"Dr. Know" is Actually "Dr. I Don't Know!" Times of London Column Mangles Thyroid Advice
Sunday December 2, 2007
In the Dec. 2 "Dr. Know" medical advice column at the Times Online from London, someone writes in to ask if there's any connection between Raynaud's (where fingers and toes feel frozen), the skin condition rosacea, and an underactive thyroid.
The clearly uninformed Dr. Know says "I doubt it," failing to realize or recognize that most underactive thyroid conditions are due to Hashimoto's disease -- an autoimmune condition, and Raynaud's, which is also an autoimmune disease, is also more common in thyroid patients.
Yoohoo Dr. Know. Time for a refresher course! Isn't it time for Dr. Know to get "in the know" instead of offering bad information?
Comments
Your December 2 comments about London’s “Dr. Know” left me breathless, because it put a name on a series of autoimmune condition that I, like the correspondent he was addressing, have experienced: among them, rosacia, Raynaud’s syndrome and myxedema. The myxemema (extreme hypothyroidism) manifested itself while I was enrolled in Harvard graduate school, although we have now traced its origins to a year or more prior to enrollment. But bad luck there: the Harvard student health services physician assigned me there was an extreme right-winger who told me that he considered health insurance (of the sort that Harvard provided) immoral: “If someone cannot pay his own medical expenses”, he told me, “then he does not deserve medical care.” The fact that I had almost no resources aside from my insurance put me, as far as he was concerned, among the “undeserving”. For two years he insisted that the increasingly alarming symptoms I reported to him were “all in your mind”, and he convinced my distraught wife that I was “only imagining” them; probably all I needed, he said, was “psychiatric consultation”. Eventually, realizing I was close to death, I went to my family home; where an emergency physician, an immigrant from Poland, correctly diagnosed the myxedema. He said I was on the edge of myxemedic coma, which has a high mortality rate, and that my heart had been affected by it. My recovery had to be graduated over six months, as immediate full supplemental medication would have caused potentially fatal shock. Recovering from the physiological damage of that prolonged illness required an additional, very painful, two years. When I reported this incident to Harvard, using only the physician’s own erroneous written medical record, the head of its student health services only bemoaned that I was “being rather hard on Dr. Wells” (the offending physician). Dr. Wells himself merely shrugged his shoulders and commented, “Well, those thing happen now and then” and then strolled off to attend other matters. Regrettably, no lawyer in that area would accept a malpractice complaint that did not actually result in death or dismemberment.
HI,
Norman I feel so bad for what you went through. For the last several yrs. I have gone through the same thing. The only difference is that I have a real good insurance coverage. So, even with that most (not all) of the doctors are treating me the same way.
Recenlty I had some heart issues show up & had many tests & the top Dr. told me that my symptoms are not from any heart or lung damage. He did find that I have a murmur & a heart valve problem.
For the 1st couple of yrs. of my illness I was told it was in my mind & see a psych Dr. I did & the psych Dr. said I was not mentally ill & my symptoms were not in my mind. He said anyone would be stressed out going through a long illness with no answers or the correct diagnosis & treatment. I am sorry to hear about so many people suffering.
I also have other problems with the gastro system too & was left hanging after seeing a so called specialist, who I was told by his nurse, people come to see from all over the world.
I believe that most doctors do not care & they are very arrogant. Especially if they don’t know what is wrong, then they seem to put the blame on the patient. As if it is their fault they are ill & noone knows the reason, yet.
So, now I am back to square 1 & I’m going to see a autoimmune specialist because that is the only Dr. I have never seen. I’m glad that you finally got a diagnosis & answers, Norman. I hope that I can tell everyone the same thing soon. I’m tired of suffering.
I want to add this even though it does not pertain to the subject. I had what I thought was a best friend tell me recently that there was nothing wrong with me. It was all in my head & “just anxiety.” Well, I dropped this so called friend. I told her she is no friend. A true friend would not say such a hateful thing. So, anyone out there who reads this, if you have any people in your life with that type of ignorant attitude, please drop them. We need support from others & not verbal abuse & misunderstanding. Noone choses to be ill. Noone wants to go through all kinds of tests like a lab animal & still not get the right diagnosis. So, to everyone, please keep trying to get help. No matter what some clueless people tell you. We know our own bodies & systems. I was totally healthy before my illness. I was really never sick a day in my life. I was very active & now I am unable to work & I can hardly breathe when I do any little activity. I don’t look sick so many doctors think when they see me, there is nothing wrong.
But I have seen many changes in my appearance that are not normal. Well, I want to wish the best to everyone out there fighting for their health. I hope that everyone has a nice holiday season too. Judy K. Chicago.
Very interesting question. I also have Hashimotos Disease, Roseaca and Raynauds. Could these all be related in some way? Probably will never get an answer…but it is nice to know that others suffer from these aggrevating symptoms. Even with medication, I still have Roseaca and Raynauds. Best of luck.
I had severe hypothyroidism one winter (yes from Hashi’s), and I was so cold all the time, I couldn’t have a bowel movement unless I had a hot bath first, and then it’d be 10 minutes of diarrhea. I nearly fainted in the bath and showever all the time because my blood pressure and heart rate was dangerously low. I was very sick and fogging out a lot because I was not getting enough oxygen to my brain.
I’m recovered now, and I thank god for it. I was 25. I also had severe Raynaud’s so bad I couldn’t stick my hands under cold water without intense pain. With proper treatment, my body returned to normal and Raynaud’s disappeared.
I now live in a far colder area, and I only experienced Raynaud’s once– when I stripped a glove for around 10 seconds in -25F (You can get frostbite in less than 5 minutes at that temperature, so that is probably very normal).
So I can say that I am cured of Raynaud’s as long as my thyroid hormone is normalized. It’s not autoimmune at all– it’s RELATED to having hypothyroidism.
In reality I trust, not somebody’s guessestimates.
Hmmm. I never before heard of Raynaud’s disappearing, as “In Reality I Trust” experienced. In any event, everyone with Raynauds should bring it to the attention of any physician before starting a new course of treatment. Especially if one develops arterial fibrillation, as I have now done, the fact of Raynauds would make the preferred treatment — beta blocker — quite hazardous. (READ the insert). A good cardiologist will prescribe a channel blocker instead.
I believe the answer to Pixie’s question is emphatically YES. Also, I know of no medication that will cure either rosacia or Raynauds. Raynauds involves narrowing of the tiny arteries in the middle finger joint. Cold closes them entirely, turning fingers white, until you reopen them with warmth. Mild cold can do it as well as severe cold. I have never met a physician who could explain the cause or what sets it off. The most common cause of Rosacia is emotional or psychological stress (Check the Rosacia Society website). A husband-wife research team at Ohio State University have been publishing for two decades results of their studies relating stress to autoimmune conditions generally; from which has now grown a new specialty in psychoneuroimmunology. For anyone with one or more stress-related conditions, it is worth exploring.
The only way to relieve stress is to distance one’s self from the stressors,but this is easier said than done — especially when it workplace related. In intense political arenas such as civil service, the stress is often imposed deliberately. The worst such offender I have ever met was former surgeon general C. Everett Koop (yes, the guy who was fond of calling himself “the nation’s doctor”). Stress can be a killer. Relieve that, and your Rosacia will disappear along with lots of other troublesome conditions (such as shingles, for example).
To Judy K., I sense a mutual empathy. You did well to drop the “friend” who told you your problems were mental. One should also abandon immediately any physician who makes that assertion — I would have avoided terrible physical and emotional damage in grad school if I had done so; but the trouble is, serious prolonged hypothyroidism puts a damper on one’s thinking process, so it isn’t always clear to the patient. There are still many physicians around who are prone to judgments like that. Don’t believe them; find one who listens to and seriously considers your observations.
Good exercise also helps a lot especially if it involves enjoyable pursuits like dancing; likewise Mehitabel’s philosophical outlook (from “The Song of Mehitabel” — “toujours, gai, toujours gai, there’s a dance in the old dame yet!”.
Cheers.
How interesting. Alot of the people in NZ suffering side effects from GSK Eltroxin, have mentioned both these things occuring.
I have actually found, since I stopped taking GSK Eltroxin and taking Whole thyroid, that my rosacea has lessened considerably. I have been hoping that once I am on the correct dosage the rosacea will disappear altogether. Time will tell.