The gnarly man and what we can do in the face of this crisis
There once was a gnarly, bottom-scratching and tuna-breathed man who terrorized a neighborhood as if he was above the law. He intimidated people, used threats to stop others from telling the truth about his actions, and he mooned his hairy buttamous to anyone he didn’t like. He brought other criminals into his large house, took bribes to do some of their own dirty work, and stole every single vegetable and fruit from all his neighbors gardens.
Finally, all the fearful, frustrated and hungry neighbors got angry, sick and tired of it all. So they sent him emails, letters and phone calls, asking him to stop what he was doing, and explaining how he was hurting their lives and well-being, and speculated how he was going to do this or that.
And do you think he stopped doing what he always did?
Finally, the neighbors got wise. They reached out to the police, to local radio and TV stations, to the newspaper, and even to local political leaders. They stated the facts as they knew them, how specific actions affected their lives, how they had speculations that they couldn’t prove but were quite uncomfortable…and they made sure everyone knew what was going on to get the help and support they needed.
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For over 100 years, thyroid patient lives have made a huge and positive turn-around on natural porcine desiccated thyroid, a superior, safe, and effective medication as expressed by all our lives for over a century. But today, we face a crisis.
The most popular desiccated thyroid brand, Armour, was reformulated by 2009 and most patients reported a return of their hypothyroid symptoms. Then, the only other major pharmaceutical, RLC Labs, has their quality Naturethroid and Westhroid on backorder in August of 2009. The only North American makers of the desiccated powder, American Laboratories, is out.
And finally, the remaining two generic makers, Time Caps Labs and Major Pharmaceuticals, are told to cease production by the FDA.
We are now without desiccated thyroid other than the remaining 10 tablets there, or 5 tablets here. They will all be gone soon.
The facts we know are this: because of the 1962 “Drug Efficacy Amendment”, the FDA is suddenly demanding pharmaceutical drug manufacturers (with medications which have been used successfully for 80-110 years) provide proof of the effectiveness and safety of their drugs before they can receive true FDA approval, aka potential clinical trials and the data that results. i.e. 110 years of patient success, and a website like Stop the Thyroid Madness, and testimonies all over the net and in patient groups with desiccated thyroid…is somehow…just…not…enough. What is obvious, is not enough.
In other words, they want proof of efficacy and safety of desiccated thyroid—a medication which has a safe and effective track record in a huge body of patients for 110 years…in the same way they give an FDA-stamp-of-approval on a whole variety of drugs which, in 2004, killed 783,936 individuals per year (according to the article Death by Medicine, co-authored by By Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD).
Does THAT make any sense to you?
And now, because there is hint that they may require RLC Labs to apply for a New Drug Application…and because we wonder if that will mean expensive and drawn out clinical testing to provide data…and because we wonder if they will allow RLC to continue manufacturing our only good supply of desiccated thyroid which saves our lives in a completely healthy way…we are left with a lot of uncomfortable and unanswered questions.
Of course, we can admit that all the above is pure speculation. We don’t know what will happen until it happens. But we are strongly uncomfortable with the unknowns, frustrated by the possibilities, and scared to death we might lose the only medication which has removed our lingering and debilitating symptoms while we were once on synthetic T4–aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, etc.
And by the way, synthetic T4 is an FDA-approved medication which has left most of us sick or with lingering symptoms to our own degree and intensity for YEARS. Perhaps THAT is what you need to write the FDA about.
So do we email the FDA about this situation?? I am of the belief that writing/emailing the FDA is no different than asking the neighborhood ogre to change. I could be wrong, but it is my deep suspicion. In fact, I am suspicious that the onslaught of communication with the FDA is going to do more harm than good…if it hasn’t already…just as writing and emailing the neighborhood ogre would probably cause him to laugh and do even MORE harm.
So what seems the best and most logical action to take with our current situation? Write/email your senators. Write/email your representatives. Write/email newscasters, talk show hosts, radio personalities, newspapers of merit, and anyone who has the power to spread the word. In my mind, we cannot expect to face what may be with power unless we inform the world of our plight ahead of time.
How to say what we need to say? I think, for our integrity in the eyes of whom we speak/email/write to, it’s important to state facts first and foremost. For me, if I need to mention speculation, I turn them into questions: Will RLC be able to afford clinical trials? Will the FDA stop all desiccated thyroid? You may not agree but that’s what seems wise for me.
I have compiled a list of particular congresspersons who just last year, made a resolution against the FDA. You will see a list of those supporters at the bottom of the page with their contact info. Email them. You will also find links to contact each and every other political office. If I have missed something, let me know and I’ll add it.
I have also compiled a simple template letter you can use, or change exactly as you need it changed, for these emails. It will not fit every single individual who uses it, so change it as you may. But keep it short and succinct. Too much to read will turn off the reader.
I have tried hard in this post to communicate my thoughts and intuition. I also still have some strong hope and faith that this IS going to work out, one way or the other. I’m just not into fear-mongering based on speculation. Some of you may not agree with my sentiment, but that’s okay. And some of you may agree that it’s time to strongly communicate with our congresspersons, and I will hope you follow through. All of us need to follow through. I need to follow through. You need to follow through.
NEED OPTIONS FOR THYROID TREATMENT during this hard time? Go here. You’ll also find several Canadian Pharmacies to use with a prescription, as well, that is much easier than ordering directly from Erfa.
NEED A GOOD DOCTOR? Go here.
NEW TO DESICCATED THYROID? Here’s everything patients have learned.
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Just spoke with Diane Blecha, who serves as a moderator and patient advocate on the NTH groups.
Just had a good conversation with Dr. Henri Knafo, the Director of Medical Affairs at Erfa Canada, Inc.
