... reading these replies that denounce medical academia in favour of anecdotal group-think certainly explains "Brexit". Seriously though, if the average person could control their dietary intake and spend as much time exercising as they do sitting at their computer complaining about their flagging health they would probably experience a healthier lifestyle. Psychosomatic symptoms treated with any drug can only do more harm just as treating viral infections with antibiotics only creates hypervirulent strains.
I stopped taking synthroid 6 months ago after 21 years of filling prescriptions since being treated with radioactive iodine. My decision for cessation is based on my personal health goals from year 55 (b. 1961) onward to the end. My thyroid treatment symptoms have faded since cessation, although from week 3 through week 6 I did experience swollen feet/ankles, eyes, body temperature and mood swings.
I am not qualified to recommend therapies of any sort to anyone but I am uniquely qualified to decide my own state of health.
If I go to a doctor and he/she says something stupid there is nobody around to challenge what the doctor says. And many doctors can't cope with being challenged by the patient anyway.
If I come on to the forum and post something medical that is nonsense then I will be challenged.
I know which I prefer too and glad to have the freedom to make those choices for myself
I'm not following you.
You think that people should not reject medical research in favour of anecdotal group think, which is how you characterise discussion here, and then you say you have given up taking a prescribed drug, prescribed on the basis of medical research after your thyroid was irradiated, based on "personal health goals" ... sorry, what?
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I google words and phrases that I am not familiar to gain a deeper understanding of what the author is trying to convey.
You really aren't at all qualified to make judgemental assumptions about other members, their diet, the time they spend exercising and the time they spend on their computers.
I don't know your specific situation but it well may be that you have remaining active thyroid left which you can cope with. Others on this forum aren't so lucky. Hashimoto's amongst other diseases have destroyed their glands completely. Regarding denouncing medical academia; it wouldn't be necessary to criticise if their instructions to general practitioners (and endocrinologists) wasn't so far out of date with modern discoveries. For example, the incorrect use of TSH ranges obtained from healthy people for those now on T4 or combination or T3. The failure to bring FT3 into the diagnostic equation. The failure to promote patient presentation over biochemical certainty. The lack of appreciation of the uniqueness of the individual and the need to treat them appropriately and not relying on a shoehorned "normal" range. BTW antibiotics don't cause viral mutations; they have no effect on viruses only on bacteria. In summary this forum I believe is for those who do not get adequate treatment by traditional standards as done at present. It's not for promoting personal lifestyle choices which are a matter strictly for the individual.
Sorry I should also perhaps have mentioned that I'm the author of 50+ papers in the refereed major journals of the control and diagnosis of thyroid function, relationships between TSH, FT4 and FT3, inventor of one-step FT4/FT3 assays and currently dismantling step by step the erroneous ideas in thyroidology that have so far dominated received thinking. A rhetorician I ain't!
And sorry again! I should mention around 25 papers on antibiotic action in bacteria in a former career, so that's covered as well.
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Actually, just beyond your understanding, Mary.
I fully agree that you have the right to do as you please regarding your own health, to follow the path you find best for you. It's what we are all doing to varying degrees here, and we're all at very different stages of our journeys!
Many of the medical profession aren't very well acquainted with other ways of approaching ill health. Probably a result of their training and having to get through a huge number of patients each day, combined with the limited resources of the NHS, they cannot spend much time on each of us and for diseases such as auto-immune, we really need more of a 'whole body' approach rather than a quick glance at a few parameters (like TSH). So it's only natural for those of us in that unfortunate situation of still being unwell but getting insufficient help from the medical profession to do the next most obvious thing - reach out to other people to see if there's help forthcoming.
I know I did, I had a number of puzzling symptoms that I couldn't figure out on my own, so I started my own investigations and luckily found this forum. I've also run my self-obtained tests past my doctor but so far I cannot get medication so I am now looking into other avenues to improve my health, and that requires a lot of research and reading. I'm certain many others here have done and are doing the same.
I don't know whether you are saying that thyroid problems are 'psychosomatic', I honestly hope not. I'm glad what you're doing is working for you, but it won't work for everyone, and I for one am very glad of the support we get here.
You can also cross the road without looking, chain smoke, leave your seat belt off whilst driving and drink booze all day long... your choice, but I wouldn't choose them.
How very patronising. Medical science has been challenged from the getgo, until recently mainly within the scientific community. With the dawn of the world wide web we all have access to so much information challenging current medical practice. Hardly think this forum can be described as an anecdotal group-think.
If I could compare the depth of knowledge in their respective occupations between a General Practitioner and a master carpenter with similar problems to solve, but not given all the details necessary to formulate an effective course of action they would both be more qualified than a lay-person to solve those problems.
Medical Academia is the database of all medical knowledge known to mankind and it's my opinion that even the lowliest GP is more qualified than a lay-person to access that database and disseminate that information. Now consider the framework for making an effective diagnosis. The GP will have to interpret the patient's description of their malady with known causes of those symptoms and then prescribe a therapy to mitigate those symptoms. Of course the GP's diagnosis will only be as effective as the patient's willingness to follow through with the treatment program which is less likely when they harvest anecdotal information from friends and neighbors and internet strangers.
In short, our family doctor might not be as well versed in diagnosing specific organs just as the master carpenter might not be as well versed in assembling flat-pack furniture but either will do a better job than Mary up the block.
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You are Mary up the block. And on your way up the creek paddleless.
But although we are, naturally, cross at your rudeness re the group think, please do come back if you run into trouble going off levo, we will all try to help and support you, you are on what most of us would say was a dangerous path, and we would not want anyone to feel that they could not ask for help here.
If 'medical academia' actually came up with something new instead of expelling the same old tiresome tedium that kept us all so ill until we did consult the 'anecdotal group think' that finally gave us a way out of the fog and a chance to get back to some sort of acceptable life quality, we might be inclined to afford it some more attention. Until then, it can stick itself where the sun doesn't shine!
If I could compare the depth of knowledge in their respective occupations between a General Practitioner and a master carpenter with similar problems to solve, but not given all the details necessary to formulate an effective course of action they would both be more qualified than a lay-person to solve those problems.
Medical Academia is the database of all medical knowledge known to mankind and it's my opinion that even the lowliest GP is more qualified than a lay-person to access that database and disseminate that information. Now consider the framework for making an effective diagnosis. The GP will have to interpret the patient's description of their malady with known causes of those symptoms and then prescribe a therapy to mitigate those symptoms. Of course the GP's diagnosis will only be as effective as the patient's willingness to follow through with the treatment program which is less likely when they harvest anecdotal information from friends and neighbors and internet strangers.
In short, our family doctor might not be as well versed in diagnosing specific organs just as the master carpenter might not be as well versed in assembling flat-pack furniture but either will do a better job than Mary up the block.
But maybe, "Mary up the block", will take the time to listen, and to diagnose based on an individual presentation, Rather than a generalised range, maybe, dear Mary will take health concerns seriously and not just dismiss them as: depression, anxiety , just in the mind. All of which was my experience.,give me Mary up the block any day... Over the rigidity I have experienced with the medical profession in this area. . It is from the support and advice of this forum I have got well.
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One would hope that would be true! However too many people on this forum and doubtless others have had to endure a bad attitude from their GP (or Endo aka Master Carpenter) and that surely isn't in their training. Then after that they are forced to endure their unpleasant and debilitating symptoms because their blood values don't reach a poorly-designed and skewed value, and have to leave the surgery empty-handed and without anything to mitigate their symptoms. Or perhaps a prescription for anti-depressants which they don't really need at all. In which case I don't blame them at all for having a chat with Mary.
Which is why the totally useless TSH test is still considered the gold standard test for hypothyroidism and Levothyroxine the gold standard magic bullet to deal with it...? Get your head out of the medical academia cloud, lensdude, and do some more serious research on sites like ThyroidUK and this forum and you will find that more people have regained their health, wellbeing and happiness listening to 'Mary up the block' than any did listening to 'medical academia' which, let's face it, are being governed by a self-interested pharmaceutical industry that is far happier with doctors doling out anti-depressants and pain-killers etc. like Smarties for any consequential malady caused by this one condition that would disappear if only this condition was treated properly in the first place... But that wouldn't make much economic sense now would it?
No one is stopping you to decide your own state of health either... freedom is underrated and too often taken for granted
oh my word Lensdude are you suffering ? Is there something that this group can help you with? I've certainly found people here in this group to be genuinely trying to help each other through illness and mental torture! Personally I am suffering mentally and physically and have given up on medical institutions because of two reasons: 1. They have left me in a state of mental and physical wreckage and "dismissed" me because my blood tests fit inside their "acceptable range". 2. I find them to be very self serving.
So if you want help from this group then please ask. Otherwise please don't troll here!
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