.…if you will take the time to read here of what thousands of patients have found out about the medication you will PROBABLY be put on, and about the lab you will PROBABLY be dosed by.
For those who haven’t heard, Oprah announced on September 10th during her Good Morning America interview that she “blew her thyroid out”. Now that also sounds suspiciously like she also has adrenal fatigue, but time will tell.
And Oprah will now join the club of an estimated “billions” worldwide with thyroid disease. But even worse, she may also be joining the club of those who for nearly 50 years, have been put on the lousy T4-only medications (Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine and others) and who have been terrorized with the TSH lab and it’s dubious and pathetic “normal” range.
Yes Oprah, beginning in the 1960’s, doctors starting putting ALL of us on T4-only meds, and in the early 1970’s, dosing by the TSH lab. And NEITHER have worked. Sure, some will state they felt better. But many will tell you that NOTHING changed. And ALL, to one degree or another, have been left with a variety of hypothyroid symptoms while doctors have been proclaiming that those VERY symptoms had nothing to do with hypothyroid since we were now “adequately” treated.
But we have NEVER been “adequately” treated, Oprah. Doctors became cattle in the chutes of their pharmaceutically-financed medical schools, blindly believing that T4-only meds were working and that the man-made TSH was the gold standard of diagnosis and dosing…and ignoring clinical presentations which showed the opposite.
And when we still complained of symptoms, we have been put on anti-depressants, statins, anti-anxiety meds, and a variety of other pills to bandaid our continuing hypo symptoms.
And we finally fought back Oprah. For the last 7+ years, patients like myself found out that there has always been a MUCH better treatment (desiccated thyroid), MUCH better labs (free T3 and free T4) and much better dosing strategy (by symptom elimination). Our lives have become far better because of what we have learned.
This website represents the knowledge of a large and constantly growing body of patients worldwide, and some wise doctors, which goes totally COUNTER to nearly 50 LOUSY years of pitiful thyroid treatment.
You, Oprah, are a megaphone of influence. And if you can take the time to read this website, you might play a huge role in helping to change MILLIONS of lives. Because right now, the vast majority of the medical community does NOT get this, and is continuing to keep patients SICK and TIRED and/or with continuing hypothyroid symptoms of some kind. And YOU are going to be one, with your own continuing list of symptoms, if you don’t consider what thyroid patients are trying to tell you by nearly 50 years of LIVING it.
bonnie said:
Sep 21, 07 at 10:02 amYou said it, Janie! I really do hope Oprah comes here and reads and evaluates for herself all the great information you have compiled and goes away and lives a fuller life with better treatment because she now knows better. I will forever be grateful for all that I have learned from STTM — I have my life back because of what I have learned on this site. I feel empowered and informed. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Kate said:
Sep 26, 07 at 5:14 pmGreat that you are getting this information out there Janie! I took charge of my health and only spent 3 months on a T-4 only drug before I found myself a doctor willing to prescribe Armour. The T-4 only did nothing to alleviate my symptoms as well. My doc just upped my dosage to 90mg because she doesn’t think the other dosage was optimal. Yay! for my doctor that she’s not one of the many uneducated in the healthcare industry on thyroid disorders.
Lex said:
Oct 11, 07 at 2:20 pmI was put on Synthroid a few years ago. it did not allieviate any hormonal imbalance. I asked my doctor to put me on Armour. We are constantly monitoring the dosage.. I now alternate 60mg and 90mg on a daily basis. It will be interesting what experts on thyroid Oprah will get on her show. (from Janie: the experts are patients, not doctors. Hopefully she will get that.)
Sheila said:
Oct 18, 07 at 1:12 pmI am sorry to say this, but perhaps Oprah’s illness is a blessing to us all. With her Media power, Oprah will soon learn/live the struggle we have all endured to sustain our health.
Thyroid illnesses are life long and always a battle. Maybe she will become a spokesman for us. We certainly could use one.
Misty said:
Oct 30, 07 at 9:23 amOprah’s medical condition is a blessing in disguise. We can sit back and watch her do endless shows about her health. She will suffer like the rest of us with hypo or hyper thyroid issues. Eventually, this smart woman will address the serious gut bucket, soul-wrenching aches of what is going on with my body after countless dr’s visits and force Congress and the medical industry to get busy. If, she did it to the beef industry, she can do it to the health industry. I have faith that her “brain fog” will subside as she gets the proper holistic meds for them.
She has the money to start her own research company. I hope she get busy and do her homework for her own life wellness. Also, on the downside, I pray this show wasn’t done for ratings because it backfired with those who are suffering. Oprah and Rosie and many others rich folks can assist us, if they stop acting like it is all “in our heads.” God Bless us all as we suffer.
However, I feel those like myself who suffer with hyperthyrodism are still in the “Dark Ages” or in the “black hole” sucking the lifeforce out of us as we struggle with seeking, searching w/o any real nuts and bolts to hold us together. It is all about hypothyrodism, even here. HELP!