Re: New Kid on the block with Endo appointment this Friday

[Guest guest]

Hi Kerry- if you don't think you can fight your corner take a friend or family

member who can say what you used to be like .This appointment is for your

benefit -so have somebody with you who can help out if necessary . You may be

pleasantly surprised but if not you have support.Best wishes

[Guest guest]

Hi Kerry,

I feel your anguish at the you that is lost and I really hope you get a good

endo; it does seem hit-and-miss, doesn't it? I cannot offer you any advice as I

am new to this forum too (experimenting on T4/T3 after years on T4 only), but I

just wanted to offer you a few paltry words of encouragement.

If your endo is cr@p, there is always tomorrow; now you know of this group, you

can get some real support and advice and find a better endo next time.

Try and go armed with info. When I visited my GP (to get T4/T3 combo), I had a

2nd set of info to give him, all hilighted and cross-referenced. An effort, but

he did eventually say " ok, what do you want? " .

In my case I took the BTA statement dismissing T4/T3 and NDT and the rebuttal by

Dr J C Lowe of that statement. It did take me a few hours to properly digest

them both.

The very best of luck!

>

> Hello there,

>

> I am hoping that someone might be able to help me. I have my first Endo

appointment this Friday but I would still really appreciate a list of

recommended ones by this society (if there is a list!). I live in the

Oxfordshire area but am obviously willing to travel if it means I will get some

health back!

[Ed]

[Guest guest]

Thanks , that's very kind. I don't really know what I should go

armed with at this stage but I agree in an ideal world I should do. The

problem is that I'm struggling to be out of bed at the moment &

feel on the verge of collapse when I'm up & about (sorry to be a

drama queen!) so I'm a bit useless currently. I have read Shomon's

book & am half way through Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield's (brilliant

book) 'Your thyroid & how to keep it healthy' so I have a rough

idea of what to ask. Is there anything specifically that you would

recommend I take? I agree if the Endo is not great that I can see

another....but I guess its knowing who to see....does a 'good' Endo

list exist do you think?

Kerry

[Guest guest]

I am hoping that someone might be able to help

me. I have my first Endo appointment this Friday but I would still really

appreciate a list of recommended ones by this society (if there is a list!). I

live in the Oxfordshire area but am obviously willing to travel if it means I

will get some health back!

I have sent this list to you privately Kerry.

I won't bore you with my ailments but I'm

hypothyroid & strongly suspect I have low adrenal reserve & am not

responding at all well to synthetic T4 only. I will not be able to cope if I

get a poor Endo as the previous feisty me is sadly no longer & I can't

fight my corner any more. Because I am now at an all time low, I mentally need

a plan B so I don't fall to pieces if they disappoint me.

Check out our FILES section accessible from the Home Page of

this forum's web site. On the page that opens, scroll down to 'Discounts on

Tests and Supplements' and open the Genova Diagnostics File. Follow the

instructions there to claim your discount by being a member of TPA and writing

that 'Thyroid Patient Advocacy' is your Practitioner. Order the 24 hour salivary

adrenal profile kit. This comprises four little test tubes with four straws

which you place in your mouth, the other end in the test tube and you spit into

it and try to fill up each one at four specific times during the day. Genova

will send the results direct to you. This will show your levels of cortisol and

DHEA. Post the results on the forum and we can then take it from there. It is a

fact that if you have low adrenal reserve, systemic candidiasis, mercury

poisoning caused through amalgam fillings, low levels of ferritin, B12, D3,

magnesium, folate, copper and zinc, then your thyroid hormone cannot be fully

utilised at the cellular level. We find that the people with the symptoms of

hypothyroidism, whatever the cause, often do better by taking their thyroid

health into their own hands because doctors are not properly trained and some

appear to do more harm to their patients than good. Read some good books and

learn as much as you can.

TPA has a library of books you can borrow. Go to our FILES

section, scroll down to TPA Lending Library and if you decide you would like to

borrow a book, click on the email of the address of the member  and ask them

for their home address so that you can send them stamps to the value of £2.80 

(same as Amazon) so they can send the book on to you. Try not to keep the book

for too long in case somebody else is waiting to borrow it.

Lastly, I've been taking my 75micrograms of Levothyroxine for the past two

weeks last thing at night instead of in the morning (just to trial it myself,

although I've got worse). Should I take it the night before the appointment or

not take it at all do you think? I know they want to do a urine test & I

didn't want to alter any blood tests etc on the day (if they take any).

We usually recommend stopping thyroid hormone for 24 hours

before your thyroid function tests. Is the urine test to check the level of

thyroid hormone and is this test being done through the NHS or privately?

Go to our FILES section yet again, and check out 'NHS

Information for Patients' Folder and there you will see a document entitled

'First Visit to Endocrinologist' and read the information there where you will

pick up lots of tips and learn what questions you need to ask.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

Luv - Sheila

_._,___

[Guest guest]

I have sent this to you Kerry.

Luv - Sheila

I agree if the Endo is not great that I can see another....but I guess its

knowing who to see....does a 'good' Endo list exist do you think?

Kerry

[Guest guest]

Hi Kerry,

Wishing you the best of luck with your Friday appointment - as you have already

seen you are not alone with this group behind you. I am pretty new too and was

lucky enough to see the wonderful author of that book you mentioned very shortly

after my GP finally admitted I was hypothyroid and prescribed levothyroxine.

Since Dr P also felt my adrenals were very down he didn't think the levo would

be very effective (but urged me to keep it for possible later use) and I

embarked on his recommendations just over a week ago. I am pretty confident

that my energy levels are increasing - and last night I had a really great

night's sleep which is something that's been missing for way too long! I tried

sleeping pills a while ago to break the cycle of waking for several hours in the

middle of the night but noticed anxiety levels shot up - so abandonned that

idea!

I am now reading Broda ' book which is very interesting - bought for a few

pennies and postage from an Amazon seller. I am in danger of becoming fanatical

and keep thinking of people I know who might benefit by testing their

temperature first thing in the morning. It seems we really are the Cinderella's

of this modern world and need to educate ourselves. I am also finding a lot of

skeptics out there. I have a friend who has been on levothyroxine for years and

swears the GPs don't make mistakes - can't help wondering though. But I am sure

I will have to leave her to her beliefs and just keep up my own research!

Good luck and hope you get on ok.

Pippa

>

> Thanks , that's very kind. I don't really know what I should go armed

> with at this stage but I agree in an ideal world I should do.

old message deleted by moderator~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Guest guest]

Sheila

Would you send the list to me also please?

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hi Kerry

Please don't apologise for feeling the way you do, not here anyway. I was

" diagnosed " with depression a couple of years after my thyroid started playing

up (when I was supposedly stable) and was " treated " with anti-depressants. They

worked, after a fashion (sex was gr8 - am I allowed to say that but they were

a stop-gap. May I be so bold as to suggest you are perhaps depressed (caused by

feeling $hit, no energy, where's my life gone, etc, etc)?

I am new to this whole thing, but it would seem that depression can be linked to

the thyroid.

So... you are not alone, there is support here. You might consider

anti-depressants simply as a sticking-plaster and that the underlying cause MAY

be the thyroid issues. Fix that and perhaps everything else will come right. So,

bear that in mind if endo suggests AD's - it may be best to tackle the real

issue? BUT, I am no expert...

As far as reading material goes; it sounds like you are well ahead of me!

The best of luck, take care

>

> Thanks , that's very kind. I don't really know what I should go armed

> with at this stage but I agree in an ideal world I should do. The problem is

> that I'm struggling to be out of bed at the moment & feel on the verge of

> collapse when I'm up & about (sorry to be a drama queen!) so I'm a bit

> useless currently. I have read Shomon's book & am half way through Dr

> Barry Durrant-Peatfield's (brilliant book) 'Your thyroid & how to keep it

> healthy' so I have a rough idea of what to ask. Is there anything

> specifically that you would recommend I take? I agree if the Endo is not

> great that I can see another....but I guess its knowing who to see....does a

> 'good' Endo list exist do you think?

>

> Kerry

>