Could be the thyroid; could be ennui...

[wellness1]

Here's an annoying article I thought I'd share. It speaks to limits of synthetic T4 monotherapy in the elderly, but also reveals general thinking on treating hypothyroidism, particularly if you have a look at the comments.

tinyurl.com/nyzpojh

[humanbean]

The research that article was based on can be found here :

nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/N...

helvella posted about it a couple of weeks ago :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Let's just hope nobody reads the research paper, or everyone over the age of 65 is stuffed.

[Rapunzel]

The drug, let’s note, did what it’s designed to do: It lowered T.S.H. to levels considered normal (in this study, .4 to 4.59 mIU per liter). Among placebo takers, T.S.H. barely budged.

But, so what? On questionnaires inquiring about tiredness and other hypothyroid symptoms, on all the other pre- and post-tests, taking the drug brought no improvement.

So what do you make of that, Abbott Laboratories? BTA ? BMA ? NHSCC ? NICE? Anyone? Why is this drug No1 with a bullet?

[ITYFIALMCTT]

Discussion from another point of view but similar sentiments at Science Based Medicine: Overtreating the thyroid: sciencebasedmedicine.org/ov...

[humanbean in reply to ITYFIALMCTT]

That article and the comments were really, really depressing.

[greygoose]

I wish they wouldn't call it a drug! On top of that, this article gives completely the wrong impression to people who know nothing about thyroid. I certainly don't think any of those involved with the study knew anything about it. Do they not understand that the TSH dropped because the thyroid hormone rose? They didn't even seem to understand that TSH wasn't a thyroid hormone! Terrible, terrible article!

[Bettan]

Perhaps at last all those famous brains are trying to tell us that levaxin on its own is not always the best way to treat patients with an under active thyroid.

[humanbean in reply to Bettan]

No, they aren't telling us that, as far as I can tell. They are telling us that they are going to make a terrible situation worse if they possibly can.