Red letter day for the forum... 130,000 members!

[humanbean]

It's the 2nd February 2023 12:26 pm and I've just noticed there are exactly 130,000 members on the forum.

💪 ✌️ 👌

😀😀😀

[jsy_girl]

that’s nice!

[RedApple Administrator]

Amazing! Of course, many are no longer actively participating, but even so, that's a lot!

[humanbean in reply to RedApple]

It would be nice to know the numbers of members who log in daily / weekly / monthly on average, or who just come to read occasionally.

I realise the number of active members must be small compared to the current total, but I wouldn't be surprised if the number of members puts Thyroid UK in the top 5% of forums on HU.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

Around 9,000 different members each month.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to helvella]

Give or take a few scammers and spammers 😒

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

That's more than I thought it would be.

[pennyannie in reply to helvella]

Golly !!

That's some going - well done everybody :

[Triciatextiles in reply to helvella]

is that posts? I read a lot of posts as i am sure many people on this forum do but I don’t always reply or make comments. I joined when there were 1500 members so some time ago! Since this time nine members of my immediate family including myself and both my children (husband diagnosed 20 years ago) have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and we each have our own therapy challenges. Without this forum we wouldn’t be reasonable well. Thank goodness it’s still going 🙏

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Triciatextiles]

That is the number of individual members who were active last month.

With nearer half a million page views. And moving towards two million total posts/replies.

Unfortunately, the statistics aren't quite as clear as they might be!

Some forums study their numbers. Which is understandable if you do things like run campaigns to get members. We might glance occasionally - as today. But just being here and keeping going is what seems to really matter.

[Triciatextiles in reply to helvella]

that’s interesting thankyou 🙏

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RedApple]

Just a bit of nostalgia and remembering how things were in the early days.

Found this post (image below) from Friday, July 6th, 2012, 11:33 PM.

5,000 Members!!!!

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

That was exactly one eighth of a million members ago!

Screenshot of post welcoming our 5,000th member

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

So, what time and date was the very first post actually posted and who posted it? Just idle curiosity so don't put any great effort into finding out.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

The oldest post I can find is Lyn Mynott's first post - which could well have been the first under Thyroid UK. It is post number 263 so very, very few before then! (The post numbers are across the whole site.)

NHS Health Show Eastbourne

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 11:26 AM

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

Thank you.

I read a few posts from the era of the 5000 member post you linked to. It is depressing that so many of the issues from 2012 are still an issue now.. The number of barriers to good treatment that we face have still not reduced. In fact I could probably argue that the barriers are even higher now than they were then e.g. the insistence that TSH must reach 10 before prescribing Levo. In my case my TSH has never reached 6 and at its lowest my Free T4 was 8% through the range and my Free T3 was 11% through the range.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

Sometimes it is utterly overwhelming.

But there have been changes.

There are multiple liothyronine products in several dosages.

Thyroid Patient Canada has come into being.

diogenes (and colleagues) have produced some amazing research.

(And many other things - but I'm not trying to catalogue - just grab some easy examples.)

[tattybogle in reply to humanbean]

don't underestimate the positive force for "GP's having to think about it" created by 130,000 thyroid patients realising 'it's not just me ' as a direct result of finding their way here .

GP's up and down the country must have to put up with a lot more 'back chat' from thyroid patients now than they did in 2003 when i was diagnosed (and more obedient/ trusting than i am now )

some of those GP are responsible for training other GP's...i know mine is, and (i hope) our arguments have at least made him think about things a bit.

He followed the book by reducing Levo due to very over range fT4 and he accepted it made me ill ,so he allowed a dose increase which was totally against the book (increasing Levo when fT4 was 181% and TSH was a smidge below range) and it made me better again.

I see this forum as a way of improving things by 'bottom up' retraining of GP's.

[shaws Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

I've had a couple of stupid comments from one of the GPs in the surgery and I told him he was wrong.

[radd in reply to helvella]

I love reading our old posts hel as the camaraderie was always there with dear Clutter, but some of the advice is sooooo outdated now, it seems funny!

[tattybogle]

on may 23rd 2020 it was 108,000 healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

So that's 22,000 new people used ThyroidUK's forum on HU in under 3 yrs

[SarahJane1471]

Although it’s great to know more people are here, it also feels a bit worrying that people NEED to come here 🤷‍♀️

[HowNowWhatNow in reply to SarahJane1471]

Too true.

It’s extremely worrying that patients in this group have such little influence in NHS, parliamentary, NICE, CCG, private medicine, medical conferences and in other forums where their treatment is discussed.

Treat the numbers and not the person and the same person has to find meaningful help elsewhere.

[Ginny52]

I love every one of you!

I love Lyn Mynott who rang me when I was desperate! (Since diagnosed and being treated- GPs can’t do endocrinology)

I love every other member-

But I really can’t help but feel concerned about a speciality where 130 thousand patients feel unhappy with their treatment ♥️

[pennyannie in reply to Ginny52]

Lyn also helped me personally back in around 2015 when i could not think straight enough to even compose a letter to my doctor and we spoke on the telephone and via email.

I didn't even know who Lyn really was then, and didn't join up all the dots until much later in my thyroid non journey within the NHS system.

Very many thanks to all at Thyroid UK and everyone on here who helps keep everyone else sane - most of the time !!!

[tattybogle]

Since there's so many of us ..i'm wondering about the sound of a 130,000 voice choir .......

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ALL ~ ~ ~TOGETHER ~ ~ ~ NOW ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the first day of Christmas, my Endo said to me :

..... Are you taking your levo, my dear ?

On the second day of Christmas, my Endo said to me :

.... Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking the Levo my dear ?.

On the third day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

.....Are you back again ?

......Levo works for all,

.....but are you taking your levo , my dear?

On the fourth day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

.....Look, i said already ,

.....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

...but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the fifth day of Christmas my Endo said to me:

.... All ...in ...your... Head.

.....Look, i said already ,

....(when you came before),

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the sixth day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

.....Hear what i'm saying,

.... All .... in ...your.... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) ,

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the seventh day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the eighth day of Christmas my Endo said to me:

....Is your mood sinking ?

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the ninth day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

.... Reduce your Levo ,

....Is your mood sinking ?

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the tenth day of Christmas my Endo said to me:

... My word is law ,you know,

... Reduce your Levo ,

....Is your mood sinking ?

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the eleventh day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

... TSH is all i know ,

... My word is law, you know,

... Reduce your Levo ,

....Is your mood sinking ?

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

....but are you taking your Levo , my dear?

On the twelfth day of Christmas my Endo said to me :

....Why are you still coming ?

.. TSH is all i know ,

... My word is law, you know,

... Reduce your Levo ,

....Is your mood sinking ?

....Why are you whinging ?

....Hear what i'm saying

.... All ....in ....your... Head.

.....Look i said already ,

....(when you came before) .

....Levo works for all ,

............... BUT ARE YOU TAKING YOUR LEVO , my dear ???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was walkin' down the street

Concentratin' on truckin' right

I heard a dark voice beside of me

And I looked round in a state of fright

I saw four Endo's, one mad

A brother from the gutter

They looked me up and down a bit

And turned to each other

I say

I don't like T3 (Oh no!)

I need it

I don't like T3 (No no!)

I need it

Don't you walk through my words

You got to show some respect

Don't you walk through my words

'Cause you ain't heard me out yet

Well he looked down at my T3 script

He said "I'll give you some Levo"

I said you've got to be jokin' man

It was a present from another

He said "I hate it, I fear it

I'll take it off your hands

And you'll be sorry you crossed me

You'd better understand that you're alone

A long way from home

And I say

I don't like T3 (No no!)

I need it (Eh!)

I don't like T3 (No!)

I need it (Eh!)

Don't you cramp me style

Don't you queer me pitch

Don't you walk through my words

'Cause you ain't heard me out yet

I hurried back to the swimming pool

Sinkin' pina colada

I heard a dark voice beside me say

"Would you like something harder?"

She said, "I've got it, you want it

My harvest is the best

And if you try it, you'll like it

And wallow in a Dreadlock Holiday"

And I say

Don't like T3 (Oh no!)

I need it (Eh!)

Don't like T3 (Oh no!)

I need it (Oh yeah!)

Don't you walk through her words

You got to show some respect

Don't you walk through her words

'Cause you ain't heard her out yet

I don't like T3 (Oh no!)

I Need it (Dreadlock Holiday)

I don't like T3 (Oh no!)

I Need it (Dreadlock Holiday)

Don't like your Guidelines (Eh!)

They're stupid (Dreadlock Holiday)

[SarahJane1471 in reply to tattybogle]

😂👏god I love 10CC

[humanbean in reply to tattybogle]

I love the 12 Days of Christmas - Thyroid Version. Very clever!

I'm not familiar with the second song, and I don't know anything about 10CC either.

[tattybogle in reply to humanbean]

you'll know it if you hear it .. tried to post u-tube link .. failed miserably lol

search for 10cc Dreadlock Holiday

[humanbean in reply to tattybogle]

Having done a quick google I'm assuming it must be this :

youtube.com/watch?v=qh9hfMO...(Not working as expected?)

But I must admit having read the first line I thought it was going to be this :

youtube.com/watch?v=QPbH8DS...(Not working as expected?)

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

I don't know how you can tell whether a link will, or won't, work when posted here!

It is something to do with what the original poster on YouTube (or wherever) chose in their settings.

Try this:

vimeo.com/258608961

[Jazzw in reply to tattybogle]

This post hasn’t received nearly enough love yet. ❤️

Fabulous!!

[TSH110]

power to the people!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I was just playing about with openAI - IBM's online artificial intelligence system. So I asked it a question:

Q: What is the best thyroid forum on the internet?

A: As an AI language model, I cannot provide a subjective opinion on which thyroid forum is the "best." However, there are many active online communities and forums dedicated to discussing thyroid disorders and related topics. Some popular options include:

Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association (ThyCa) Online Support Community - a forum for individuals and families affected by thyroid cancer to connect and share information and support.

Thyroid UK - a forum for people in the UK with thyroid disorders to share experiences and information about thyroid disease.

HealthUnlocked - a platform that hosts many different communities, including several related to thyroid health and thyroid disorders.

American Thyroid Association (ATA) Community - a forum for ATA members to discuss thyroid-related topics, including diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of thyroid disorders.

Inspire - a platform that hosts several different communities, including one for individuals with thyroid disorders and their loved ones to connect, share experiences, and find support.

It is important to note that online forums can be a helpful source of information and support, but should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice and treatment. Always consult with a healthcare provider for personalized advice and guidance regarding thyroid health.

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

Wow! A really big pat on the back for Thyroid UK. Even an AI knows we're a good'un.