How UK Guidelines For GP's Are Restricting the Diagnosis & Treatment of Thyroid Disease
Diagnosis & Treatment of Thyroid Disease In The UK Limited By Restrictive Guidelines.
Thyroid Disease although perhaps more widely known is the US also affects many patients in the United Kingdom and unfortunately it seems the British medical establishment is making things even harder for UK sufferers to access the treatment they deserve, they may well be making it even harder for those same people to get a correct diagnosis in the first place.
Diagnosis is often not as quick as perhaps it should be due to the nature of many of the symptoms and the fact that they replicate many other conditions if considered individually.
My own experience with the diagnosis of my Thyroid condition led to me being misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly for several weeks prior to even being tested for the possibility of my having a thyroid disorder.
The fact that British Thyroid bodies are now making the diagnosis and treatment of Thyroid Disease harder seems to be unfathomable.
Within the profession this is the very same medical body, which already has a reputation for operating a seemingly intolerant and very outdated approach to thyroid disease.
Only ONE course of medication
This latest setback comes about following the release of guidelines from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), in which they state that "thyroxine is the only treatment that should be given" for hypothyroidism.
These latest guidelines are considered a backward step in the level and effectiveness of Thyroid diagnosis and treatment for patients in the UK.
Unfortunately it appears that they've gained the support of many of the big players currently operating in the field of thyroid care in the UK.
These include the Society for Endocrinology, the British Thyroid Association, the British Thyroid Foundation Patient Support Group, and the British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes.
These new guidelines quite simply state and in-doing so restrict patients to just one kind of treatment when they say...
Hypothyroid Patients Will Be Limited to Synthetic T4 Only
It appears that Doctors on the NHS will be prevented from or at the very least limited in their ability to prescribe Armour Thyroid, Cytomel (T3), or any drug except for thyroxine (synthetic T4). Synthetic T4, Levothyroxine or Synthyroid becoming the only prescribed hormone replacement permitted for use in treating Thyroid disease. According to research and hence these guidelines, the following has been stated: There appears to be mounting evidence to support the use of Thyroxine (T4) alone in the treatment of hypothyroidism. Thyroxine is usually prescribed as levothyroxine.
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