Isn’t it strange that fibromyalgia is diagnosed 9 times more often in women than men?? Isn’t it strange that hypothyroidism is diagnosed 9 times more often in women than men?? The symptoms are very similar , and the list is long. Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of elimination and can’t be diagnosed by blood tests or scans. Patients suffering chronic pain and tender points, sleep problems, lack of concentration, foggy brain, anxiety or depression, numbness, tingling in legs and arms, hands feet, headaches , dizziness, etc and dreadful fatigue are more likely to have thyroid blood tests and when they come back from the lab normal (sometimes many times) thyroid disease is dismissed .patient most likely have other tests for other illnesses often sent to rheumatologist and eventually given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. As has been pointed out before, a trial of thyroxine may well be the answer to their suffering or a natural dessicated thyroid which was the original treatment before the so called “gold standard” synthetic T4 (thyroxine) was developed .i don’t understand why doctors will not give their patients a trial , starting on a low dose and raising it gradually ! Dr Lowe and dr skinner and dr peatfield all prescribed thyroid hormone even tho blood tests were normal , with great success and thousands of very grateful sufferers I don’t want to anger or hurt anyone diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I am not saying there is no such thing as fibromyalgia I am just saying there is a possibility they have been misdiagnosed and worth discussing it with your doctor who may or may not agree to a trial .
Isn’t it strange fibro versus hypo : Isn’t it... - Thyroid UK
Isn’t it strange fibro versus hypo
Yes. Women are genetically different from men. There are lots of reasons doctors prefer to treat symptoms and don't like to acknowledge hypothyroidism when it's staring them in the face. Under the rule of "first do no harm" I think there is some obscure reasoning that says that leaving hypothyroidism untreated is slightly less likely to cause harm than treating it and potentially overmedicating the patient. Too much thyroid hormone does bad things to the bones, and it could be worse than being left hypothyroid. I like to think this is the reason, rather than sheer ignorance or lazy thinking, though I do see many instances of doctors being strikingly ignorant where the thyroid is concerned. I tried to get an emergency department doctor to make the connection between physiological energy and the thyroid by asking, "Where does my energy come from if not from thyroid action?" He thought a moment and answered, "ATP." The problem here is that thyroid hormone is what drives the adenosine tri-phosphate energy process he was remembering from medical school.
Current over reliance on blood test results and completely ignoring the patient and their symptoms is far too common
Thousands of thyroid patients left under treated and then get fibromyalgia diagnosed....when it's often due to still being hypothyroid
I am one of those patients, but convincing doctors & other FM folks that I know has been impossible.
One of our Advisers (now deceased) was an expert on Fibromyalgia and ran the Fibromyalgia Research Foundation amongst other things.
It is connected to hypothyroidism. It is due to thyroid hormone resistance which means that the person can only recover when on T3 alone and dose is usually higher than for other causes.
A doctor once tried to diagnose me with fibromyalgia. I persuaded him to try a higher dose of levo as I was only “in range” at the time. (I’m hypo )Sure enough my symptoms got better with the higher dose. Won’t happen with everyone but worth trying before giving another diagnosis i think.
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