When I'm researching information for the web site, my newsletters, or books, there are a number of places I regularly review for thyroid-related information. If you are interested in solid sources of conventional thyroid information, here are three web resources that you'll want to bookmark and visit regularly.
Doctor's Guide
A great place to view the latest research abstracts is Doctor's Guide. Just enter the search term "Thyroid" and you'll get summaries and links to key research, articles, journal information, and more. The site also includes a series of webcasts for practitioner education. Click on webcasts, and choose "endocrinology" for a complete list. They are informative and suitable for patients -- as long as you're comfortable with medical language. Because this is primarily linking into mainstream medical journals, you won't find much in the way of integrative, alternative or holistic information, but it's a strong resource for keeping up with the latest conventional findings.
Doctor's Guide
It's got a clunky interface, and the design could use some work, but Thyroid Manager offers a wealth of bare-bones information on thyroid disease. It's basically an online textbook, organized by chapter, with contributors who include some of the nation's most prominent endocrinologists. Since it's funded by Abbott, the manufacturer of Synthroid, and maintained by mainstream endocrinologists, you're not going to find anything integrative, holistic or alternative here, but if you want a detailed -- but written in heavy medicalese -- textbook on key thyroid-related issues, this is the place to go.
Thyroid Manager
Thyroid Today
Thyroid Today offers conventional medical information for two audiences -- professionals, and patients. It's another site that's funded and supported by Abbott Labs, maker of Synthroid, so the site tends to be particularly heavy on articles denouncing generic levothyroxine. (Generic levothyroxine has been capturing market share from Synthroid for the past several years, which has the drug maker scrambling to put together research papers that point out the so-called deficiencies and dangers of the generic product. But if you want to get an insider's view of what your doctors -- and especially the endocrinologists -- are reading, this is the place to go. There are also English and
Spanish-language PDF "Patient Education Sheets" -- nothing groundbreaking, but they do a decent job summarizing key issues from a conventional perspective.
Thyroid Today
Logo images: www.docguide.com, thyroidmanager.org, and www.thyroidtoday.com
Quick question – my doctor says that since I take synthroid it replaces the function of the thyroid completely. So all thyroid issues (weight, metabolism, etc) are non issues and my body functions normally. Comments? Thanks.
Peter, the idea that taking thyroid medicine will “fix” everything is really one of modern medicines greatest myths.
You may want to read my article “Help, I’m Hypothyroid and I Still Don’t Feel Well,” online at:
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hypothyroidism/a/notwell.htm
Mary
My insurance only covers levothyroxine (generic), but I don’t feel as well when I take it. I have to pay cash for Synthroid ($25/mo.), but it works so much better for me.
Thanks, Mary, for the valuable info & keeping us up-to-date!
Taking Armour thyroid and suddenly TSH dropped way south (o.o1) while Ft4 and Ft3 remain low normal. Was told it’s due to taking Armour. Anyone else with that experience?