October 19, 2008

I was infor­med today that a very popu­lar and well-liked doc­tor in Texas, who treats many hypothy­roid patients, was dis­ci­pli­ned recently.  And for what?  Under the column tit­led NONTHERAPEUTIC PRESCRIBING, it sta­tes:  The action was based on Dr. Lau­nius’ presc­ri­bing Adi­pex, Adde­ral and Armour Thy­roid to patients when such medi­ca­tions were not indi­ca­ted. www.tmb.state.tx.us/news/press/2008/101608a.php

Adi­pex and Adde­rol are both cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem sti­mu­lants, and I can’t com­ment one way or the other. But the men­tion of Armour thy­roid as “not indi­ca­ted” is poten­tially worri­some, espe­cially with simi­lar dis­ci­pli­nary actions brought upon well-liked and wise doc­tors like Peat­field and Skin­ner of the UK, Derry of Canada, and  Sprin­ger in the US – all who dared to make obvious symp­toms more impor­tant than ink spots on a piece of paper.

Take Kymm, a 45 year old woman.  She has mani­fes­ted hypothy­roid symp­toms for 15 years since the birth of her daugh­ter.  Yet during those entire 15 years, her TSH lab result has been com­ple­tely “normal”…i.e. hypothy­roi­dism has never been “indi­ca­ted” based on the typi­cal and wides­pread gold stan­dard of diag­no­sis: the TSH.  But she has never, ever been nor­mal with 15 years of easy weight gain, chro­nic depres­sion, thin­ning hair, rising cho­les­te­rol, and other clear hypothy­roid symp­toms. And she has in fact star­ted on Armour…and is soaring.

Kymm is not an oddity.  Thy­roid patients on inter­net groups report going years with a nor­mal TSH, no diag­no­sis, yet clear symp­toms which are igno­red by their TSH-obsessed doc­tors.   So their doc­tors may have avoi­ded dis­ci­pli­nary action, but did they truly prac­tise the art and science of healing??

  • Want to keep track of these “fringe web­site” blog posts? ;-) Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the noti­fi­ca­tion on the lower left of the links, called a News­let­ter, or an RSS Feed.
  • The extre­mely hip and sophis­ti­ca­ted STTM t-shirts are half price! Great BUMPER STICKERS, too. Spread the word – YOU may make a dif­fe­rence in someone’s life.
  • Check out the patient-to-patient book with even more detail (and which doc­tors seem to res­pect more than websites).
  • Need to unders­tand all your best options for thy­roid treat­ment? Go here.
  • Keep infor­med of each live Thy­roid Patient Com­mu­nity Call on Talkshoe by sig­ning up as a follo­wer.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 and is filed under Doctors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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5 Responses to “What is going on with the Texas Medical Board?? Potentially worrisome.”

  1. gina said:

    Oct 23, 08 at 6:22 pm

    i love that the medi­cal board mis­pe­lled “adderall” — it has two l’s, not one. no big deal, except they _are_ the medi­cal board, and that _is_ one of the three medi­ca­tions they are cen­su­ring him for!!

  2. Lena said:

    Nov 24, 08 at 6:14 am

    I wish doc­tors would get their act together in Hypo and Hyper cases. Most pateints do their research on well recog­ni­zed Thy­roid sites and when they ask questions…we are dub­bed “know it all’s” and doc­tors do not like this even if the Endo do not have a clue. I am figh­ting this now. I am in Texas. I see a group of Endo’s and they will not go out of the box. It is their way or the high­way. I want to hit them. Armour? They wouldn’t think of giving me this. Ferri­tin Levels. Mine are so low it can barely be cal­cu­la­ted yet they will not persc­ribe repla­ce­ment.
    I asked why they never feel my neck like the doc­tor I had pre­viously (reti­red) and I was told they did not have to as the ultras­can shows all. (Having pro­blems swa­llo­wing) I have two large nodu­les on the right side of my thr­yoid plus a right sided parathy­roid ade­noma. I am so frus­tra­ted with these doc­tors and I was told they are one of the best. OMG! If they are the best can you ima­gine what the worst is like! No won­der we all feel like H&*%^&*!~!

  3. Jada said:

    Mar 21, 09 at 10:26 pm

    Lets go on strike. I’m sick of this.

  4. Cindy said:

    May 20, 09 at 1:38 pm

    Dear Lena,

    I just tried to leave a super long-winded reply and, while edi­ting, era­sed the entire thing… It was pro­bably for the best any­way (just desc­ri­bing my symp­toms — clas­sic Hypo for over 30 yrs.  —  went to one doc­tor who said I was simply “depres­sed” and gave up). I’m so active that I can­not even keep up with myself at times. I am a full time pro­fes­sio­nal, and also take care of my 13 beau­ti­ful hor­ses ( daily clean all the stalls and the barn, feed, water, turn out and turn in, groom, ride, cut 10 acres — me not the hubby, clean (an 8000 sf house), cook din­ner and spend time with my hus­band. Doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day for that but I even wor­kout 5 days a week. Since I was in my 30’s I’ve had an exce­llent diet, I rarely eat bread, pasta, sweets, you name it. It takes a lot of self con­trol as my hubby eats everything. I can’t even have one piece of cho­co­late as it trig­gers my cra­vings so I just don’t… period. After a hys­te­rec­tomy and for­merly batt­ling my weight, I gai­ned over 35 # in the first year! The Dr. that told me I was simply “depres­sed” was simply wrong. I knew it but she made me feel emba­rras­sed and asha­med of myself and presc­ri­bed Well­bu­trin. Never took it, after doing some research (thank you Mr.Internet), I lear­ned that it cau­sed weight gain. How insen­si­tive she was… Threw it away and wai­ted another 5 yrs. At 50, I deci­ded that I wasn’t going to suf­fer in silence, going to take con­trol of the situa­tion, and after much research and refe­rrals found an exce­llent phy­si­cian who lis­te­ned to everything I told him in addi­tion to rea­ding the TSH, etc. He presc­ri­bed only 30 mg Armour Thy­roid –from the start luckily.

    The nurse weighed me in after 2 1/2 months and could not believe that I had lost 33 lbs. When the doc­tor took my chart while outside the clo­sed door, my hus­band and I both heard “this can’t be the right weight, did you make a mis­take”? The nurse replied that she had not, it was correct. When he wal­ked in I couldn’t stop smi­ling, and he was so plea­sed that I had suc­cee­ded and lost the weight. My hus­band, (who espe­cially knows bet­ter than anyone what I do or do not do), also agreed explai­ning that I had been eating healthy, jour­na­ling, exer­ci­sing… fore­ver. No change in diet, just the Armour thy­roid. I should also note, that while we were in the wai­ting room, another female came in who was over­weight, her hair was half­way gone. I felt terri­ble for her. In the con­sul­ta­tion room I hap­pe­ned to overhear the doc­tor spea­king with her. She had been to another doc­tor who presc­ri­bed synthe­tics, been on them for years. Still gai­ning weight and with mise­ra­ble hypo symp­toms. Luc­kily she found him. I hope that her hair grows back –I’m sure she will count her lucky stars once she gets straigh­te­ned out as well as I do:)

    If it were me (not advice…) and I was not happy with treat­ment with synthe­tics and star­ted get­ting even more terri­ble side effects…I would find a doc­tor that presc­ri­bes Armour. Even if you have to go outside the state. I am very gra­te­ful to have THE MOST EXCELLENT DOCTOR ON THE PLANET (in my own hum­ble opinion).

    Take care and good luck to all who suffer,

    Cindy

  5. cindy said:

    Jul 06, 09 at 1:36 pm

    Right now I am loo­king for a doc­ter in Texas. For years I have suf­fe­red from the hypo symp­toms. Now, the endo I am going and will be firing says I should be on anti-depressants! For the moment, I am extre­mely frus­tra­ted that I can­not find a doc­tor that could help me get on armour thy­roid. Believe me, Texas is one tough state to find help. Still looking…

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