a useful trial. Perhaps Bill Gates?

[liverish in reply to diogenes]

You know approaching the Gates Foundation isn't such a daft idea - nor is looking for lottery funding. If you're in the research community (I assume you are, I just read a paper you linked to in an earlier post) I'm sure that you're used to looking for sources of funding but maybe not in odd places - what about crowd funding??? In all honesty, most people who are suffering (and their partners) may well be willing to stump up some dosh for a some decent research, and the community is pretty easy to reach. If you could be interested and want a hand PM me.

[RedApple in reply to liverish]

Diogenes is Dr John Midgley. You can read a little about him and his colleagues on the main TUK website here

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/About_...

[liverish in reply to RedApple]

Thanks, I assumed he was one of the Dr's involved but didn't know which one

[RedApple in reply to liverish]

I should have clarified that John Midgley's 'colleagues' are Dr. Johannes W. Dietrich and Professor Dr Rudolf Hoërmann.

Between them they are doing an absolutely amazing job for us with their research etc. I and many others will be eternally grateful for their determination to succeed.

[liverish in reply to RedApple]

Redapple I'm sure they are doing a fantastic job, I didn't for one minute think they weren't. I sense you feel that my suggestion that Diogenes PM me about Crowd Funding was inappropriate because I didn't realize who he was? Well not so, Diogenes bought up the problem of funding research into NDT and I'm sure Dr's can benefit from support and advice too you know, as far as I'm aware they don't have a monopoly on knowledge or ideas (at least, the good ones know they don't!).

[RedApple in reply to liverish]

Oh no, I certainly didn't mean that! I just wanted anyone reading here to understand what and whom we're talking about

[liverish in reply to RedApple]

Okie doke, I believe you were not suggesting I tug my forelock!

[HarryE]

Isn't Vanderprat the biggest smarmy git going? 'strategies to improve medication adherence' ???? What does he think we all do, deliberately not want to be well?? And the guidelines stink too! Normal ranges my foot!!

Hummph!

[RedApple in reply to HarryE]

medication adherence What he means is we don't take the T4 only meds that we're prescribed, and have the audacity to take old fashioned outdated medicine like desiccated thyroid and/or T3 which of course is totally unnecessary and downright dangerous

[HarryE in reply to RedApple]

His arrogance is just staggering!

NDT works just fine with my physiology!

[liverish in reply to RedApple]

Yes, he also says that we don't get well because we can't be trusted to take our meds properly as prescribed...

[humanbean in reply to liverish]

Well, most of us are believed to be stupid, fat, menopausal, mad, hysterical, lazy, greedy, depressed women. We are fighting against the smart, rational, intelligent, men like Vanderpump and Weetman. *Makes vomiting noises*

I believe that the sadistic treatment and non-treatment of hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, CFS and ME are the 20th/21st century equivalents of Victorian treatment for female "hysteria" (cut their wombs out and shove them in asylums).

[HarryE]

Oooohhh, you can add comments on his blog post!

[humanbean in reply to HarryE]

I'll be very surprised if they aren't moderated before they appear...

[diogenes Remembering in reply to humanbean]

Could I just suggest you treat all this with rather a sigh of resignation. The people you rail against aren't going to change their ideas: to do so would be to admit defeat and lofty self congratulatory persons are bad at that. Sheer bald unassailable facts simply sweep people with wrong scientific/medical ideas away as if they never existed. It takes time: it might happen to me, sobeit if I'm wrong. That's how things are: fact overcomes prejudice. But it takes time and fixated people have to retire and die before the new young upstarts take over (no doubt with their own entrenched ideas). In my (fairly) long life I've learned that life isn't fair (I should have understood that by 6 years old), justice isn't (immediately) done and acceptance of reality different from one's beliefs is hard to take (but necessary). At the moment ideas are changing thyroid-wise: the change will be slow, and resistance in a conservative discipline like medicine is fierce. But such resistance is ultimately futile; reality conquers all (certainly including me).

[HarryE in reply to diogenes]

Dearest diogenes, what words of wisdom! But I am still furious xx

[shaws]

This is another - who has stated we have a mental disorder if TSH is 'in range' but we have a dissatisfaction with levothyroxine!

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[galathea]

Why why why.... Why is there debate after debate? There aren't all these debates with other illnesses. If t4 only treatment was correct and suited everyone as is more or less claimed by the endocrinologists, then there really wouldn't be the need for continuous debate.

.

The debates seem to come up with the same answer every year, but can never present any evidence for t4 only....... And they give no valid reason for not taking t3

Saying its the right medication doesnt make it so.

G x