Doctor Toft kindly responded to my email in which I asked if he had put his name forward for the NICE Committee:-
Response:
Thank you. I have not put my name forward for the NICE committee but I hope that they take the article seriously.
Best wishes
Anthony Toft
For those who didn't see yesterday's post. Here it is:
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Wonder why he hasn’t?
I also hope they take his article seriously.
Actually I bet his ‘about turn’ is the talk of the profession. Can just imagine them all saying he has ‘gone native’.
I believe he has retired.
Even in his Pulse Online article, I think quite a few years old now, he did mention that some need T3 added. So he has prescribed, if patient was complaining,T3.
He went on to say that "There is no place for the use of animal thyroid extract in the treatment of hypothyroidism. Although preparations contain both thyroxine and tri-iodothyronine, the hormone content varies between batches." and we do not agree with that as so many have recovered with NDT and I am sure if someone had a bad reaction it would have had a lot of publicity.
He has probably been shocked at many patients (not only his) who have had their T3 removed without warning. A crisis of some sort could have arisen which we are unaware of yet - suicides? One cannot add more pressures on someone who is/has been very unwell and then their 'support' is removed instantly, without warning. How hard-hearted and conceited are those at the very top who make these decisions and we have to 'like it or lump it'. Patients views should be considered and taken into account and we shouldn't be treated as if we were numbskulls. We are entitled to be well, with no clinical symptoms and not have an extra prescripts for the symptoms instead of what alleviates them.
I was under extreme pressure and stress through the Summer due to the uncertainty over whether T3 would be withdrawn. To be honest, it was the last straw. I had actually planned my suicide.... I simply couldn't take any more. I learnt in June 2017 that I have the faulty DIO2 gene and absolutely had to have T3. As it happened, in late August I decided to seek out a homeopath because of the uproar, fiasco, uncertainty, abuse, and he changed my life around by October.
I think he may have changed his mind as he was (I believe) at the initial stage of Lorraine Cleaver's Petition in the Scottish Parliament. Her story was so horrendous, maybe that was influential in softening his stance on levo only although it didn't change his mind about NDT.
If Dr Toft has retired, why doesn't he just go away and retire? He's one of the multitude of flies in the ointment.
He's the best we have at present and he even posted the following. An excerpt and it shows he has changed his mind as he didn't expect the situation to develop as it is at the present day:
"In the early 1990s I was involved in the initiation of guidelines in medicine, in the UK at least, when President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. It was one of many errors of judgement in my long professional career. Their development was encouraged by government,during one of its recurrent financial difficulties, in order to deliver a higher level of healthcare throughout the country without having to replicate major teaching hospital services in smaller and often geographically remote hospitals.
The unforeseen consequence is that guidelines have assumed a clinical and legal importance far beyond that which was ever intended by their protagonists. Although their consensus recommendations are rightly qualified by the acknowledged variability of the quality of evidence, it is the key statements which are seized upon by the non-expert, and not the reservations. It is as if guidelines, like the tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai, have been carved in stone for a new generation of doctors that seems duty-bound to follow each edict slavishly. The impression is that young physicians have ceased to think, ceased to challenge received wisdom and ceased to recognise that patients come to the consultation as individuals, expecting to benefit from the opinion of an open-minded and experienced professional.
Simply because no two patients present in the same manner, guidelines, by their very nature, are the antithesis of the art of medicine. We cannot afford to underestimate the level of frustration among patients, exasperated by the ‘one solution fits all’ philosophy. It was put to me recently by a patient that, if governments wished to save money from their healthcare budgets, they should invest in flocks of African grey parrots, as these repetitive mimics could easily replace the current breed of doctor in the consulting room. She had a point.
rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/fi...
So I would suggest that members print off the whole of the link and present to their GPs. reminding them that he has had a distinguished position and has been physician to the Queen when she's in Scotland.
I remember seeing him talking to the Scottish Parliament years ago and thinking that he wasn’t as ‘hard line’ as I would have expected, in fact back then I had a sense that he might have been having doubts.
Considering he knows that he and his ilk persecuted and made the amazing Dr Skinner’s life a misery he must know he will face the wrath of big pharma and his peers so it’s a huge step to have come out and admitted he now feels their views have been wrong. Let’s hope his report gives others the courage to do the same or even wonder why someone in his position might have had a change of though.
As for homeopathy - we come from Glasgow (where there is a huge NHS homeopathic hospital) and sadly, although we had great faith and hope that it would be the answer, homeopathic treatment did absolutely nothing for a family member’s eczema so I don’t think you can say one form of medicine is good and another is bad.
I also imagine the royal family pick and choose between homeopathy and regular medicine.
shaws I'm a bit disappointed when Dr Tofft is against NDT . How can one disagree with millions of patients who do so well on NDT . It's a life saver for them . I'm one of them . Synthetic T3 was causing me surges . And NDT is a much smoother delivery for my low dose T3 . One can not dispute with that .
I think the bottom line is that different people thrive on different forms of treatment - I have a friend in the US who was started on NDT and didn’t do well but who is happy on levothyroxine.
I think doctors need to be open minded and be prepared to work through all options and quantities of drugs required until their patient is well.
I might be completely wrong and often am but after looking at comments posted on here I really do think a big problem for people who are hypo is that many doctors and endos have decided that their patients gain weight because they are lazy and eat too much - not true! and they (their doctors) don’t want to do anything that will aid weight loss. I’m sure that’s part of their problem.
It could well be due to the fact that lies and misinformation abound. I would think Dr T would have prescribed NDT in his early career (not sure).
We would probably believe something is true if we were not on NDT and feel well and even though it has been in use in different forms (since 1892 ) for around 100 years then Big Pharma saw how much money that could be made by paying doctors/endos (in USA) to prescribe this new product, i.e. Levothyroxine. Promotions seem to be ' put to doctors and endos who were remunerated in some way for prescribing. Plus of course the 'extras' prescriptions to try to control/resolve remaining/disabling symptoms.
It is the recommended replacement worldwide now. Maybe Big Pharma also funds Conferences and do they also pay the expenses for Speakers etc who insist that levo is 'perfect'. One Endo in particular has been awarded various gongs for his work but no-one on this forum would ever consult with him.
If doctors/scientists don't have Open Minds - nor listen to their struggling patients we do not have a chance to recover.
Many people do fine on levo but there is so many that do not and they're left out on a limb or given anti-d's or anything else as they still complain but told they are 'normal' so nothing to do with thyroid hormone replacements.
The nail in the coffin would be rumours, rumours and rumours.
Dr Lowe sent a Rebuttal to the BTA and RCoP and sent three yearly reminders for an answer. They were so professional that they never did respond before Dr Lowe's untimely death.
thyroidscience.com/Criticis...
We do know that there are many who recover on NDT. Lorraine Cleaver for instance was so unwell after thyroid gland removed and was repeatedly told that levo was the only prescription. Until she came onto this forum and found out that, NO, it wasn't the only thing. Dr Skinner who also consulted in Glasgow (he was a Glaswegian) prescribed NDT and she didn't look back and that why she is incensed that she has taken her case to the Scottish Parliament.
hypothyroidmom.com/suicide-...
I don't think her case is unusual as we know of another who did commit suicide and who wrote a note to the Coroner about the reason she did so.
We should have alternatives, i.e. levo, NDT, T3/T4 or T3 only and not be treated like we are imbeciles. It is our body and our pain and our symptoms not theirs.
Dr Gordon Skinner (virologist) invited every one of the Endocrinologists (he prescribed for Lorraine) about the Parlous Situation in the hypothyroid patients are in as they are not being treated properly or diagnosed (he was being sent patients who had mysterious disease and he found they were hypo and prescribed). One by one these Endocrinologists all refused, the last the night before the Conference. That strikes me as pure conceit and not open-minded to at least listen to a doctor who was dealing with the left-overs and whose patients (when he was called before the GMC and it wasn't his patients who complained) sent 10,000 letters to the GMC saying Dr S had saved their lives. So it certainly wasn't patients who complained????? One doctor who also had the same patient as Dr S told her 'we've got him now' and she promptly let Dr S know.
If the above was not true - you really couldn't make it up - could you? It is like a quagmire. What kind of doctors do not have open minds and to listen to their patients and goodness know how people without internet connection resolve their situations.
What I don’t and will never understand is why if the body produces T1, 2, 3 and 4 doctors seem to think it is ok to replace all that with T4 alone and expect their patients to be well.
And yes, the answer is to be flexible and treat the patient with the best medicine for their symptoms. Not to mention believe what the patients says and work from there.
They are mainly men who decide upon what is the assumed correct way to be treated. It is funny how Dr P and Dr S knew and especially Dr S who was a Virologist knew far more than the whole of the Endocrinology put together. They ganged up on him - why? Was it the assumption that they knew best and how dare someone try to inform them what to do. It wasn't for the Endos sake but for the sake of all those patients undiagnosed/untreated/undertreated that Dr S cared about.
I assume Dr T read a paper about the inconsistency of NDT and that may have changed his mind. Who supplied the information to the BTA? Why did the BTA not put patients' interests/health first if Dr L could rebut everything that was said by the BTA they hadn't the grace to admit they were wrong but they also didn't take notice so were quite content to let the suffering continue.
You hit the nail on the head there - well two nails.
One, it wasn’t for the sake of their patients that they couldn’t admit they might not be correct and two, Dr S and Dr P are doctors who I feel liked/like and really cared/ care about their patients - enough to put themselves in the firing line and be ridiculed by all and sundry.
With due respect, the Queen uses Homeopathy, as does Prince Charles and many others in the royal family. Why do you think they all live to such an old age? I certainly would not trust Dr Toft with my health or life.
Royalty can afford every remedy going tosh or otherwise.
I pay £35 a month to see a homeopath and he got me better.
Money well spent good for you!
Advice on what to ask Dr Toft
Withdrew from Thyroxine completely upon Dr Toft's advice- now feeling terrible
Doctor has reduced my does based on TSH
Doctor has befuddled me.
Dr Toft counterblast to thyroid hormone replacement guidelines worth reading
