If you have high BP, better don't read this: cringeworthy GP comments...

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I have just been to see my GP and have been told some of the most cringeworthy

things of all time, including that she has " yet to come across a patient who

hasn't improved on T4 " . I really regretted not having a copy of the Mail on

Sunday article....

Basically, I have been on the thyroid journey for 3 years now and have tried

combinations of different medications and dosages, from T4 only to Armour and

T4+T3 and have now got to the point where I want to trial T3 only.

I am under Dr S's supervision who sent a letter to my GP saying that I should

take 20mcg T3 for 3 weeks and then 40mcg of T4 after 6 weeks. 2 weeks in I am

feeling better, but still have a few bad days. Brain fog wise I have improved

immensely already, though.

Soooo, I have been to my GP this morning who, after reading Dr S's letter said

that she won't listen to anything he's saying because he's not an

endocrinologist. She said what she will listen to is the letter from this Dr B I

saw in the QE Birmingham, who quite a few members here have had bad experiences

with as well and who said I am hyPERthyroid and my TSH is dangerously low.

I tried to reason with her saying that suppression of TSH is quite normal on T3

and that if she insists to go by values alone, she should look at my FT3 and FT4

readings and not my TSH. She said that there are certain guidelines, blah di

blah. She then quoted Dr B's qualifications and that what Dr B says is supported

by the BTA and GMC... I said that I am well aware of the guidelines and that I

have had 2 dreadful years of T4 only therapy and TSH measurements which have

done nothing for me whatsoever and that I believe a one-fits-all approach simply

doesn't work for me. That's when she laid into Dr S. I cannot remember the whole

conversation exactly, but she was also contradicting herself a lot, but her best

statement was: " I want you to go T4 only treatment and I want you be euthyroid

by your TSH. I have yet to come across a patient who has not got better on T4. "

Well, hello, I am sitting right in front of you!!!

I said that I want to keep trialling T3 for a while and she agreed (hallelujah)

but she also said she wants to do the T4 only if this doesn't work and she also

thinks, as they all do, that I have CFS and need antidepressants... So fingers

crossed T3 is what will work for me in the long run...

By the way this is the same GP who after years of me suffering from stomach

cramps and diarrhea which vanished on a gluten free diet, kept blaming my

symptoms on stress and IBS. When she eventually agreed to send me to a

gastroenterologist she said: " I will refer you, but if your bloods are negative

there is NO WAY you have coeliac's disease and the gastro won't do an endoscopy

anyway. " Well I have been to see the gastro and had the endoscopy done, the

gastro was really sympathetic and said he has got loads of cases where the

bloods are negative. In any case, I am still waiting for the results, but it

turned out that I have a helicobacter infection anyway! So that would have gone

undiscovered. Thanks GP.

Sorry for the rant, but you know what it's like and venting my anger here really

helps because I know I am not alone!