I came home in tears. She made me feel like I was stupid and that getting a referral was useless and a waste of time. She said because my T4 is low or only just out of range I'm subclinical, and that she believes it is fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue. She has still done the referral, and luckily I still have a direct email to the consultant at the hospital who told me to get the referral in the first place.
She didn't even begin to try and work out why I was having hypoglycaemia attacks or heart palpitations. The 20 minute appointment I was supposed to have was only 6 minutes long.
I know this isn't much information but I felt the need to just keep you all updated as you're all really helpful, and I needed somewhere to vent my frustration where you'll all understand.
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He works in the same hospital as me and my line manager knows him and said he is really lovely. He told me in an email that if the referral gets rejected to get the GP to email it to him directly, but obviously there will be substantial delays in the process if that ends up being the case.
The doctor I saw tried to tell me that the endo was just being courteous to me! I'm guessing she doesn't like that I could go above the GP Surgery.
That is horrendous treatment! Can you see a different doctor next time? Or even complain to the practice manager about her attitude?
Thankfully you have a "Hotline" to someone who can help you, but if the doctor is being that obstructive she might refuse to send it to your friend directly.
This is the 4th GP I've seen in the surgery, there was only one other who sent off for tests for pituitary hormones to be tested so he was a bit more proactive. I'll probably go and see him next time. It's so frustrating because I have so many people on here telling me I should be medicated but doctors just won't believe it.
Its even worse because last year it took a private MRI to prove to about 5 doctors at a different practice that I had a slipped disc! They all said it was sciatica but not one tried to find out why. I just don't trust GPs anymore which is why I decided to try going straight to the consultant this time. He's a specialist in thyroid and pituitary disease so fingers crossed he does more investigation.
This makes me so mad! I read the same old story on here day after day. Why are we left to suffer? Hopefully I will soon be seeing my local MP because she has asked for more details about the TSH test and how we are being neglected by GPs and the NHS.
That's a really good idea, and it's great that she's asked for more info! I'd speak to my MP but he's more useless than using a colander as a fish bowl.
ME/Fibromyalgia is frequently undiagnosed or under treated hypothyroidism
Presumably you are working hard on improving low vitamin D . Aiming to improve by self supplementing to at least 80nmol and around 100nmol may be better .
Once you Improve level, very likely you will need on going maintenance dose to keep it there.
B vitamins best taken in the morning after breakfast
Igennus Super B complex are nice small tablets. Often only need one tablet per day, not two. Certainly only start with one tablet per day after breakfast. Retesting levels in 6-8 weeks
Or Thorne Basic B or jarrow B-right are other options that contain folate, but both are large capsules
If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results
Keeping Ferritin levels up Eating liver or liver pate once a week, plus other iron rich foods like black pudding, prawns, spinach, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily vitamin C can help improve iron absorption
Getting full Thyroid and vitamin testing again after 2-3 months on vitamin D recommended
Ask endocrinologist for ultrasound scan of thyroid
20% of Hashimoto's patients never have raised antibodies
I've been taking it for about 3 months as I wanted to give it a chance to work in case it was reflux but the lump is still very much there! Would it be best to taper it off to every other day and then every 2 days and so on? I'm on a low dose (20mg) so hopefully it'll be easy to come off it.
Thank you so much for the info, I would never have known about not being able to just stop it.
Thank you so much. I know I'm intolerant to wheat and lactose so I'll definitely be considering changing my diet or at least cutting down on the amount of gluten I eat.
No I didn't know they could even diagnose it with tests! One of the other GPs said she was going to refer me to the CFS clinic near me but I haven't heard anything since then.
The above link I gave you takes you too her web page.
She is full at the moment but every January/ February she takes on non correspondence patients for different conditions.
This year it was the mitachondrial function test as a colleague had it done and now gets benefits because her score was v low.
The year before it was adrenals and many people I know had them tested and received a full report and advice.
She wrote the web pages so people who were unable to see her could at least read about the conditions you mentioned and loads of other things too. You can search for hypoglycaemic as well.
A cfs clinic?
I seriously doubt they’d have the knowledge.
She works v similarly to slowdragons advice.
Diet
Absorbtion
Vitamins
Then thyroid and adrenals.
All her patients( that I know) are asked to use a basal thermometer to track body temps. 36.50 is optimal. You take 4 a day except if you are starting or increasing meds then it’s 8 per day for the first 4 days.
If the average is out by more than 0.2/3 you’ve adrenal issues.
Mine are fairly stable but it took a while to “ get my ducks in a row “.
Hopefully you’ll get somewhere in your referral.
Alternatively you could do a finger prick test thro blue horizon ( you’ve just missed the big discounts) or medicheck.
I did the blue horizon thyroid full panel( so tsh t3 t4 plus thyroid antibodies etc) plus 11. So all my vitamins were tested.
I was shocked how bad some were. Nil t3 nil b12 and v low d3. Also hashimotos.
Then I swapped to gluten free, dairy and sugar free. Whilst I started my thyroid meds.
Tested my adrenals with a saliva test. Sorted that out cortisol and dhea. (high anything is always trickier).
Then a comprehensive stool analysis test. That was dire. That tells you about low stomach acid probiotics Candida parasites and overgrowth of bacteria. Mine told me which antibiotics I was immune to which I should take if ever I need them in the future.
Also if I was immune to say some supplements/ essential oils.
Unless that’s sorted you can waste money supplementing. ( although I was).
Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s all covered in the article.
Like I said it’s good to be under a consultant but most just cover the thyroid meds and you have to see the bigger picture to be really well.
Thank you, I'll take a look and keep an eye out for what she does next. At the moment going gluten free will be too expensive for me but it is something I will have to do if I am diagnosed by the endocrinologist.
It's Sentinel Healthcare, they have a Consultant, special interest GP and Occupational Therapists who help you manage the symptoms apparently.
I'm supplementing with Vit D as I was insufficient in that and also B12 as it was quite low in the range (I'm taking the Thorne Research B Complex for that) plus selenium and a few others. I've managed to find them all quite cheap in various places so at the moment it isn't costing me too much on a monthly basis.
The situation described here is really difficult, at least emotionally. I have found a lot of insides into Fibromyalgia and thought it would be useful to share melacomfort.co.uk/blogs/the...
Join the club ... we have all been told we are making up our symptoms and offered counseling and antidepressants for our thyroid disease ... read my story on my profile page. You need to take control of your own health and ignore what your Doctor has said.
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GP REFERRAL..OR NOT? 
About ferritin? I saw a new endo today
Saw Dr Peatfield today
How to ask the GP for a referral letter
