Since learning more about hypothyroidism I’ve realised that lots of my (apparently unconnected) symptoms were probably explained by this.
How can we get healthcare professionals to start joining the dots so they don’t delay treating symptomatic hypothyroidism?
Does anyone know how much training GPs and primary care nurses get on thyroid issues currently?
Sorry, trying to reply but weirdly my responses aren't displaying as written 🤷♀️
Thyroid issues can directly or indirectly affect almost every bodily system, which means potential symptoms are vast, often unique to each person, and often symtoms which are more readily linked to other issues. A lot of those symptoms can be linked to vitamin/electrolyte deficiencies.
Digestion issues for example, depending on the symptoms, GPs will look more directly at the stomach, colon, ordering poo tests, maybe ultrasound/ct scan of the liver/duodenum/pancreas area, this might progress to end/colonoscopy. When after all of that, it might have been your thyroid messing up your bile acid production.
Lots of these symptoms evidentally can start to occur many years before, when TSH is say ~3 which is way below the value where it would be flagged as an issue.
GP/Nurse training is probably inadequate, it's only a single topic out of hundreds of different bodily systems/diseases they need to be aware of. This is why guidelines (such as NICE), to guide GPs on such topics exist. Whether they do actually follow them, and whether the guidelines are upto-date and correct/optimal are a different matter.
Hypothyroidism can develop with many, many symptoms. Nobody gets all of them (that I've ever heard of) but having many of them is common. You might like this thread :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
I wonder how many women in particular are left untreated or inadequately treated because they are recorded as being TATT i.e. "Tired All The Time".
One thing that is important to know is that hypothyroidism reduces the output of stomach acid. This means that food is not broken down very well and so patients become short of nutrients. And the symptoms of low levels of nutrients have a lot of overlap with the symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Low Iron/ferritin symptoms : thewayup.com/newsletters/08...
Note : The ferritin test is a measure of your iron stores
Symptoms of mineral deficiencies : life-enthusiast.com/article...
Low Vitamin D symptoms : medicinenet.com/vitamin_d_d...
Low B12 symptoms : b12deficiency.info/signs-an...
Low Folate symptoms : b12deficiency.info/folate-b...
Thank you so much!
Issues with digestion and reflux have been plaguing me for ages but I had no idea my vitamin levels were poor or how this might affect me..
One of the problems was that I gave up seeking help from my GP and just took over the counter omeprazole every now and then.
Since changing my diet things have improved significantly. I got a phone call from the medical centre yesterday saying a prescription had been issued for a loading dose of vitamin D. Good to know they are catching up on this too!
Until recently I think I was a ‘heartsink patient’. Someone with lots of minor health issues but no obvious cause for feeling so ill. It’s completely different now there are test results to back up how bad I say I feel.
Unfortunately women’s pain tends to be taken less seriously than men’s and we are not always seen as reliable witnesses when it comes to our own health. I’m also autistic, which contributes to me being tired and overwhelmed much of the time and adds to the challenge of having what I say taken seriously by healthcare professionals.
Does anyone know how much training GPs and primary care nurses get on thyroid issues currently?
Some people have said that doctors are given about half a day to one day of lectures on thyroid disease. Do I believe it? Hmm - I'm still not sure.
When we see how little endocrinologists seem to know about hypothyroidism, I think you may be exaggerating the time allocated to training/education of doctors re: thyroid issues.
Unless of course all this ignorance is purposely built in for perhaps political purposes.
There was a trainee doctor in with my GP once. He told the trainee to go and feel my thyroid to see if it was swollen. The Trainee would have done OK if I had mumps!
I also had a trainee for a smear test. Not sure my tonsils remained after that one!
🤣
Thank you serenfach. Can always rely on you to cheer me up. Or as they say “The cure for depression? Cheer the f..k up!”
🙏 the best 🤣
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