Thyroid tesults help as GP won’t medicate!!

[Nmilne73]

Does anyone know where I can get my daughters full thyroid bloods done?? She is very symptomatic and has been for years. Her TSH is 5.5 and T4 is 10.1 but the GP said because her T4 is in range he won’t treat despite her symptoms, cold, tired, anxious, hair loss, feeling low etc etc. For the online tests you need to be 18 and she’s only 17.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

"you need to be 18 and she’s only 17."

Errrm..... I expect you're a bit clumsy and your finger slips and makes typos when you fill in the date of birth, after all 1 and 2 are very close together on a keyboard/keypad. Obviously I'm not suggesting that you'd do it deliberately

[Nmilne73 in reply to SeasideSusie]

😉

[Nmilne73 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Then if they show that she needs medicated will our GP do it?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Nmilne73]

Ah, who knows! Some GPs will accept private results, some won't. So if he won't, invite him to repeat the tests himself including all the out of range ones your private tests show.

But what I would do, as you only have one shot at persuading the GP, is get full thyroid and vitamin testing :

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

Most popular test on here, which covers all of these, choice of two labs:

Medichecks Thyroid Check UltraVit medichecks.com/thyroid-func... and code THYROIDUK gives 10% discount on any test not on special offer.

Blue Horizon Thyroid plus Eleven bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/t...

Both can be done by fingerprick or pay extra for venous blood draw.

Post results, with reference ranges, on the forum for members to interpret them for you.

[Mitch27 in reply to SeasideSusie]

😂😂😂

[Peanut31]

Hi

This maybe where you hit a brick wall. With the GP.

Your daughters GP states she is fine. With a TSH of 5.5, she isn’t fine, her thyroid is struggling. They haven’t tested her T3 either. When testing thyroid TSH, T4 & T3 should be tested. It would be a good idea to test her vitamin levels, as if low this will not be helping. Test for antibodies as well (autoimmune disease)

Normally the NHS will not step in with thyroid medication until your TSH reaches 10 or above.

A few options, see another GP based on your daughters GP results and see if they would start her on 50mcg of Levo increasing by 25mcg every 6-8 weeks testing her TSH, T3 & T4.

Pay for private blood tests and show the GP.

If both of the above are unsuccessful, thyroid UK can provide a list of friendly endo, you of course will have to pay privately, but they maybe able to help.

Many are forced to self medicate, either because the NHS will not acknowledge a thyroid problem or, they don’t get on with levo.

The tests I mentioned above can be done via a finger prick test. Medi checks and Blue horizon offer those tests as finger prick. You can do them at home. Make sure you do them before 9am and no eating or drinking.

This one covers all the vitamins, thyroid and antibodies (finger prick test)

bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/t...

Best wishes

Peanut31

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I think Blue Horizon will test minors

You would probably need to pay for private blood draw at local to you, private clinic or private nurse. Rather than DIY finger prick test

Kipsy may know this .....she may pop along

But first perhaps have a final attempt and ask GP to test thyroid antibodies, vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Always get actual results and ranges on all tests

[KIRM in reply to SlowDragon]

Blue Horizon do! My daughter is 17 and have used this company for the last year.

[KIRM in reply to KIRM]

My local small NHS hospital will draw her bloods. Always worth asking.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

If she has high antibodies and TSH above reference range (but below 10) and is symptomatic she should be offered 3-6 month trial of Levothyroxine

Getting vitamins tested and supplement to optimal can all help too

[Jodypody]

I would be persistent but unemotional which I know is difficult when it’s your daughter. Contact Thyroid UK Louise and she will arm you with anecdotal evidence to support your case. Be calm, collected and don’t give up.

[holyshedballs]

If what you are saying is true then I think that your GP is wrong on 2 counts. i think s/he can take a blood sample and s/he is wrong to not treat your daughter because T4 is within a reference range.

I am not aware of any protocol or procedure that says that patients below 18 cant have blood tests.

Patients need to give consent for treatment and a parent can give the consent for their children when they are under 16. Once children reach the age of 16, they can agree to examination or

treatment just like adults. People providing health care do not then

have to ask you for consent as well.

From Consent – what

you have a right to

expect

:A guide for parents from the Department of Health. nhs.uk/nhsengland/aboutnhss...

if there were any issues regarding NOT taking blood from children, i expect they would be well documented on the internet. I can't find anything to support that claim.

There is a lot of information on this forum and on the Thyroid UK web page to show that T3 is the important hormone for the body and as Seaside Suzy wrote above, a full panel is necessary for the patient and the doctor to arrive at a treatment plan.

Even the BTA do not advocate diagnosing by T4 alone.

i think your GP is wrong and possibly negligent. In your situation, I would complaint to him/her in the first instance pointing out he is wrong about blood tests for children and to diagnose by T4 alone. Don't worry about complaining. Surgeries have to have a complaints procedure under Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities)

Regulations 2014 (Part 3)

If s/he doesn't move then I would complain to the Clinical Commissioning Group and the General Medical Council about this sub standard doctor.

the

You may also wish to get a second opinion from and Endocrinologist. Tell the GP that you want a referral to an Endocrinologist.

I hope that helps

[Hillwoman in reply to holyshedballs]

I may be worrying unduly, but I wonder whether a complaint is really a good idea at this stage? I don't want to put the wind up the OP, but in my experience making a formal complaint can produce threats to drop a patient from the practice list, with a claim that the doctor-patient relationship has broken down. That could lead to a further delay in getting treatment.

[holyshedballs in reply to Hillwoman]

I understand that this is a fear of many people using this forum.

It is important to understand that the NHS, the Care Quality Commission and the General Medical Council expect patients to give feedback both positive and negative. For the sake of brevity I’ll just write about giving negative feedback in the form of a complaint.

As the CQC says if they don’t what is going wrong they can’t put it right.

The NHS expects patients to complain in the NHS Constitution

Each surgery has to seek both positive and negative feedback from its service users (patients). In other words a complaints system. This is a legal duty that is monitored by the CQC.

The GMC make it very clear that a doctor must not “de list” a patient just for making a complaint in their ethical guidance “Ending your professional relationship”.

By making it explicitly clear that delisting is not appropriate when a patient makes a complaint the GMC also make it clear that a complaint is not the same as a break down of a doctor/patient relationship.

Being abusive or violent are good reasons to support the break down of the doctor/patient relationship

But complaining isn’t.

The GMC also expects doctors to apologise when they make mistakes.

Patients must not be afraid of doctors. The law and the GMC say that doctors must work in partnership with patients and patients have every right to complain when doctors do not meet the standards expected of them by the law and the GMC. In fact the NGS expects patients to complain.

Hopefully armed with information that complaining should be a normal part of a relationship with a doctor patients will feel more confident in making complaints.

My view is that complaining is not about punishing a doctor. Complaining is about highlighting deficiencies and facilitating change for the better.

Complaining is about

detailing the thing that the patient feels is wrong,

Detailing the harm caused by the thing that went wrong

providing some form of evidence to support the complaint

and where possible proving a reasonable solution that will rectify the thing that went wrong.

I also put what will happen if the thing that went wrong and caused harm isn’t put right in my work letters. At work I have to let the people I regulate know what the possible consequences for non compliance are as a legal requirement.

The best complaints, in my view, are those that keep to the facts of what went wrong what the harm was backed up by evidence, written in fairly clear and unemotional terms.

[Hillwoman in reply to holyshedballs]

Thanks very much for the thoughtful and detailed clarification. Lots to think about there.