Michelle, 40-or-50-something, came over to my house today to go over some paperwork. I hadn’t taken my Armour yet, and I said “Excuse me, I need to pop my thyroid meds under my tongue.”
“Oh, I take thyroid meds, too. Synthroid” she explained as she was writing on the papers with her pencil.
Now when I hear something like that, being who I am, I’m like a bear in a china cabinet who suddenly smells honey. So as not to overwhelm, I casually say “Oh, I used be on Synthroid.” And after a long pause while we are going over the paperwork, I say “Did you know there’s a worldwide patient revolution going on against medications like Synthroid?”
At the point, she raises her head in curiosity.
I then stick my paw in the honey: “You and I and millions have been put on meds like Synthroid and then told we are “normal” because the TSH says so. But all of us have continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism. It’s a lousy medication. “
And when I laid out what those continuing symptoms were, her eyes got as big as saucers and she was shaking her head up and down in recognition. “Depression, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, easy weight gain, fatigue, less stamina than others, dry hair and skin, feeling cold, etc”, I told her.
And the most profound aspect of Michelle? She lives her life like the Energizer Bunny, going and going and going. She told me she often doesn’t get home until 6 pm doing her job, and she clearly has a lot of professional responsibilities.
But does an active Michelle mean that Synthroid works and is just as good a thyroid treatment as desiccated thyroid? You know the answer. She revealed that she’s quite tired when she comes home, wishes she had more energy, and still has issues with her weight, even though she lost some when she got on Synthroid.
And reading between the lines, it was clear that Michelle is probably on an anti-depressant, a statin, and a blood pressure medication. And…she clearly has an adrenal problem that’s only going to get worse. She has a terrible time falling asleep at night (high cortisol), and is very sensitive to light and noise (high or low cortisol).
Suddenly it dawned on me. I am sitting across hundreds of millions of women, and some men. I am listening to how millions live their lives–making a living, maintaining a home, loving their spouses and children, interacting with people. But underneath it all, it’s not a pretty picture. They cope, and they cope again. And they dish out their money for more medications to treat the very symptoms caused by an inferior medication. And as they age, they’ll pay each of their millions of prices, just as my mother did, and as I was headed. Energizer bunnies with faulty batteries.
P.S. Barack Obama has a health care reform plan. Will it change the lives of those 50 million with thyroid disease in the US, or will it only continue this T4-only travesty and health care scandal? Are we headed in the same insane direction as the UK when it comes to T4-only? Express your opinion.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2009 and is filed under Patients, Related conditions due to hypo, t4. 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.
JT said:
Mar 09, 09 at 10:19 pmWe have nothing to be afraid of with Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan. For us who are more aware of the travesties of the current health care system, it’s a great disservice to show concern for health care reform. The system is clearly broken. If you’re happy with your current doctor and health insurance, they won’t change. The mistakes of the last attempt at health care reform will be fixed. However, the great advocacy you do here (thanks…nearing 2 happy months on Armour!), must be continued by us all to help make sure our reformed health care system is truly better. Citizens for Health is the place to start: http://www.citizens.org.
unity_thru_peace said:
Mar 09, 09 at 10:49 pmI have a very close friend still on Synthroid. She has no insurance, and trusts the doctor she is seeing now. It’s HEARTBREAKING sometimes that you can’t just take a friend and force them to go on Armour when it is so clearly what they need!
lynn said:
Mar 10, 09 at 6:38 amHonestly I wish more people would self treat. Once you get the tests and see a doctor regularly to doublecheck you are not doing any harm, you are most likely gonna be fine. Armour is available worldwide in quality online pharmacies.
Bette Dowdell said:
Mar 10, 09 at 1:19 pmI’m sorry, JT, but we have everything to fear in Obama’s plan to nationalize medical care. It stinks now, and it’ll get worse once bureaucrats are calling the shots. I live in Arizona, which has a very strong, dictatorial medical board. Any doctor who tries to go beyond the idiotic Standard of Care and actually help patients gets run out.
What’s sad about your visitor is that most thyroid patients think how they feel is as good as it gets. At least she was willing to listen. I have a friend who swears by Synthroid. I’ve either been too kind or too cowardly and haven’t asked her if she thinks it may be why she’s almost bald. I personally don’t like people to be able to see my scalp at 20 paces.
But on a positive note, Hallelujah! that Armour is back in all its strengths.
margaret said:
Mar 13, 09 at 5:46 amHi I am margaret from England and recently started on Armour after 16 years on thyroxin(Synthroid) My 4 sisters all with the same condition are appalled at what I am doing.One actuallu said that I suffer thyroid disease more than her.She has had bells palsy for 2 years and the thinnest hair.Her sinuses are blocked and I had to tell her the Pituitary gland is behind the bridge of the nose.I give up I truly do
Keep well
Darla said:
Mar 14, 09 at 9:49 amIf the new Health Care Plan is anything like the UK’s we are deep trouble. I fear it like I fear cancer. I hope they are not one in the same.
Debbie said:
Mar 16, 09 at 1:07 pmI am an American who lived the past 20 years in England,….back in US now. The UK health system is FANTASTIC – you people who think otherwise are just plain wrong. We have the worst system in the world here in the US – I know!!
Tom Iyer said:
Mar 18, 09 at 12:45 amDear all,
My name is Tom Iyer and after living in the US or over 22+ years, recently i moved back to Bangalore, India. I had been suffering from Thyroid for 15 years and now completely CURED. I had tried all medications & failed miserably. When i ran out of options, i came across this unique clinic where they provide COMPLETE cure (without any side effects) for all types of thyroid problems. The system they use is Ayurvedic (Science of Life) Treatment – using a combination of internal medication (an ayurvedic preparation ashrutha Samhita – an ancient ayurveda scripts / as mentioned in Rig Veda), counselling, some panchakarma (kerala type of ayurvedic treatment procedures)treatment, etc. The doctors in this clinic have been curing thyroid successfully for the past 15+ years. They are a low profile clinic and donot have much hype or publicity & hence, obviously there treatment charges are also very reasonable.
So, if any of you need complete cure for your thyroid problem, then do email me for further details to help you. This treatment is available only at this clinic based in bangalore. my email is t underscrore iyer at yahoo dot com
Dawn said:
Mar 18, 09 at 5:02 pmThe NHS was great it is plummeting down by design for some reason. It started with all the staff cuts and lack of hygene, then the dictatorial guidelines on what is and isn’t allowed to be tested or prescribed (labs now decide whether or not they test free T3 now not the Drs in most cases do you know this?
So while we had a good thing going there for a while, unless someone truly honest gets it all back we are on a loser. I fear the U S may be under the same umbrella Global influence that is upon us.
Oh were the light of truth to shine on all this it would expose a lot I feel.
Jen said:
Mar 19, 09 at 2:07 pmThere will be people promoting Obama’s health care ‘reform’, either because they have been duped or because they are ‘change agents’ who get paid to lie and use propaganda to try and get everyone thinking nice sounding phrases are actually nice, when indeed they are ORWELLIAN. Reform will be about CONTROL and add euthanasia in there, why would ANYONE want the gov’t in control of their health? The bigger governments get, the LESS benevolent they are. Tom Daschle(D) thinks the elderly should have to forget about life saving treatments and much more…
The gov’t is CORRUPT, and Obama’s associates are anti-American, anti-sovereignity radicals in different areas of employment. Dawn is right, the US is absolutely under the same GLOBALIST umbrella of the UN, which pretends to be compassionate but has evil intentions. “Peace”, no, global totalitarian control.
People need to read the books 1984, Animal Farm, and A Brave New World (written by Aldous Huxley, brother of first Secretary General of UNESCO..Julian Huxley).
ibeji said:
Mar 20, 09 at 3:20 amWhy would ANYONE want the pharmaceutical industry in control of their health?
(The majority of doctors nowadays is of no help since they are either brainwashed or bribed (e.g. with bonuses and invitations to conferences in 5* hotels etc.) by big pharma.
So having the government control the health system may be (slightly) better than no control at all, that is to say, than control by big pharma alone.
But of course the example of the UK shows that your mileage will vary…
JT said:
Mar 20, 09 at 11:51 amTo Bette: Obama’s plan doesn’t “nationalize” our health care system! It regulates it, it cuts costs, and it offers an alternative plan, sponsored by the federal govt the same way private corporations currently sponsor plans. Being from Arizona, I hope you at least recognize what McCain’s plan meant, which was more of the same. Increased control by insurance and pharmaceutical companies, since it would have eliminated the only thing that currently works with health insurance in this country, employee-mandated insurance. I’ve used the UK health system and was pleasantly surprised with how well it worked, alongside private doctors, if you preferred that route. What Jen wrote about A Brave New World is already true, but it’s true in the sense Huxley was writing about–industry control, not governmental. And to suggest Obama and his associates are “anti-American” is pure ignorant bliss and embarrassing. Any plan has potential pitfalls, and requires advocacy as I originally wrote.
Jen said:
Mar 20, 09 at 3:30 pmHuxley was writing about the different things involved with global gov’t control (he knew because he was a Fabian socialist along with his UN brother), which includes global corporations like Big Pharma which have the FDA in their pocket and it’s getting worse. Obama right now wants to take the tax for health insurance away from the business owner and tax the employees instead!!!
Lucy said:
Apr 01, 09 at 5:01 amYou are so right Janie. I think women like this have to be part of the reason why doctors can say ‘most people do just fine on thyroxine’ – all these brave hardworking women who keep going with their jobs and their families, doing what needs to be done – but doing it on willpower alone and falling down exhausted at the end of each day. And they tell their doctors they feel ok, because they don’t know any different, or because they don’t want to make a fuss! In fact, I used to be one of them. I held down a job and ran my home, thinking it was normal to have to force myself out of bed in the morning and to collapse on the sofa at night, and have little to no interest in doing anything for ‘me’. I just thought I was getting older… and I was around thirty.