UNBELIEVABLE .. !!! Too many people receiving ... - Thyroid UK
UNBELIEVABLE .. !!! Too many people receiving unnecessary thyroid meds !!!
Just wow!! This makes me angry. This is just further ammunition to prevent GP’s from prescribing to genuinely sick people.
If by 'genuinely sick people' you mean those who are overtly and symptomatically hypothyroid, that isn't at all what is being said at all. The recommendations apply to those with an elevated TSH but within range FT4 who are without symptoms or with non-specific symptoms; are unlikely to apply to young adults, or those with severe symptoms; and definitely don't apply to women who are, or are trying to become, pregnant.
Could I suggest you read today's post by Diogenes about the same BBC article.
But we all know the NHS guidelines and parameters for being hypo are Rubbish ...
The Beeb aren't currently renowned for accurate reporting. Perhaps it's another government ruse to make people more unealthy. >
Why would it do that, when an unhealthy population is both very costly, and unproductive/less productive to society and to the Treasury? Just out of interest, what are the other ruses the Govt uses to make people more unhealthy?
NHS cutbacks & lack of funding, selling off to private companies, contracts with companies that inflate pharmaceuticals by 6,000%...
Lack of funding? In 1950, the NHS spent an estimated £460 million. By 2020 it is likely to be spend more than 340 times as much – around £158.4 billion. These figures are cash of course, and obviously over this period a huge chunk of the increase in spending will have been swallowed up by higher costs. So in real terms, after adjusting for inflation, NHS spending in 2020 is likely to be 10 times as much as in 1950. Source: The Nuffield trust
Presuming you are referring to Concordia as was, and its Liothyronine price hyke, I'm not aware that the Government has a contract in that regard. The company is simply one manufacturer of a generic form of that drug that independent pharmacies source and dispense, and then claim back their outlay from the NHS as an end funder.
Those numbers may be all true, but they don't tell the whole story. Since 1950 there have been many improvements in fixing people after trauma and accidents that would have killed people in minutes or hours in 1950. More people survive heart attacks and strokes than used to happen, so they often live longer in poor health that needs more money spending on them. People also have more food and better hygiene than used to be the case so they live longer and need more treatment in the health service as a result. I've no doubt there are quite a few diseases which used to be fatal that can now be cured too. And of course, the NHS treats many more people than it used to.
All these improvements in healthcare come at a financial cost that a lot of people aren't happy about paying for in their taxes, particularly if they are rich and/or healthy and think they don't need the NHS. The demolition of the welfare state, including the NHS, is not an urban myth. Funding is being squeezed into oblivion in many ways.
As far as I'm concerned the fact that the NHS costs 10 times more than it did in 1950 is neither surprising nor horrifying, nor is it a reason for causing suffering to many sick people as is happening so frequently in the UK these days.
Perhaps we're reading different information as that's not what I'm picking up, or experiencing.
Well, I think it makes me sick and I've been wanting to come off it so this gives me the confidence to
boxesandplanes
Looking at your last post showing extremely low ferritin, folate and B12 it's far more likely you are under treated
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
75mcg is only one step up from starter dose of Levothyroxine
Low vitamins are usually result of being hypothyroid
You also need vitamin D tested
Getting ferritin, folate and B12 levels optimal is essential for good thyroid function
Your ferritin is so low you likely need iron infusion
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
All four vitamins need to be regularly tested and frequently need supplementing to maintain optimal levels
NHS guidelines on Levothyroxine including that most patients need somewhere between 100mcg and 200mcg Levothyroxine.
Also what foods to avoid (note recommended to avoid calcium rich foods at least four hours away from Levo)
Looks like you guys beat me to this news.
This is what BMJ says:
"Understanding the recommendation The panel concluded that almost all adults with SCH would not benefit from treatment with thyroid hormones. Other factors in the strong recommendation include the burden of lifelong management and uncertainty on potential harms. Instead, clinicians should monitor the progression or resolution of the thyroid dysfunction in these adults."
I have diagnosis of SCH, and benefit from a low dose of levo !
But I wonder what GP will say at this year's review.....
Is gov trying to save money by not giving out prescriptions? They often think short term rather than long term.
I think the government would happily kill off a few oldies to save money on the pensions bill, social care costs, and healthcare costs. The same goes for the chronically sick.
What they (the govt) want is a healthcare service that is paid for by people with insurance, brings in massive profits, and does the least amount of caring they can get away with.
Totally agree. The cost of the DWP's current regime of killing off the sick and disabled actually costs more than the previous system - although 120,000 DWP-related deaths (and counting) will eventually save money, since the dead cannot claim benefits or pensions. The cost to the NHS from people who's health has deteriorated due to government persecution and hounding by the DWP must be immense (and I speak from personal experience and that of someone who has helped hundreds of sick and disabled with their claims and appeals).
This government is also about as slippery as a greased eel with NHS spending figures. They were caught out including the cost of nurses and Drs that carry out the fraudulent assessments of the sick and disabled in NHS spending, just as one example. Then there is the millions the NHS has to pay out in claims - and over a million quid to Richard Branson last year after he sued the NHS for not landing a contract he wanted. On paper, the Tories spend more on the NHS. But a casual look at the state of hospitals and GP waiting times tells another story entirely.
NHS Tory spending stats are meaningless. They're caught out lying about them on a weekly basis. I'm only interested in provable net per capita spending as a figure - but I'm sure the Tories would find a way to fiddle those figures, too.
I agree with slowdragon reply. My doctor is either ignorant or saving funds. He refuses point blank to test me for FT4 and FT3 or thyroid antibodies . I asked him why this is and he blamed NHS. He says they dont do those tests ??
He has been treating me on my TSH alone for 2.5 years and im still not right. Ive taken advice from this site and sent off a private blood test with medicheck to find out what my true levels are. Its a disgrace. Ipeople shouldnt have to fight for treatment
Jenni
Must be your doctor being bit of an idiot. I asked my GP for the antibody test and she did it. Came back high for Hashimoto. However, my endocrinologist said they only prescribe T3 for people with thyroid cancer! I was just stumped with the ignorance.
I fail to understand the logic when, in order to receive levo, your TSH has to be>10.
Also, when "treatment" with levo is said to be "successful" when TSH falls ANYWHERE within the variable range, many people are likely to be undertreated.
When NDT is universally blacklisted, the how on earth is anybody without a thyroid supposed to get well when it has been proven that this will NOT happen when they take levo alone? One or 2 people on this forum have reported that they know of somebody without a thyroid who HAS recovered their health by taking levo only. I suspect this may have been caused by the person NOT having RAI ablation and the remnants of their own thyroid gland having been reactivated.
I share your frustration with the publication of this document based on very poor science, as we used to say in the old days of computing: 'garbage in - garbage out'. If the original data is poorly gathered no amount of manipulation will make it meaningful. We get too much of this pseudo-science.
I do feel however that patients can be their own worst enemies when they argue that they should be treated because their TSH is slightly elevated. They are reinforcing the myth that all hypothyroidism is due to primary hypothyroidism. If this were so prescribing sufficient hormone to reduce the TSH to e.g. 1.0 would cure everyone. And of course, the review in reference 1 refutes this assertion. We need to stop trying to get a TSH result above 5.0 and get our doctors to focus on signs, symptoms and response to treatment. This may be more difficult than fiddling a TSH assay but it's the only way forward if we want patients to receive effective treatment. We should follow the evidence, whether or not we like what it reveals.
The BMJ have published my response bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l20... . The reference links didn't get copied so here they are: -
1. Feller M, Snel M, Moutzouri E, et al. Association of thyroid hormone therapy with quality of life and thyroid-related symptoms in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA2018;320:1349-59. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.13770. pmid:30285179 CrossRef bmj.com/lookup/external-ref... PubMed bmj.com/lookup/external-ref...
2. Russell W1, Harrison RF, Smith N, Darzy K, Shalet S, Weetman AP, Ross RJ. Free triiodothyronine has a distinct circadian rhythm that is delayed but parallels thyrotropin levels. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jun;93(6):2300-6. doi: 10.1210/jc.2007-2674. CrossRef academic.oup.com/jcem/artic... PubMed ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/183...
3. Benvenga S, Di Bari F, Granese R, Antonelli A. Serum Thyrotropin and Phase of the Menstrual Cycle. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2017 Sep 29;8:250. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2017.00250. eCollection 2017. CrossRef frontiersin.org/articles/10... PubMed ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290...
4. Harwood J. Hypothyroidism with Normal Blood Test Results ibshypo.com/index.php/hypot...
Too many small changes ? 
how many grains is too many grains?
Thyroid meds removed 
Natural thyroid meds
Thyroid meds & cancer.
