Why are doctors hesitant to prescribe T3?

[Sofie007]

Ever since i got prescribed T4 in February my fatigue worsened over time. I keep reading on this forum and everyone is so helpful. I think i have poor conversion to T3 but my GP and endocrinologist think my labs are fine. I don’t feel fine. I take all the right supplements but yes my stress is high because i feel frustrated. Some weeks i feel fine, but most i feel sh*t. I told my therapist and he is willing to subscribe T3 and it feels like a weight fell off me. Why is it that doctors say everything is fine when it clearly isn’t? Sorry for the rant 😏.

[greygoose]

Because, as a general rule, they don't know enough about thyroid, nor about interpreting blood test results, to know what is fine and what is. It's all down to ignorance, that's all.

[Sofie007 in reply to greygoose]

Yes, i think you are right Greygoose, thank you.

[greygoose in reply to Sofie007]

You're welcome.

[arTistapple]

All our thoughts exactly. Stay with us Sofie007. What kind of ‘therapist’?

[Sofie007 in reply to arTistapple]

A psychiatrist, i have had an anxiety disorder for many years. I recently read that mental issues can be caused by thyroid imbalance. I searched through my blood tests and saw my tsh and antibodies have been high for years but no doctor ever mentioned it until i was ill for 2 months in a row. I don’t blame anyone, I just know it is frustrating for many to not get the right kind of help. I am very grateful for this forum. I have learned a lot.

[arTistapple in reply to Sofie007]

Its amazing how doctors work. Heart pain - cardiologist. Anxiety - psychiatrist. Gastro problems - gastroenterologist. No wonder people turn to alternative therapies. There seems to be very little crossover of ‘expertise’ in medical practice. I have evidence of being hypothyroid and diabetic twenty years before diagnosis. My cardiologist asked for those tests and did nothing with them. Someone super intelligent within the medical community aeons ago, noticed these connections - hence the guidance to get the tests done in the first place but doctors ignore them when it is not their specialism. Symptoms of hypothyroidism can be seen in just about every ‘specialism’ and yet doctors dont see or make connections. The doctors are more ignorant than the patients. No wonder so much money is wasted in the NHS and so much bigotry to deal with.

[humanbean]

Why are doctors hesitant to prescribe T3?

This reply is written from the perspective of me being British and living in the UK.

1) T3 costs a lot in the UK due to profiteering by pharmaceutical companies that has gone on for years.

2) UK doctors have been taught that everyone can convert T4/Levothyroxine into just the right amount of T3 for them. This is nonsense. There are many people who can't convert T4 to T3 very well.

3) Most UK doctors rely on TSH to tell them all they think they need to know about a patient's thyroid status. Your Free T3 could be below range and the doctor would be unlikely to find out because they almost never test it.

4) Thyroid disease is considered to be a problem mostly suffered by females and the UK medical profession is institutionally misogynist and sexist. Women are often assumed to be attention-seeking, drug-seeking, exaggerating hypochondriacs, so they are rarely believed when they have invisible symptoms and say they are in pain and tired and all the other symptoms of thyroid disease.

5) The first "solution" for doctors in the UK with patients who complain of hypo symptoms is to give them anti-depressants and statins. Even getting TSH measured is not their first idea (or second? or third?)

6) Some doctors have been told that thyroid hormones are addictive - and they believe it. They tell female patients they want T3 because it will help them with their housework, when all they really need to do to increase their energy levels is go on a diet.

7) Doctors are also convinced that T3 is dangerous and causes death, heart attacks and strokes, even though they have T3 flowing through their veins naturally.

[nellie237 in reply to humanbean]

I wish I'd wtitten that HB. 😄

[Sofie007]

Great reply Humanbean, thanks!

[marigold22]

From my own protracted and painful experience, you don't need a psychiatrist (I had two at various times of my life). You need to get blood tests for : TSH, free T4, free T3, two thyroid antibodies, vitamins B12, ferritin, folate, vitamin D3. You can do that privately - Medichecks or Blue Horizon, if your doctor refuses to do all of them. Come back with a new post with those results.