Advice Please

[Guest guest]

Hi,

In December 2010 I was diagnosed as having M.E. and my blood tests results were:

TSH of 2.92 mu/l (reference range 0.1 - 4)

Free T4 16.3 pmol/l (reference range 8 - 20)

Anti-thyroid peroxidase IgG antibodies 6 iu/ml (reference range 1-50)

T3 was not checked

In Summer last year I went to the endo dept of a hospital near me with very high

hopes. I was forced to complain as there were so many discrepancies with regards

to the symptoms that I reported to the specialist, and what was then wrote to my

GP. At first I actually thought I had been mixed up with another patient! I am

still waiting for my records to be corrected.

My blood tests results in August last year were:

TSH of 4.2 (0.27 to 4.20)

Free T4 of 12.9 ((12 and 22)

Alkaline Phosphatase was raised at 108 and I had a reduced lymphocyte count of

1.4 (1.5 - 4.0)

I was subsequently diagnosed with a severe Vit D deficiency and a soft systolic

murmur. My GP told me that a reduced lymphocyte count was nothing to worry

about. Thyroid/autoimmune issues run in my family.

Last week in desperation I attended an appointment at my local M.E. clinic where

I wasn't physically examined in any way or asked about my physical symptoms, and

was offered anti-depressants, and if these didn't work, I would be referred to a

psychiatrist. I was absolutely appalled and in utter despair as I am in

constant pain, totally exhausted, extremely depressed, and have multiple,

worsening symptoms too numerous to list here.

I have chronic sinusitis and atrophic rhinitis, and have just found out I need

more surgery. The last surgery I had was some years ago and a very nasty

infection followed soon after. I was tested for Sarcoidosis due to the inflamed

mass that was removed from my nose. My sinuses have been a mess since, and I am

not willing to undergo any further surgery until I am in much better shape

physically. I had some blood tests which shows my ESR was 40 mm/hour and a scan

showed extensive soft tissue swelling in my paranasal sinuses. I have no sense

of taste or smell and have a constant foul taste in my mouth which is driving me

mad.

I have chronic constipation and now have a prolapse and have become bladder

incontinent at times. My optician has referred me to hospital because of

chronically dry eyes and I have also recently developed a very unpleasant pain

in my shoulder and I can now only lift my shoulder to a certain point. My knees

ache very badly, even when lying down, and my inner heels are painful too, and

also my elbows. I have gone up a dress size recently which doesn't help. My Mum

had very severe rheumatoid arthritis and died in her fifties of kidney failure.

I have taken a lot of anti-depressants with no relief and was on paroxetine for

a long time, which I believe may be harmful to the thyroid? I stayed on them for

so long because I falsely believed that if I felt so bad whilst taking

medication, then I would be much worse if I didn't take them? I withdrew from

them very slowly before surgery and realized they had had no effect whatsoever,

plus some very unpleasant side-effects to boot.

I have decided to self-treat and I am changing my GP surgery as they put

everything down to my mental state. I cannot face being messed about anymore

and referred for endless tests that get me nowhere. It will take me some weeks

to get the money together to order the Erfa and I'd like to know what I can be

doing in the meantime to help myself:

Where can I buy a good multivit?

How to I know if my adrenals are a problem?

How do I know if candida is a problem?

Where can I order Erfa without a prescription, is it legal (don't care if it

isn't, just want to know so that I can keep quiet when necessary!) and how much

does is generally cost?

Thank you to everyone who replied to my recent posts, I really was at my wit's

end. I have been resting for the last week and I have decided self-treatment is

the only way as I haven't got the energy to go through the NHS anymore!

Sheree

[Guest guest]

Dear

Sheree, congratulations in taking your thyroid/adrenal/candida health into your

own hands, and with the help of this forum and lots of reading in our FILES

SECTION, I am sure you will soon start to feel better. Yours is an absolutely

classic case of the NHS causing actual harm to their patients.

If

your thyroid test results are within the reference range, yet you continue to

complain of symptoms, because the doctors have no idea what is wrong with you,

they give you the 'dustbin' diagnosis of either ME, CFS or FM - or probably all

three. This is the only way they can shirk their responsibility, because they

know you will then be sent to clinics, where they will give you

antidepressants, given gentle exercise and told there is nothing else they can

do for you, and that you must get on with living your life in the best way that

you can.

Appalling!

Other

European countries know that the TSH reference range in the UK is stopping tens

of thousands of sufferers from getting a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, and lowered

their TSH range to 0.3 to 2.5. Even America realised they were missing millions

of sufferers when their TSH ref. range was 0.5 to 5.0 - so they too lowered

their range in 2003 to 0.3 to 3.0. The British Thyroid Association and the Royal

College of Physicians need to pull their thick heads out of the sands, and work

towards actually helping patients. We need to know what motivates them - I

wonder if the answer is Big Pharma?

With a TSH of 4.2 and free T4 of only 12.9 (right

at the very bottom of the reference range), this screams hypothyroidism. There

is hardly sufficient thyroxine to convert to the active thyroid hormone T3,

which is the ACTIVE thyroid hormone every cell in your body needs. No wonder

you are suffering with such severe infection. Check out the attached document

of all the conditions that can be caused through having low thyroid

I would be very tempted, once you have found a new

doctors surgery, to write a letter by way of introduction to your new doctor,

and more or less tell him what you have gone through in the past and how much

you hope that he will work with you in trying to find a cause for all or your

continuing symptoms.

I

would tell him that you have members of your family with thyroid and autoimmune

disease. Take your temperature for 4 or 5 mornings before you get out of bed

and list these in your letter if they are 97.8 degrees F (36.6 degrees C or

less). List all of your present symptoms and signs too. These you can check

against those in our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk

under 'Hypothyroidism.

You

also need to list the tests you need to be done to check if you have low levels

of specific minerals and vitamins, i.e. iron, transferrin saturation~%,

ferritin, vitamin B12 vitamin D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc. These are

ESSENTIAL. No amount of thyroid hormone (not even your own) can be utilised by

the cells if any of these are low.

We

are no longer able to buy Erfa Thyroid without a prescription, so I will remove

that one from my list, but there are other reputable Internet Pharmacies where

you can buy natural thyroid extract. There are also two generics, one called

Thyroid-s and the other simply called 'Thiroid' (correct spelling) that you can

buy very cheaply. You get them delivered in 1000 tablet drums. These are

excellent.

Natural

thyroid extract is legal, and the MHRA tell us that doctors are allowed to

prescribe either Nature Throid, Westhroid, Erfa Thyroid or Armour Thyroid as an

unlicensed medicine, when levothyroxine doesn't work so long as they take on

full responsibility for this, because if anything goes wrong, their medical

insurance doesn't cover them.

Luv

- Sheila

I have decided to self-treat and I am changing my GP surgery as they put

everything down to my mental state. I cannot face being messed about anymore

and referred for endless tests that get me nowhere. It will take me some weeks

to get the money together to order the Erfa and I'd like to know what I can be

doing in the meantime to help myself:

Where can I buy a good multivit?

How to I know if my adrenals are a problem?

How do I know if candida is a problem?

Where can I order Erfa without a prescription, is it legal (don't care if it

isn't, just want to know so that I can keep quiet when necessary!) and how much

does is generally cost?

Thank you to everyone who replied to my recent posts, I really was at my wit's

end. I have been resting for the last week and I have decided self-treatment is

the only way as I haven't got the energy to go through the NHS anymore!

Sheree

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[Guest guest]

Hi Sheila,

Thank you so much for your reply. I can't tell you how much relief I feel at

making the decision to take my health into my own hands with the help of the

tpa. 2011 was the worst year of my life, absolute hell in every sense, and

enough is enough. I am not going to spend another year suffering needlessly and

getting worse all the time. If other countries like the US can change the

range, what on earth is wrong with this country? I'd have thought the UK would

have been at the cutting edge? I'm really starting to wonder about Big Pharma

and the advantages of keeping patients sick. Thank you for the advice about

writing the letter to my new GP, that is exactly what I was thinking myself as I

absolutely dread going to the doctors, and I will feel this way even with the

new one, so it would make things a lot simpler, especially as appointment times

are so short.

Best wishes, Sheree

>

> Dear Sheree, congratulations in taking your thyroid/adrenal/candida health

> into your own hands, and with the help of this forum and lots of reading in

> our FILES SECTION, I am sure you will soon start to feel better. Yours is an

> absolutely classic case of the NHS causing actual harm to their patients.

>