I know there have been many posts about Dr Barry Peatfield, but none of them are very recent..
After lots of procrastinating, I am due to see him in a couple of weeks.
I am underactive, and spent the last 5 months on Thybon Henning 20mcg twice a day. This is after a few years of various strengths of levo and then the last 5 years on liothyronine only as levo didn’t work! The thybon is working to a degree as I certainly don’t feel as awful as I did, but I still have many symptoms.
I take lots of supplements, Vit D&K, B12, iron and selenium, but something’s still missing as I still don’t feel as good as I should and the weight is going up, brain fog getting worse, etc etc.......
My question is, I know he tests thyroid through urine, but what else does he do? I’m hoping to go onto natural of some sort, as long as it works, I don’t care!
Can you possibly please tell me your experiences, and if it’s worth the money. Also, if he prescribed anything, how does that work? Do I have to pay £££ for medicine??
Many thanks
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Fibefm
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Dr P doesn't prescribe, he gave up his license many years ago, he will advise what to take then you buy it from wherever.
I saw him about 20 years ago and I don't know whether it was available then but urine test wasn't done. Saliva adrenal test was, as was thyroid antibody blood test and I remember thyroid panel at some point (TSH, FT4, FT3).
If I were you I would do as much as possible before you see him so that you have some test results to take with you, it may help and will save time if he did want blood tests.
You wont have time to do a saliva adrenal test, they take between 2-3 weeks to come back after sending the sample off. The thyroid urine test quotes 17-20 days turnaround time.
You could do a full thyroid/vitamin panel to include
TSH
FT4
FT3
Thyroid antibodies
Vit D
B12
Folate
Ferritin
and Medichecks currently have 20% if you use code MED99. The test is their Thyroid Check plus UltraVit.
As you are supplementing anyway, you need to know your current levels of your vitamins and minerals to know that you are supplementing at the right dose.
If it's Metavive or Adrenavive there's only one place to get those, he will either tell you or Google will, or ask here.
Any supplements he recommends you will be able to get from plenty of suppliers.
Let us know how your appointment goes, he is such a lovely man you come away thinking why can't all doctors be like this, they used to be many years ago!
Thank you!!! I definitely will update you all, I’m looking forward to seeing him but nervous too especially about spending £££, I’ve done it before with a different private dr who put me on a mild dose of hrt and supplements, plus my liothyronine, it cost me a fortune and it didn’t make me feel better. Thank you 😊😊😊
OH no, don't be nervous. He will likely pat your hand and tell you what a rotten thyroid journey you've had and he will set you right. You'll leave wanting to hug him!
Write down anything you want to discuss with him so you don't forget anything. I remember him saying to me "I see you have a little billet-doux there"
He is delightful. I sat and sobbed in the middle of my appointment. He also told me - having read my endo's letter to me - that she was the worst he'd come across, which made me feel so much better lol. He's old school, and not averse to patting your hand or calling you darling. Between him and his secretary, they will also answer any questions you have between appointments via phone (no additional charge). They are very caring. SeasideSusie I did actually hug him before I left!
I'm old enough to remember proper family doctors, who your granny went to, then your mom and then mom took you, they knew the family and they could connect things. They even came to your house - sometimes just to check on you to see how you were getting on - shock horror!
I wonder where it all went wrong - oh yes, contracts, money, big pharma, vocation got took over by the thought of a big fat salary for signing prescriptions and not caring.
It worries me that soon there will be no more thyroid experts left in the UK. He definitely needs cloning!
I can recall family doctors - albeit I was a young girl. My GP knew my parents socially too, which could prove interesting...
I had a psychiatrist in my 20s who saw me every single week for an hour's appointment for two years! I can't imagine any consultant having the time or inclination to do that nowadays. Not that he was geared up to or inclined to check anything physical as the underlying reason for depression and an eating disorder...
And at 24, when I lost the plot with feeling so dreadful all the time and took an OD - my GP then made me book a weekly appointment with him for about three months, just to check I was ok. He was also the last GP I've ever seen on a home visit, when I had food poisoning whilst being incapacitated with M.E. He was such a lovely man. He came out and said, in a very matter of fact but caring voice, 'You really don't have any luck, do you'. He also never checked my thyroid beyond the TSH test... but he was caring.
Roll on 27 years and there's a three week waiting list to even see a GP for five minutes!
And roll on 26 years and I privately test and found out my fT3 was very low under range and I still can't find an NHS doctor to acknowledge or diagnose the problem!
Blimey, look what you unleashed this morning... And breathe.... lol.
I'm fully with you on the cynicism. What a state of affairs
Just a little aside about uncaring doctors. Going back to when my oldest grandson - now 23 - was just a baby. Baby/mom/dad lived with hubby and myself over our restaurant we had back then.
Baby used to have febrile convulsions. One evening he had one - very scary for new parents - and out of hours doctor was called - happened to be one of the regular GPs. Refused to come out. Son called for an ambulance (mom in bits!) - paramedics soon arrived, had to come through restaurant full of people to reach upstairs accommodation - baby still convulsing, unresponsive, massively high temperature, they stripped him off, fan wafting cool air, damp towels to wipe him down, paramedics stayed with him for some considerable time then rang the GP to say he should come out, GP refused the paramedic's request. Ended up with baby being wrapped in blanket and taken to hospital at insistence of paramedics. Happy ending but what a total uncaring swine of a GP and that's the sum total of our surgery to this day.
That is utterly disgraceful. My mouth had dropped to the floor reading that
My friend's son as a new born baby was very ill and not eating, and throwing up. She took him to the GP who said it was nothing. He even muttered the immortal words, 'Neurotic new mother'. My friend then took her new born to A&E and whilst there he had a cardiac arrest and then had to have an operation - he had a twisted bowel. If she hadn't ignored the GP and gone home, she would have lost her son.
If you click on the link on the reply I gave to the original poster, you'll find his contact details and info about him. He's a quite elderly retired GP.
I'm currently seeing him, and have posted about it. He no longer prescribes as he's not a registered GP now, but suggests supplements, including Adrenavive and Metavive (there are various strengths) which are animal gland supplements to help adrenals and thyroid.
If you look at this link tpauk.com/main/article/dr-p... and scroll down, you can click on the relevant links which will allow you to view and download the written info Dr P gives. This may give you some ideas of his approach
He also uses some physical tests, such as sitting and standing blood pressure, to help assess your adrenals.
He is mindful of the cost of everything, as he suggested holding fire on tests I had thought about having, and suggested waiting to see how I responded to his suggested regime first.
Hi! Thank you, this is super helpful. Do you feel any better/different taking these supplements? I have some adrenevive from ages ago, but was self prescribing as was getting to the end of my tether with it all! I took it for s while but because I changed my brand of levo, stopped taking it to see what happened just on the drug..
I tried natural thyroid last year, again self prescribed, thyro gold from the states, I initially lost weight and felt good but then my blood test showed I’d gone overactive and I realised that’s why I felt peculiar!
I think I am sensitive to drugs, of any sort but need to find the right ones so then I feel like me again!!
I wish I could say I'm feeing better for it... but to date I'm not! This whole malarkey is the biggest lesson in patience I've ever endured lol. I'm currently just taking the Adrenavive II along with the T3 I was already taking. In a couple of weeks I will start taking Metavive.
The other test he did to assess adrenal function, is one where you stand up with your feet together, then close your eyes. Following on from that, the same thing but with one foot placed directly in front of the other, then close your eyes. I literally kept nearly falling over! I certainly believe he's correct in stating my adrenals are a big part of the problem, as I've never coped well with stress and prolonged stress is always what tips me into a major episode of depression. So I'm trying to be patient... As he said, if you've been unwell for a long time (nearly 40 years for me) then it will take time to resolve it all...
He also said that if your adrenals are wonky (my phrase not his lol) that it affects your body's ability to convert T4 to T3, and also its ability to use T3, so that levels can build up but are not being used. This certainly seemed to fit my experience.
I imagine that the adrenavive and metavive are a lot more gentle than pure T4 or T3, as they literally contain everything that's in the glands. It's like taking adrenal or thyroid gland itself. Certainly I've read that you can gradually increase until symptoms resolve, as long as your pulse and temperature don't get elevated.
I have some adrenevive from ages ago, but was self prescribing as was getting to the end of my tether with it all! I took it for s while but because I changed my brand of levo, stopped taking it to see what happened just on the drug..
I tried natural thyroid last year, again self prescribed, thyro gold from the states, I initially lost weight and felt good but then my blood test showed I’d gone overactive and I realised that’s why I felt peculiar!
Make sure you tell all this to Dr P so he gets a clear picture of what's been going on. Take any past results, indicating what you too, detailing how you felt, etc. It all helps build a picture at the start.
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