Pointless Medication: What’s all the medication... - Thyroid UK

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Pointless Medication

21 Replies

What’s all the medication you were put on before getting to Liothyronine? (I’m yet to start Liothyronine waiting on delivery)

I’ll start:

Mirtazapine

Amitriptyline

Metformin

Venlafaxine (not taken)

Lofepramine (not taken)

Ramipril

Simvastatin

Artorvastatin

Naproxyn

20 years of other anti depressants, which I wouldn’t be depressed if I knew at the time what was wrong with me!

Levothyroxine

And they say Liothyronine isn’t cost effective....!

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21 Replies
ShinyB profile image
ShinyB

I've been on so many antidepressants meds that I honestly can't recall all their names. We're going back to pre SSRI days too, plus several others for all sorts of 'ailments' which are all thyroid related!

I keep saying that one day I will work out a guesstimate to what I've cost the NHS which could have been avoided if they'd recognised my problem as being low thyroid function. It was in to the several tens of thousands last time I started it! Plus costs of claiming benefits and Disability Living Allowance.

Pfft.

in reply to ShinyB

I think we should it would make compelling evidence

ShinyB profile image
ShinyB in reply to

I agree. I have big plans for publicity when I feel better!!

I've had a two week psychiatric instay

Constant antidepressants and lithium therapy since age of 19 and am now 50!

Gallbladder operation

Infertility consultations

Disability Allowance

Various incapacity benefit claims

Mega number of GP appointments

Several referrals to adult mental health because I have 'treatment resistant' depression

Years worth of counselling and psychiatric outpatients care

Housing benefit

Referral to an endocrinologist

Referral re my high cholesterol

Referral to a lipids clinic for genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia.

I don't know if this one is related but I very much suspect it may be - surgery for removal of my baby and tube when the one and only pregnancy I had got lodged in my fallopian tube

Further investigative day surgery on three occasions

I'm slowing down a bit now. I'm sure there's more.

Thanks for the reminder :) It's shocking, isn't it.

in reply to ShinyB

Omg most of that is the same as me! I have big plans to, maybe we should unite on this 🔗

ShinyB profile image
ShinyB in reply to

Yes :D Let's do it!

Very good point indeed!!!

Then there’s the wastage! I have 4 boxes of metformin.... I won’t be going near them again, I think it was a joke to give me them?!

Hay2016 profile image
Hay2016 in reply to

I’d love to see the actual cost to nhs of those meds. If lio is £258 a month how much are the others. Are they really that much cheaper. How much does insulin per month cost?? How much has following the SAD cost the nhs with the explosion of t2d and obesity. But they quibble over one drug that is as essential as insulin is for some people. 😢😢

I was an nhs employee, people on ground are working their socks off but heads further up should roll!!!!

in reply to Hay2016

Would be good if we had a rough guide of what meds cost in an excel sheet to calculate it compared to Liothyronine. I might look into it this weekend.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to

Tariff prices for most medicines available on the NHS (other than highly specialised products) are available here:

bnf.nice.org.uk/

Enjoy the rest of your weekend poring over your computer... :-)

greygoose profile image
greygoose

I had a hysterectomy, a gall-bladder removal and a slipped-disc op for a slipped disc I didn't have. None of those would have been necessary if any one of the many doctors I saw had known anything about thyroid!

in reply to greygoose

I’m with you. Hysterectomy, gallbladder and carpal tunnel !

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply to

Lord knows how much all that comes to!

Kitten44 profile image
Kitten44 in reply to greygoose

sorry for my ignorance, how is gallbladder removal related to thyroid? Mine was taken out about 20 years ago, i never knew there was a connection, so maybe my thyroid has been struggling since then??

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to Kitten44

Here is a link to a number of papers - several of which clearly make associations between gall bladder, bile duct and hypothyroidism. Including in a grizzly bear!

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?te...

One review paper is probably a good start:

The Underlying Mechanisms: How Hypothyroidism Affects the Formation of Common Bile Duct Stones—A Review

Abstract

For decades, one well-known risk factor for the development of gallbladder stones has been hypothyroidism. Recent studies have interestingly reported that the risk in particular for common bile duct (CBD) stones increases in clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism. There are multiple factors that may contribute to the formation and/or accumulation of CBD stones in hypothyroid patients, including decreased liver cholesterol metabolism, diminished bile secretion, and reduced sphincter of Oddi relaxation. This paper focuses on the mechanisms possibly underlying the association between hypothyroidism and CBD stones. The authors conclude that when treating patients with CBD stones or microlithiasis, clinicians should be aware of the possible hypothyroid background.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Kitten44 profile image
Kitten44 in reply to helvella

Blimey! This condition never seems to stop amazing me....

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply to Kitten44

I think helvella answered that question very well! lol

But, yes, it's perfectly possible that your thyroid has been struggling for over 20 years. And no-one would notice it because no-one looks!

Baobabs profile image
Baobabs

Oh my goodness this makes shocking and depressing reading. How could medics get it so wrong? When I see actual case histories like this my heart skips more than a beat. I do wish you all well for the future and hope you all feel much better and appropriately medicated now. Sure makes me feel grateful for my much less dramatic situation.

Gcart profile image
Gcart

I wonder why. One thing if there has been any media attention of the symptoms due to thyroid problems they seem fairly common to a lot of people. I say it isn’t given enough impact as to the true effect there is when thyroid hormone is disrupted. Weight gain, tiredness, aching muscles etc ,if mentioned is always met with comments like “ oh I get a bit of that”. When as we know it’s so much more.

It needs to be put across much more forcefully by someone .

Like others here, my job went along with all that goes with that. Couldn’t work, too old now , but with being sorted wish so much I could have that back 🙁

Gcart profile image
Gcart

Ps had a cupboard full of useless drugs to ‘fix’ all the ailments that happened along the way . Those are history now

in reply to Gcart

Sounds like we are all in the same boat. Been thinking the same about media too..

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