Post by Tania Smith on T4/T3 equivalency

[diogenes]

In the latest Canadian Thyroid blog by Tania Smith, she explodes the T4/T3 equivalency myth (the idea that always, (functionally) T4 dosing has a fixed equivalent to T3 dosing which guides substitution of T4 for T3 in treatment. It shows the individual ability to convert any T4 still taken, into T3, has a strong effect on what extra T3 might be taken to regain equivalent thyroid hormone dosing. Once again one shouldn't read pack leaflets eg with NDT, stating T4/T3 equivalence as gospel. It is once again reduced to an individual try-and-see process to get the best outcome. There is no hard and fast formula.

[RedApple Administrator]

Link to the first part of this blog subject:

thyroidpatients.ca/2019/09/...

and the second part is here:

thyroidpatients.ca/2019/09/...

[DippyDame]

Thank you.

I was introduced to Tania Smith's work by someone who described her as having a brain the size of a planet. Apt!

I fear the majority of people that this might surprise are the medics who are hell-bent on sticking to ineffectual protocols....including TSH labs which will inevitably be used to monitor the outcomes of standard equivalency trials

These medics either do not, or refuse to, understand that we are not the products of a factory line, for whom tick-box treatment will suffice. That misconception is ruining lives on a daily basis.

Sadly as most of us with complex thyroid issues have discovered the only way is trial and error and taking on that challenge is frightening and propitious in equal measure because we (often) do so without what should be an NHS safety blanket.

I suppose we must be grateful that the NHS offer a link to TUK....and there many thyroid journeys start.

Just having another rant!

Best...

DD

[Hidden in reply to DippyDame]

"I fear the majority of people that this might surprise are the medics who are hell-bent on sticking to ineffectual protocols"

It won't surprise them unless they read it!

And those it doesn't surprise are mostly people like us, who already know and are at the mercy of those who don't and probably won't read it.

[DippyDame in reply to Hidden]

I did say "might"... but I agree they would need to be made aware either from this or other sources.

[shaws Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Or till they actually develop hypo and find their job has become somewhat 'difficult'. i.e. do they remember anything at al? Probably not and hopefully they'll join HU TUK and ask questions about how they can continue working.

[LindaC in reply to DippyDame]

Indeed - 'rant on' Love it!

Fortunately I know no fear: background in research/science/stats [not even required in my case... an optically challenged man on a galloping horse could have diagnosed mine; you know, those before-after pics from the late 1800's + +], but to challenge this lot... beware!

Uni debates, there was a standing joke: medics and lawyers = no contest! Where many are aware that lawyers et al 'All P in the Same Pot', it only recently struck me that at least lawyers - in the main - will be devious as part of their job role on behalf of clients. Doctors, however, do that PRIOR to engaging the lawyers to fence off anyone who dares to... 'double whammy'. They simply can't be left to run riot with the lives of patients, yet they are.

There can be no 'going to law' individually on this: (I am aware of the Scottish Parliament action... and how Dr S had his Worldwide Petition). We need someone or a small group to put a stop to this grand-scale abuse. Along with CFS/ME, hypothyroidism (+) will surely go down as one of the biggest medical scandals of the 20th/21st Century. Which is why diogenes and colleagues are so very much appreciated. Each year endocrinologists tighten the screws, just that bit more, to exclude certain treatments and patients, with the majority of endos falling in line and GPs, as they used to have, with no say at all now.

So many of us are left only with our 'timeline of events', which admirably depict... yet this increasing level of abuse continues. In current times it is rarely said that these, albeit self-employed, doctors are paid via the public purse yet, seemingly, with little accountability to anyone except the little self-recruiting/self-regulating cliques they set up to oversee 'Their [own] Boys' Club(s)'. This is wholly unacceptable.

[Hidden]

I'm in the middle of reading it. Don't find it that easy to follow but get the gist. Thanks for summarising.

[LindaC in reply to Hidden]

I know... so much to read... xox