interesting instructions re. thyroid from sweden

[joydot]

look what i found - its 10+years old but still 100 years ahead of nhs (:

tpauk.com/main/article/news...

[MichelleHarris]

Cruel our NHS. I would not have believed it if I hadnt suffered at the hands of our negligent, arrogant and masogynistic system. I am recovering finally with treatment and a whole host of years of ailments are disappearing x

[McPammy]

I wish to god that the U.K. NHS would adopt these ranges. I was left by my GP saying I had depression. How on Earth depression would cause such severe physical problems I use to ask him. After begging for the fifth time for a thyroid test, as he wouldn’t consider it, when the test came back my TSH was 36 (0.35-5.50). I was still not treated properly until 12 years later when I found out privately I was barely converting T4 to active T3. Now eventually I have T3 and T4 medication which has been nothing short of a miracle to me. So 12 years of wasted time and NHS money and I could have had a better life. Happily now I do.

Our NHS is a damn disgrace. It’s all about budgets and not making people well. But with hypothyroidism people will still be back and forth to Drs asking for help until they get it, so it’s not saving anything financially really, it’s actually costing more in the long run.

[HashiFedUp]

First went to the GP in 2008 formally diagnosed 2016. Nothing else to say is there. I’m moving to Sweden haha!

[joydot]

The doctor in hayle cornwall sat there & watched me bloat full body edema 60 lb in 3 months. I explained everything. He radiated contempt. He didnt even follow nhs guidelines. english gps display the worst in english mindset... level of incompetence is staggering because they refuse to learn. How can uk doctors be allowed to remain ignorant? How are uk medical schools able to get away with graduating inadequate, destructive "professionals"?

[Helcaster]

This resonates with me too. Total burnout in the 80's, no tests carried out. High white blood cells in the 90's we'll have to follow that up, it wasn't. High levels of inflammation, we must follow that up, it wasn't. Almost daily severe migraines. 5 stones increase in weight. In the noughties, my otherwise very low cholesterol had shot up, statins refused. Thyroid tested but low end of normal, whatever that means, offered antidepressants yet again, but refused. Enlarged tongue that affected my speech ignored. Diagnosed with fibromyalgia. 2003 developed psoriasis, widespread joint and muscle pain increased and affected my mobility. 2007 developed severe foot pain, so much so I couldn't wear normal shoes, only trainers. 2009 admitted to hospital with a kidney stone stuck in my ureter. Nurse noted very low morning temps. My bloods were done white blood cells so high the hospital didn't want to discharge me. 2011 so breathless couldn't walk and talk, always looking for somewhere to sit, I was so exhausted, heart pounding, eyelids red and sore, skin really dry, psoriasis very painful, panic attacks, severe anxiety at all times. Insomnia, severe diarrhoea for 20 years by now. I asked for a thyroid test, bingo finally diagnosed.

During the years above I had a total of 11 consultants, was often at the hospital 3 times a week. No one picked up on hypothyroidism, I was just told it was something systemic.

Dr Skinner confirmed I had been hypothyroid for at least 20 years possibly since the age of 19 when I was ill with glandular fever, I was so ill I collapsed on a train.

I had had antidepressants since the age of 17. I suspect it was low T3 the whole time. I had always had from the age of 12 heavy, painful, irregular periods.

I must have cost the NHS a fortune, I don't feel guilty it stemmed from their incompetence.

[joydot in reply to Helcaster]

wow. i had / have a lot of those symptoms but your catalogue OMG. you are amazing. an enormous loss of life. how arrogant, overconfident endocrinologists sleep at night is beyond me.

[Helcaster in reply to joydot]

Unfortunately so many people have had similar experiences. I would like to ask any GP what are the physical symptoms of hypothyroidism. Could they answer, I doubt it. I only saw an endocrinologist once, who was as much use as a chocolate tea pot. He told me it wasn't my thyroid, then wrote to me with blood test results including very high thyroid antibodies, he told me I had hypothyroidism, I never saw or heard of him again. Trouble is the struggling still goes on, I don't think my health will ever improve.

Just one aside, my high white blood cells eventually came down after being on thyroid meds for two years.

[joydot in reply to Helcaster]

btw my daughter developed symptoms starting at 16. docs kept telling her all good. at 20 she had thyroid cancer treatment - wouldn't have happened without me, i was the only one concerned & it was my threatening to sue that got doc motivated. thats only 8 years ago. digest that - a previously healthy sporty kid starts physically falling apart & its ok. what planet are these aXXXXles on?

[Helcaster in reply to joydot]

I am truly so sorry to hear this joydot, thank goodness your daughter has such a knowledgeable and experienced mum. It's a shame you have to fight so hard for anything to be done. I hope she has recovered from such a trauma.

My eldest daughter has hypothyroidism too, that was a long battle, she also has very low B12. She asked me once to accept a call from her doctor. I managed to get her B12 injections reinstated. My eldest daughter has also inherited interstitial cystitis from me. It took 5 years for me to get diagnosed, in the end I found my own urologist. I went to a urology appointment with my daughter, again not all consultants are created equal. I took some literature about IC with me and told him which drug to put my daughter on. I am a lioness when it comes to my children! I discharged my other daughter out of a hospital once, but not before demanding to see a doctor and telling him about all the failings of care and treatment she had had. It just so happened the two nurses involved were on duty when I appeared on the ward. I made them bleed the doctor. I watched the colour drain out of them, I can be very fierce without raising my voice. I could write a book about neglect in hospitals.

[joydot in reply to Helcaster]

I could not clap for the nhs. Not just becsuse our appalling death rates but because this year i get legal. Something has happened to basic competency.

[Lora7again in reply to joydot]

I don't blame you and I used to work for them. One of my neighbours asked me why I wasn't clapping for them and I was tempted to tell them why but decided against it. What I would have said is the NHS is good at treating coronavirus patients but when it comes to thyroid disease they are sadly lacking.

[joydot in reply to Lora7again]

anything outside ultimate emergency. that said, they created a life-threatening emerge for moi & son in labour & even then couldn't rise to the occassion. i can't help but notice most of these people are drawn from a certain social sector - not very bright, def over-privileged & very contemptuous of the average person. hands on learning.

[Helcaster in reply to joydot]

I know exactly what you mean. I have very mixed emotions when it comes to the NHS. My sister was a senior nurse on intensive care, I called in on her once and I couldn't believe what was going on. They had the radio on really loud, they were all laughing and joking around, how they heard the monitors heaven knows. Some of the things she told me they got up to made me so angry, and to put it mildly compromised the patients dignity.

I have had such a raw deal from doctors and hospitals ( I had a serious infection after major surgery) that it's driven a wedge between us and I no longer have a relationship with her.