BBC 4 DOCUMENTARY TONIGHT INVOLVING THYROID REMOVAL

January 23, 2012

Tonight BBC4 showed a documentary written,, directed and starring Leach.

It is about her diagnosis of thyroid cancer. She started off hypothyroid (I

think!) and then when they found a tumour, it was successfully removed, without

her having to have any further invasive treatment.

Good news! However, once the ordeal was over, she started to feel worse and

worse: exhaustion, depression etc. Her consultant revealed she was on thyroxine,

and they were trying to gradually increase her dosage until they reached the

optimum dose.

Her very long recovery (3 years) involved an emotional journey, however, it was

interesting to note that apparently the consultant had told her that it was

common for people who have their thyroid removed to suffer from depression - no

explanation was given for this (T3 depletion etc?).

Secondly, her lovely elderly friend, 'Big Ann' who had had her thyroid removed

many years before, and unfortunately is seriously ill with other terminal

illnesses, told she had never felt right after having her thyroid

removed.

Makes me wonder if could have completely recovered, and more quickly, if

she had had the option of other treatments beside thyroxine alone....and 'Big

Ann' too.

Copy and paste the link below to watch it:

_for_Life/

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