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Originally Posted by kiznkitten
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Great write-up. I'm also a 1952 vintage woman who has probably suffered subclinical hypothyroidism for many years. I struggled for years with weight issues - still am for that matter. I had borderline thyroid numbers (probably TSH? This was back in the mid-90s and I was not very well educated then about the issue) that caused my then doctor to send me for additional tests. All I recall from them is that they fell just barely onto the side of "normal" so my doctor said she would not give me medicines, even though the folks at the alt.support.thyroid usenet group I followed at the time told me with numbers like mine I truly *needed* thyroid supplementation.
I'm happy for a medical system and if I fall and break my leg I want an excellent orthopedist to take care of me. But it's very frustrating when you are sure you know what medicine you need to get better - but there is no way on earth you can get it as a doctor must prescribe it, and won't.
So for the next 12 years I had no thyroid treatment, and gained another 100 pounds within that timeframe. Not until 2009 when my TSH went out of whack was my then current doctor willing to prescribe - but she would ONLY do the synthetic T4. When I protested she just washed her hands of me and referred me to an endo - who also ONLY would use T4. Plus she wanted to give me STATINS for my steadily increasing cholesterol. When I asked about natural thyroid she also blew it off as "dangerous" and said she would never prescribe dangerous drugs for her patients (yet she was rabid to put me on STATINS?).
It was not until May of this year, with lots of encouragement from the folks here, that I finally found a practitioner willing to give me natural dessicated thyroid, containing both T4 AND T3, as well at T1 and T2. Even now I'm not a fast weight loser, but I've lost 14 pounds since the beginning of the summer when I began taking Armour. Not to mention my total cholesterol dropped from 295 to 196 in six weeks on Armour (an outcome the endo told me was 'ridiculous' and 'impossible' when I asked her about switching to Armour).
I think we all have to keep telling our stories. The word has to get out. I think there are so many people who are undertreated and badly treated. My parents both took Synthroid for years and years, and it makes me sad to think they might have been mistreated too, but I didn't know any better at the time. Thank you for coming here and telling your story.
P.S. I just moved from New Jersey to Florida last month, and still have to face the issues of finding new doctors down here, including a primary care doctor. Finding one who will support me may prove to be a challenge.