Idiot GPs

[pffft2017]

Due to a levothyroxine intolerance I'm taking just liothyronine @ 60 mcg per day. My surgery have been testing my TSH quarterly, despite the dose having been set about 12 years ago. Recently I had a flurry of urgent voicemails from my 'doctor' urging me to go to A&E as an emergency which was very alarming. When I rang the surgery it turned out the GP had misinterpreted the results and had just read the T4 levels, which, of course, are non-existent. He's been prescribing the T3 for over a year, I'd had though that was a big clue. The TSH was 1.15. Aren't A&E under enough stress without incompetent GPs sending cases which are beyond their comprehension? As far as I know the only time A&E would intervene was if I was in a thyroid coma. Absolutely clueless.

[108Optimist]

I genuinely feel sorry for most docs. They are expected to know everything about every system in the body.

I work in a laboratory. The other day I heard a non lit bunsen burner hissing gas into a room full of workers who had just entered with me. I raised the alarm by hollering and pointing at the switched on gas supply.

After I'd alerted everyone, my tired brain saw it was not on!! And the hissing was the air con! ! Better safe than not give a s^^t?

Happy for you thar you have had suitable treatment for so long.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to 108Optimist]

Well, they get very well paid for not being able to read a simple blood test and notes ... I'm unable to feel sorry for anyone who acts like many GPs do.

[Treepie in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Read today that many are retiring in their 50's to keep their pension pot below £1million so they do not get 55% tax when taking it as a lump sum.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Treepie]

So they do have some common sense ...

[shaws Administrator in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

only in regards to what is affecting their bank accounts. Never mind those patients who have had to resign or be dismissed.

[pffft2017 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

I've often told my surgery they'll be the death of me. They've just sent a letter saying I have COPD even though the hospital consultant confirmed it's asthma. If an uneducated eejit like me can work out my own TFT results surely they can. Maybe I should offer my services for £83,000 a week.

[shaws Administrator in reply to pffft2017]

You'd certainly do a far better job and your patients wouldn't be complaining. Many members have even gone private but they didn't always get an adequate response from the doctor.

All of the experienced doctors have by now retired or died as they were trained before blood tests became the priority and prescribed NDT.

[pffft2017 in reply to shaws]

Thanks! I agree the older doctors are usually better, but having said that they missed my mother's thyroid condition. It's true it accelerates the ageing process, she looked over 80 when she died in her 50s.

[shaws Administrator in reply to pffft2017]

That's terrible and I am sorry your mother died and may not if she'd been properly medicated. What would we have done without internet access. Probably many in the same boat as your poor mother.

[thyr01d in reply to 108Optimist]

Love your story 108Optimist, made me laugh - we've all been there but not unfortunate enough to holler about it!

[shaws Administrator in reply to thyr01d]

108Optimist wouldn't have been notified so if you put an @ before the member's name and then begin to type a few characters and you look down the page a bit suggestions will show and click on the one you want 108Optimist - when you click the name turns blue and the person will be alerted.

[shaws Administrator]

I had a similar conversation with mine who phoned me. I had gone to him with something not connected to 'thyroid'. I had lost an amount of weight quickly (I had gone gluten-free but was eating well) so an expected weight loss might be common. But this one was a larger loss since my last weigh in (in surgery) and he said you need a blood test.

I obviously had already wondered why I had a large loss as my daughter had said you mustn't go below a certain weight and I had (it hasn't changed since then thankfully).

GP phoned: Your TSH is too low. Your T4 is too low and your T3 too high you have to reduce your dose.

Me: I will have a low TSH (he interjected by saying "but the endocrinologists say") so I interrupted and said it will be low as I take T3 only TSH will be low, T4 will be low (as I take none) and T3 will be higher. He says but T3 converts to T4 (me patiently) "it is the other way around doctor". I also said, if you look about 4 weeks back you will see my the results were good. He agreed.

ME: "Doctor - The blood test I had was in the afternoon as I didn't know it was going to be for the thyroid hormones so results have to be skewed. They have to be taken in the morning".

As he was also worried about my blood test results results I reduced slightly and by the third day, I returned to my usual dose. My body wasn't happy and didn't like the reduction. He knows I take T3 only I assume he automatically assumed that weight loss was due to too much T3 and I suppose they have to cover themselves.

[Treepie in reply to shaws]

I was called last November for a diabetes blood test around lunch time.I asked the woman who phoned me whether it was just thyroid because the GP had earlier said it would be done for thyroid in March. She and the nurse taking the blood said it was diabetes only.

I was very angry to find TSH was tested as well. I wrote a letter of complaint but decided not to send it as no action had followed. But I will mention it when I bext give the GP my private test results.

[pffft2017 in reply to shaws]

Thanks for sharing your experience, it seems I'm not the only one with an inept GP, unfortunately. It makes me wonder how they manage to qualify. It's not like thyroid problems are rare. The amount of stories I've heard where, particularly female patients, have been refused T3 are alarming. Being an alpha male I won't back down to GPs with severe god complexes but they still kept me on T4 for 2 years. I ended up looking like the Michelin Man. Well done on your weight loss.

[pffft2017 in reply to shaws]

There's just no hope for them. I've started eating an apple a day to keep them away.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Did they even do free T3, which is what you need to know?

[pffft2017 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

No they did not, even though they've been prescibing it. I always tell the nurse to mark down I'm taking T3 on the blood tests too. I think in the end the lab had to interpret it for him.

[shaws Administrator in reply to pffft2017]

The labs my GP uses always states on form T3 only.