Apr 6 2006
One thing Dr. Weetman has done with his controversial editorial -- he has mobilized the patient community to respond!
Letters to Weetman
Many readers have shared their letters to Dr. Weetman regarding his editorial. In fact, the letters have been pouring into my inbox. Here are some highlights.I'm sure this is another in many responses you have gotten, and no doubt will continue to get, in regards to your article, "Whose Thyroid Hormone Replacement is it Anyway?" To answer your questions: it's MY Thyroid Hormone Replacement. Were you implying it was someone else's? After all, I'm the one with the illness, the one who pays the health insurance that covers my tests, doctor visits and medications...My being informed has allowed me to understand my doctor better, understand my treatment better and, yes, make those dreaded "healthy lifestyle choices" as you put it, that means I am not as depressed as I was, not as overweight as I was, not as irritable, tired and sick as I was. -- ES
Please use your knowledge and concentrate your time and energy in researching ways of helping, inventing, and resolving this problem....We need doctors like you to work with us to find out how to make it better for us...I can tell you how it felt on synthetic and how it feels on natural hormone. You can know about this medication from the book. Who has more relevant knowledge? You can believe in anything you want, but at least listen to us. -- LPG
I'm certainly glad you were not MY physician when, as a teenager, I was losing my hair (and I have a lot), was cold all the time and very tired. Even though my thyroid blood test results were normal, my doctor had the good sense to know that, with those symptoms of hypothyroidism, my body obviously did not have enough for me individually to function in health...There is no "one normal" for everyone in some things, thyroid blood tests being one. I hope you will do your patients a favor and research all the evidence before coming to the conclusion that those of us with "normal" blood range are neurotic or psychotic or hypochondriacs!!!!!!!!! -- SW
I just read your editorial in Clinical Endocrinology and I was truly amazed at your arrogance! Obviously being the Dean of the Medical School has thoroughly gone to your head, which in turn has wiped clean from your mind and heart the Hippocratic Oath you once took. A physician who does not care about or will not take the time to truly listen to their patients and is quick to jump to the "it's all in their head" conclusion is such a waste of time and money for his/her patients. If you were my doctor, Dr. Weetman, I would probably be dead by now, because you would have written me off as suffering from a somatoform disorder... -- MW
...The aches in my joints & muscles are not psychosomatic. Nor is my lack of energy. Neither is my dry, brittle hair and nails or the dry scaly patches of skin. Nor the fact that my caloric intake must be below 900 calories a day to lose weight. Repetitive motion injuries (which diabetics & those with hypothyroidism are more prone to develop) are not in my mind ...I have been taking Synthroid everyday for over 20 years, shouldn't these symptoms at least be diminished?...Just because a person hasn't gone through years of medical school doesn't make them ignorant. I know there are those patients that truly are "hypochondriac," but not all of them. I can tell you what is going on with my body a lot better than you can tell me - if something isn't working properly, I usually know it. No one should ever become so arrogant as to think they have all the answers. -- BW
I was very surprised at the tone of your article; in particular you appear to say that people who have symptoms of hypothyroidism but present with what you consider "normal" thyroid tests are mentally ill. I can assure you I am not mentally ill and if it wasn't for being virtually ignored in terms of my symptoms I might not have had to endure the agony of miscarriages. You also said, "Why do some patients feel so dissatisfied with and so mistrustful of standard medical advice?" I think the reason is this - because doctors are human beings first and doctors second, therefore they are not infallible when it comes to decision making regarding patient treatment. Most people I know like to take some responsibility for their health and that means, in a modern world, using the internet for sources of advice and to read the latest research and discussion. If you feel threatened by this or by "healthism" as you call it, then you are clearly in the wrong profession. -- NF
What Are Thyroid Patients Saying in the Forums?
