The conclusion of this research might sound familiar.

[Lilian15]

Have you ever wondered why research says people prefer T3 but it is not needed, yet you are so ill without it. Here is an example of research testing for people needing crutches to walk.

Testing whether crutches are of use or not. Get a bunch of people with walking difficulties, including a man with no legs. As it is very rare for someone to have no legs there were not that many to choose from and they needed an average group. Double blind test on crutches. Apart from the man with no legs the others either found they could walk with a limp just as good with the aid of a stick than on crutches, so no difference, some found they preferred to walk with crutches but they could get by without them. Only the man with no legs said they were essential to him walking. However as these studies always exclude the bottom and top figures that excludes the man with no legs. Research result comes out that people with walking difficulties prefer crutches but they are not necessary.

[Doggie123-UK]

I always use a walking stick when I go out, it helps me as I have intermittent claudication and have trouble walking any distance, it also gives me confidence because of balance issues.I could if necessary go without but would find it very difficult to do so.

[Lilian15 in reply to Doggie123-UK]

It is just an illustration how research works. They tell many of us (well they have told me anyway when they stopped my T3 prescription) that research says we do not need T3. Explains why they tell me research says I do not need it when all they have to do is open their eyes and it is obvious I do. For me, and many of us, it is not a matter of preference it is a matter of necessity.

[shaws in reply to Lilian15]

Re T3 - I absolutely do not agree that T3 is useless as I am well upon it and have no clinical symptoms at all.

I don't need to take a high dose of T3 and T4 gave me severe palpitations - especially during the night when they interupted my sleep and even the cardiologist was puzzled and was contemplating putting an implant in my heart 'to see what was going on'. Just about then T3 was added to T4 and immediately palpitations reduced but on T3 alone they resolved altogether and I didn't need an implant in heart.

T3 (liothyronine) alone - is the 'active thyroid hormone' and heart and brain have the most T3 receptor cells..

[Lilian15 in reply to shaws]

Exactly, for many of us it is a necessity

[Doggie123-UK in reply to Lilian15]

Sorry, I misunderstood was reading about the walking aids and missed the reason for posting

[1tuppence]

Thank you.......it made me laugh, it was so "spot on". I know the situation is not funny.

It seems I need T3 as my conversion from T4 is so poor.....but to "fight for it" requires energy, and when energy is low due to lack of T3, "fighting" is nigh on impossible.

[Lilian15 in reply to 1tuppence]

I think you are the only one who gets the point. I have been fighting 20 years and I am all burned out. What can you do when they have their script and it doesn't matter what you say, they close their ears and eyes, and when you have finished come out with all the idiotic reasons why they wont prescribe it. When I first started T3 (with private doctor), I was told by many NHS medics that I would drop down dead at any time with a heart attack and my bones will crumble, if I take T3. 10 years ago I was at an age where a lot of people not on T3 have had heart attacks, or osteoporosis. It is now 21 years since taking T3 and they are still telling me that one day I will have a heart attack or my bones will crumble because I am taking T3. I am 83 for goodness sake and diabetic. If I did have a heart attack, or my bones started to get crumbly (which is likely at my age or older with people without T3), will they still be blaming the T3. If I lived to 100 and died I can see them nodding their heads, we warned her about that T3, then going to their next thyroid patient telling them a story about a patient who died with a heart attack and crumbling bones who was taking T3 (forgetting to mention she was 100 years old). I am so angry at the way I have been treated. I say if a country invented a torture that was like the symptoms some of us have to suffer, they would be had up for war crimes, or human rights violations, yet our doctors are allowing this every day - and get paid for it too.

[Kowbie in reply to Lilian15]

Very well spoken . I agree with you whole heartedly, well said

[Annalees in reply to Lilian15]

So true, Lillian. I've been down a similar same well worn path - depressing isn't it...

[1tuppence in reply to Lilian15]

I feel your pain and frustration. I wish I didn't ( for myself), but I do.Despair comes close when met with medics who either don't know/don't understand/aren't willing to listen and learn/ dismiss symptoms as "irrelevant"....and I include endo consultants in this...in my own experience, even an endo professor. And all of this was simply to get diagnosed in the first place and receive help from misery.

I've been advised on here several times since then that I need T3....... and it's a question of building up the strength and energy to try and get it.

It's becoming more urgent...but see above.

Lord, help us all.

[Citrine77 in reply to 1tuppence]

I'm with you on that one, been fighting for years to even just try it, I'm going to ask again as the doc wants to put me on statins as my cholesterol levels have risen - funny that!!

[shaws in reply to Citrine77]

Just like the nonsense that is laid down by the professionals. It seems to me they try to persuade us that T3 is difficult or dangerous.

One of my doctors phoned to tell me TSH was too low, T3 too high and T4 too low.

I stated: Yes doctor - my TSH is low because I take T3 only. T4 is low because I take none.

GPs response :- but T3 converts to T4. Me: No doctor that's wrong - it is T4 that is supposed to convert to T3.

I'm fortunate now to have had T3 prescribed.

[buddy99]

Yup, that's how research can "work" and that's why, when looking at research EVERYTHING needs to be taken into consideration. Cherry picking is so extremely prevalent but doctors have no time (or even the knowledge) to dig deeper into what guidelines they are following and how these guidelines came about. What is most disturbing is that the majority of physicians believe (or want their patients to believe) that they know everything and the patient knows nothing...not even what's going on in their own body, how they feel or what has worked for them outside of what the GP suggested. It is crazy and very worrisome.

[Sharoosz in reply to buddy99]

Ha, maybe we should all just stop going to them. As far as possible i am avoiding docs for the reasons you give. There still are a few good ones but most are big pharma trained and as some said, follow the script given in med school. And we all know big pharma does want healthy patients - they want clients! (repeat and forever clients)

[buddy99 in reply to Sharoosz]

I agree, Sharoosz. The medical system has come a long way in some areas and has regressed in others. True patient care has generally fallen to the wayside and has been replaced by pills and surgery and the complete loss of autonomy of the patient. So it is really up to the patient to decide whether it is beneficial to see a doctor or fall back on other resources, which is generally frowned upon by the medical profession. This is also a social issue because those who have the money can pay for better care (whatever that might be for the individual), including alternative options and travel to other countries. I know people who have gone to Germany for surgery or to the States for speedier and more effective care and paid a lot of money for that. If a patient does not have the means to go private, or get massages, acupuncture or even supplements for example, let alone pay for trips to a doctor in a different country and out of pocket for the treatment, they have to content with whatever is offered. Fortunately, for the medical system, the majority of patients still give themselves over entirely to the physicians (I did that for decades myself), trusting them no questions asked, not even contemplated. I think there is no other profession that is trusted so blindly. I also think that change in that regard has started to immerge, but it is slow, very slow .