The loss of thyroid clinical knowledge from Werner & Ingbar’s The Thyroid

[humanbean]

A couple of weeks ago I read this article from ThyroidPatientsCanada :

thyroidpatients.ca/2019/10/...

In the section entitled "What happened to 23 chapters" it says :

In the 5th edition (1986) through 7th edition (1996), this textbook used to cover the effects of thyrotoxicosis in 17 different chapters on different systems or manifestations.

A parallel section on hypothyroidism had an equal number of chapters, 17, on exactly parallel topics.

Then a little later it says :

In the 5th edition, these same “organ and systems manifestations” chapters covered these pages:

Thryotoxicosis, 17 chapters: p. 811 to 982 (171 pages)

Hypothyroidism, 17 chapters: p. 1125 to 1235 (110 pages)

Over the years, these sections were whittled down, and most of them are now gone.

One of the things that really annoys me about modern thyroid treatment is reading comments from doctors who think symptoms are irrelevant and only blood tests matter. So I thought it would be interesting to be able to read information about the symptoms that doctors used to know.

I went looking online for the 5th edition of the book mentioned above. And I found it on Amazon UK (second-hand obviously) for the bargain price of £8.79. It just arrived today. It's been stamped indicating that it was an old library book. It's a huge and very heavy tome. I have no intention of trying to read the whole thing - lots of it will be out of date. I'm just interested in what it has to say about symptoms. And I don't know how well I'll understand those pages. But I thought it was worth the small expenditure, and I won't have wasted much money if I can't understand any of it.

[helvella Administrator]

I bought some old volumes of the British Pharmacopoeia for similar reasons. (At the time, they weren't available online. They might be by now.)

[arTistapple]

Humanbean. This is a brilliant idea. I am going to read the reference you made. However having bought the book I look forward to your personal review at some point.

[helvella Administrator]

The 1991, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2013 editions are accessible at link below.

You do have to sign up and can only borrow hour by hour - not download.

I haven't actually checked out the links. And however hard they have tried, it isn't always as straightforward and easy to use as we might wish.

archive.org/details/inlibra...

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

Interesting, thanks. I'm still glad I have a hardcopy though, since there are no limits on the time I have it for.

[FancyPants54 in reply to humanbean]

Brilliant that you found a copy and for so little expenditure. I hope you can understand it well.

[humanbean in reply to FancyPants54]

I hope you can understand it well.

Yes, that is the probable fly in the ointment. But if I can't understand any of it I haven't lost much.

[FancyPants54 in reply to humanbean]

Take small sections at a time. If my concentration is off I have to do that.

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

Actually I'm amazed that the latest edition available on the web archive is so recent. I would have thought copyright was an issue.

The latest edition is the 11th edition (2020), available for the magnificent sum of nearly £240 in hardcover.

[helvella Administrator in reply to humanbean]

There is ongoing major argument between the web archive/wayback machine and publishers.

Archive argue they are loaning books just like a conventional library - for which they do not charge per loan.

[Zephyrbear in reply to helvella]

There’s always the good old ‘screenshot’ as a backup… spend the hour screenshooting it all and then read at your leisure. 🤭

[helvella Administrator in reply to Zephyrbear]

You can copy much as pure text - which would likely only need a little fettling to be entirely satisfactory.

[Zephyrbear in reply to helvella]

That too! 😆

[tattybogle]

Good thinking batman ...

i saw tania's piece a few yrs ago , but didn't do anything intelligent about it ... it certainly explains why most GP's wouldn't recognise a thyroid symptom if it jumped up and bit 'em on the bum .

please consider yourself commissioned to write a book review of 'The Missing Chapters'

[humanbean in reply to tattybogle]

I will try writing a review, if I ever glean anything useful that I can understand well enough to explain to other people. I'm not good at summarising anything though, and if it ever happens it will be months away.

[Delgor in reply to humanbean]

This sounds so interesting - perhaps it could even lead to a New Thyroid Patients Manual written by Patients for Doctors!😁

[bluejourney]

Thanks for posting on this. Have also ordered myself a 5th edition copy for £8, so am looking forward to some enlightening information!