Mark Oaten tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament regarding the diagnosis and management of thyroid conditions.
Austin Mitchell has now taken up this topic with Early Day Motion 1739
Please would you write to your MP and ask him to sign EDM
1739. It is vitally important that we obtain 300 MPS signatures. If we
don't get 300 signatures, it will not be heard in the House.
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Austin Mitchell MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM 1739) with regard to the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism, which occurs in approximately 25% of the total population of the UK.
Many thyroid patients and their families and friends are deeply concerned about the clinical practice by doctors with regard to the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism. There is a great need to increase awareness of these concerns within the medical profession and for them to introduce improvements in this field as a matter of urgency.
Because of the over reliance on thyroid blood test results only and a total lack of reliance on signs, symptoms, history, or a clinical appraisal of the patient, thousands of patients are remaining undiagnosed with hypothyroidism and are not therefore treated. Many have to give up paid employment because they are so ill and then having to rely on State benefits.
The emotional and physical suffering experienced by untreated or incorrectly treated thyroid patients caused by the adherence to the 'accepted' NHS protocol for diagnosing and managing hypothyroidism by the majority of medical practitioners is casting a sinister shadow over the fate of these patients.
I am a member of Thyroid Patients Advocacy-UK [(TPA-UK) - web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk] and I am being made increasingly aware on a daily basis of a substantial and growing number of hypothyroid sufferers who, through the lack of adequate training of medical students as well as qualified doctors, are being denied a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment. As a result, many remain very ill some are being confined to their bed, become wheelchair bound, unable to work, and living on State Benefits. The outcome in many cases such as these where information has been provided by TPA-UK about alternative treatment, is a return to normal health, back into paid employment, a relinquishing of State Benefit payments and an ongoing contribution to the nation's wealth once more.
Diagnosing by blood tests alone is insufficient. The so-called 'normal' reference ranges are far too wide and the majority of results returned are within this range. The USA use the same reference ranges as the UK, but three years ago, because of the realisation that many thousands of patients blood test results were showing within this so-called 'normal' range, they recommended this be cut by half. As a result, thousands of patients in the USA are now being diagnosed and treated - many with natural thyroid extract. I wish the same recommendation to be instigated in the UK as a matter of urgency.
Medical practitioners are not treating hypothyroid patients with the level of medication that returns them to optimum health. In addition, there is unwillingness by mainstream doctors to prescribe ANY alternative thyroid medication for patients on individual clinical grounds. For example, patients remaining unwell on thyroxine only (T4) could be given a trial of a combination of (T4) and liothyronine (T3), T3 alone or a natural desiccated porcine thyroid extract (Armour Thyroid) that contains all the thyroid hormones a normal thyroid needs. However, these are being denied. Natural extract has been used since 1894 with great success. The current situation whereby thyroid patients are self-diagnosing, self-treating and self-monitoring due to a lack of understanding of the disorder by NHS doctors, is unacceptable.
There appears to be a determined reluctance to encourage debate or further research on hypothyroidism within the medical profession.
There is a need for an independent investigation into patients who are hypothyroid, including examination of clinical results of those treated privately, and comparative examination of clinical results of those treated by NHS practitioners.
On behalf of fellow sufferers of hypothyroidism, I would be most grateful if you would sign this Early Day Motion and encourage your fellow MPs to do likewise.
Yours very sincerely,
[Insert name, address, and telephone number or email address]