T3 for treatment resistant depression

[Wilkofan]

My son is 30. He has been suffering with a major depressive disorder for over 10 years. In that time, he has been prescribed every anti depressant under the sun, including Lithium, none of which have worked. He was sectioned last summer having been considered a danger to his own life. He is also a complete insomniac, which exacerbates the depression. After 6 long months of appointments, an NHS psychiatrist finally asked his GP to prescribe T3 for him, even though he is Euthyroid, as it has apparently been know for many decades that T3 has a very high success rate in treating treatment resistant depression. It begs the question why this has not been suggested sooner, but that is another story. Unbelievably in the circumstances, the GP has flatly refused to prescribe T3. There seems to be a blanket ban on its prescription in certain health authorities, and certainly off label, as this would be, despite having been requested by the psychiatrist! I should stipulate that even though my son's Thyroid test results fall within the "normal" range, his T4 is usually about 14 and has sometimes been as low as 12, so there is a lot of room for improvement. I should add that there is a lot of hypothyroidism in the family- I have been taking thyroxine since 1993 and two of my sisters also do. So what I would like to ask is whether anyone has any expertise/experience with this or knowledge they could share. In particular, does anyone know if we would be able to source T3 at a reasonable price without a prescription (I am not sure at this point whether the psychiatrist can actually provide a prescription or whether that is in the remit of the GP). Many thanks.