Category Archives: Personal Experiences

Linda’s long struggle

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Hormone Choice Singapore has been contacted by Linda Thipthorp, a thyroid patient advocate in UK, who has shared her long struggle with thyroid related health issues. (See below and http://www.hormonechoicesingapore.com/…/its-not-new-2001-do…)

She offers help and guidance to those who are struggling with trying to get the right treatment for their thyroid issues.

My Story – Linda Thipthorp

Born in 1955 with lingual thyroid (in the tongue) – not diagnosed.

As a youngster: Always suffered from tonsillitis and had antibiotics frequently. Bouts of exhaustion.

Teenage years: Once menstruation started horrific periods. No energy, heavy periods, fainting through pain. More bouts of tonsillitis. Put on the pill at the age of 11 years by GP to curb the bleeding.

Two successful pregnancies, 2 miscarriages.

1983 aged 28 years: tonsils removed, was told a third tonsil had grown, body very acidic. Tests revealed lingual thyroid. No arteries or thyroid tissue in the neck all in the base of the tongue. Thyroid blood tests proved “within normal range”.

30’s: Periods became heavier and heavier, hysterectomy advised at the age of 39 years due to prolapsed womb. Operation carried out in January 1994. Ovaries were left. Good health for 18 months then suffered chronic chest pains and indigestion. Went to see my GP and was given HRT patch. Admitted to hospital many times with chronic pain; advised to have gall bladder removed, which was carried out.

January 1996: Exactly 2 years on from the hysterectomy chronic symptoms developed: eyesight fading, sweating, severe thrush, extreme fatigue, couldn’t swallow properly due to thyroid gland swelling. Had various thyroid function tests carried out but was told I was “within normal range”. No thyroid hormone offered. Through the pain of the gland growing out of my tongue I was admitted weekly to the hospital and had to have pethadine injections to control the pain. After several months it was decided to kill the thyroid gland and I was administered Radio Active Iodine. This was carried out in the summer of 1996 (still taking HRT in patch form).

Horrendous pain, cortisone was given in very large doses to control the swelling which caused severe oedema. When gland had died after a few months thyroxine (T4) was given controlled by the blood tests.

January 1997: collapsed with severe head pains. Couldn’t see properly. Was rushed to a Professor in Guys Hospital in London. Through damaging the thyroid gland it had developed scar tissue and was thought to be pressing on a nerve. The Professor was appalled that I hadn’t been offered any thyroid hormone. There was no alternative but to have the gland removed and this was carried out within the month.

I was told that I could be dumb if the operation did not go well. The tongue was split down the middle to the base and the thyroid gland removed. I was told it was a perfectly healthy gland. Had to have a tracheotomy as my tongue swelled and blocked the airway. My mouth split due to the swelling.

Left hospital but within weeks my health took a dramatic decline. Was told that it could be my ovaries. Recommended to visit a specialist at the Lister Hospital, London to have an oopherectomy. Paid privately and was admitted within weeks. He said that these were the cause of my illness. Had the ovaries removed and HRT and testosterone implant inserted.

Two weeks later health took dramatic decline once again; this operation had only made matters worse. The HRT was blocking the thyroid medication but I did not know this at the time. Visual disturbances, extreme blurred vision, hardly had the energy to walk properly, horrendous pain in head, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, fluid retention, muscle wastage and weight gain. The pains were so bad that I then lived on sleeping tablets for one year, taking one morning and night. The pain was so unbearable I couldn’t bear to be awake.

Thyroid function tests were showing that I was going toxic. From 200 mcgs T4 I reduced to just 70 mcgs. Could no longer walk and crawled on hands and knees. Continually freezing cold pulse 42. Semi coma state. Drifted in and out of sleep for months. To be asleep was the only way I could cope with the bodily pain. Migraines were constant.

Was told by the Thyroid Support Group to contact Dr B Durrant-Peatfield. Managed to get an urgent appointment with him and attended his surgery. He examined me thoroughly and immediately diagnosed the problem. I was severely hypometabolic. My body was closing down through lack of thyroid hormone. He told me that thyroid blood tests are extremely unreliable. These patients go on to develop diseases such as ME, Fibromyalgia, CFS, heart disease etc. etc. He told me that the T4 hormone that I was being prescribed was not converting in the liver to the active T3 hormone and this is necessary for the body to function. He took me off T4 and I was put on T3 only. After only 3 days the pains in my head started to abate. After a few weeks I had the energy to walk further than the 100 yards that I had been restricted to during the last 18 months. I continued to improve but I was still covered in Fibromyalgia pain.

I discovered that Dr J Lowe & Dr G Honeyman were specialists in Fibromyalgia in the USA. I needed more help to rid my body of pain and so flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma for their advice. Dr J Lowe is a brilliant scientist and doctor who has realised the connection between insufficient thyroid hormone at the cellular level and Fibromyalgia, the crippling arthritic disease, which is missed time and time again through the reliance on these blood tests and T4 only. Although much improved I needed extensive ultra sound treatment on my muscles, I increased my T3 and exercised to tolerance. At last the pain was abating. The muscles had become tight through my thyroid starvation and Dr G Honeyman-Lowe treated me for a period of 2 weeks.

Dr Lowe states:

“There is no credible scientific evidence that the use of thyroid lab tests improve patients’ symptoms or their health. On the other hand, we have ample scientific evidence that the tests don’t.

The problem with the tests is this: Conventional thyroid specialists arbitrarily decided that the aim of treatment for hypothyroidism should be to get the patient’s lab test results right where the doctors prefer them to be. If the lab test results are where the doctor prefers them, then the doctor pronounces the patient well. The conventional doctor does this with total disregard for whether the patient is still ill or not with hypothyroid symptoms. If the patient complains about continuing illness, which most do, the doctor dismisses the continuing illness as a feature of some other undetermined mysterious disorder. Hence, thanks to the conventional thyroid speciality, we have widespread “new diseases” such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and ME. . . .

This conventional medical approach to the “care” of the hypothyroid patient is not scientifically derived. . . . The thyroid specialty has imposed this pernicious medical protocol on practicing doctors and their patients. The imposition has resulted in a worldwide public health crisis. Scores of millions of people remain ill because of it, and incalculable numbers of people die prematurely from it, either from cardiovascular disease or suicide.”

Through a large majority of the population being missed with these blood tests “new” diseases have developed. They are nothing more than inadequate thyroid hormone in the muscles and tissues of the body. Spanish scientists have done intensive studies and have proved this but, as yet, the medical profession has ignored them.

I should never have been prescribed HRT. Little did I know that HRT and the Pill are anti-thyroid drugs, they block the thyroid from working properly. Natural hormone replacement can be given but only when the thyroid is balanced and strong.

I have regained my life through the dedication of Dr B Durrant-Peatfield, Dr J Lowe & Dr G Honeyman-Lowe.

I now run my own helpline to give people information I have learnt through my own suffering.

Lyn Mynott runs Thyroid UK which is a support/campaign group in the UK. They support people with both diagnosed and undiagnosed thyroid disease. Many of these people have become well again after being treated by private doctors like Dr Peatfield.

Dr Peatfield tries to get the body back into balance once again. Surgery destroys the delicate balance of the body and hysterectomies cause a massive endocrine shock. If a woman’s body is low in thyroid hormone for many years then the imbalance makes periods heavier as the oestrogen/progesterone balance is disrupted through low thyroid hormone and the body becomes acidic, the end result normally being a prolapsed womb and hysterectomy. Endometriosis is also a problem through this imbalance and I have recently undergone a 6 hour operation to remove this.

Through my horrendous experience I have been able to help my two daughters and mother who suffered from thyroid disease; sadly I lost her. Her Armour thyroid medication was changed to T4 only and she didn’t last long after this. I believe she had a conversion problem like me. My youngest daughter aged 21 was beginning to go down the same road as me but with the help of Dr Peatfield she was diagnosed and treated. She has regained her health and can get on with her life.

I urge doctors to look at the patient’s symptoms and not to rely solely on the blood tests. If this form of practice is changed we will then turn the corner and eliminate these “new” chronic diseases that are plaguing our hospitals.

I will carry on my work in helping thyroid suffers in the hope that my suffering has not been in vain. I pray for the day the medical profession understand the enormity of the problem that these tests are causing.

Linda Thipthorp

Mother Jailed for Getting Her Sick Daughter Hormone Therapy, Later Cleared. Her Lawyer’s Statement. A Letter from Dr Thierry Hertoghe.

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If it was “their” daughter surely “they” would want the help this British mother got from world renowned Dr Thierry Hertoghe, a Belgian physician and expert in hormone therapy, President of the International Hormone Society, which has 3000 physician members worldwide.

 

Mother jailed

Mail Online, 1 November 2014, Poison my daughter? No, I was trying to CURE her: Mother jailed for child cruelty after rejecting NHS care to seek treatment at foreign clinic for teenager’s hormone therapy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2817084/Poison-daughter-No-trying-CURE-Mother-jailed-child-cruelty-rejecting-NHS-care-seek-treatment-foreign-clinic-teenager-s-hormone-therapy.html

Mail Online, 3 November 2014, A cure for thyroid problems the NHS ignores – or quack doctor’s poison? Mary gave her daughter hormones prescribed for crippling tiredness. Then police arrested her for child cruelty  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2819347/A-cure-thyroid-problems-NHS-ignores-quack-doctor-s-poison-Mary-gave-daughter-hormones-prescribed-crippling-tiredness-police-arrested-child-cruelty.html

 

Mother cleared

Thankfully the mother was cleared. Dr Thierry Hertoghe gave evidence at her trial. He described the British National Health Service as 40 years behind in this area of treatment. He commented that the NHS only treats patients when they are 70% hormone deficient, where he and his colleagues treat when the patient is 25-30% deficient.

The Independent, 30 October 2014, Mother cleared of poisoning teenager daughter with hormones supplied by Belgian doctor says case should be landmark for parents’ rights http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mother-cleared-of-poisoning-teenager-daughter-with-hormones-supplied-by-belgian-doctor-9829226.htm

 

Mary Kidson’s lawyer comments

From the website of Ken Hind CBE, one of Mary Kidson’s Lawyers, November 9, 2014 (bolding by HCS): http://kenhindbarrister.co.uk/press/

Lancashire Counsel and Solicitors secure acquittal for mother charged with poisoning her daughter in land mark case

Lancashire Barrister Ken Hind and Blackburn Solicitors Simon Farnsworth, Deborah Morgan of  FMB  took on the case of Mary Kidson a local woman from Nelson, who had moved to live in Herefordshire and secured her acquittal in a landmark case that could have long term  impacts on suffers from thyroid and cortisol hormone deficiencies throughout the NHS .

Ken Hind commented “We were initially approached by Mary Kidson’s family to take this case and we undertook it as this was the kind of case which we came into this profession to deal with and protect the man and woman in the street where we see the state has got things wrong. FMB is a medium sized 3 partner firm of solicitors who instructed me as an independent member of the bar”.

Mary Kidson’s daughter suffered with a number of physical problems , primarily she was constantly fatigued, had low blood pressure , lack of energy, pain in muscles and joints plus other problems. She was seen by 5 endocrine paediatric consultants in the (National Health Service) NHS – 4 of whom discharged her saying there was nothing wrong with her as it was all in the mind . Mary did not believe this , she researched on the internet , read books on hormone deficiency and accessed the web sites of Thyroid UK and the Thyroid Patients Advocacy Forum . She was convinced her daughter had deficiencies in cortisol, thyroid and oestrogen.

Taking advantage of section 13 in the Medicines Act 1968 she ordered hormones from  accredited pharmacies on the internet . She consulted Dr Durrant Peatfield an unregistered physician who had been criticised by the (General Medical Council) GMC for his views expressed in his book on the Thyroid Gland (can be downloaded off Amazon) who approved her treatments . She was still concerned to have a registered physician directing her daughter’s treatment and was recommended to Dr Thierry Hertoghe , the President of the  International Hormone Society with 3000 physician members worldwide. Dr Hertoghe has written 7 books including the Hormone Manual , one of the leading text books for physicians practising abroad in this field.

Mary took her daughter to Brussels where Dr Hertoghe carried out tests on 40 hormones and minerals , far more than carried out by the NHS and diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome caused by hormone deficiencies. He prescribed hormones and nutrients and treated her for  5 months .

On the 5th March 2013 without having spoken to Mary, social workers and police officers turned up at her home & arrested her, took her daughter into interim care where she was placed with foster carers whom she did not know her for 2 months. Doctors examined Mary’s daughter who they said had nothing wrong with her, made no contact with Dr Hertoghe to ask about diagnosis and treatments , despite the fact he wrote to the police , doctors in the case and social services 3 times. NHS doctors ended all the hormone treatments. Mary’s daughter was interviewed on videotape by the police and said she felt better as a consequence of the treatments.

9 months later in January 2014, the police charged Mary Kidson with poisoning her daughter unlawfully and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm or endangering her life. Mary was only able to see her daughter for 2 hours a fortnight and that was under the supervision of a social worker until April 2014 . In breach of her bail conditions  Mary was phoning and texting her daughter in response to requests  for help and reassurance. Mary was remanded in custody to prison  for 6 months for a breach of this  bail condition, her daughter was certified under the Mental Health Act and sent to a psychiatric hospital where she remains.

The case came to Worcester Crown Court for trial for 3 weeks. Deborah Morgan who prepared the case for trial commented ‘One of our first requirements was to speak to Mary’s 16 year old daughter as the prosecution declined to call her but Hereford Social Services blocked it at every turn. Eventually a psychiatrist appointed by the defence was allowed into the hospital to speak to her, he found she was fit to give evidence and wanted to do so on behalf of her mother as she was within 2 weeks of being discharged by her psychiatrist. I turned up at the hospital to see her and was told I could not do so because Herefordshire Social Services blocked it. Eventually I was allowed in after application to the trial Judge which Herefordshire Social Services fiercely resisted in court.

Ken Hind stated  “Mary Kidson’s defence was that as a loving  caring mother who had struggled for years with her daughter’s ill health  she only wanted to see her get well, develop normally and have a happy, fulfilled adult life.  After 11 days in court, evidence from 5 consultants, 2 social workers , a forensic scientist and police officers,  the Judge directed the jury to acquit Mary Kidson as there was no evidence of grievous bodily harm (accepted by the prosecution) and that the alleged victim’s life had not been endangered”.

At the centre of the case was the treatment of NHS doctors for thyroid hormone deficiency. Dr Hertoghe from Brussels who gave evidence described the NHS as 40 years behind in this area of treatment. He commented that the NHS only treats patients when they are 70% hormone deficient, where he and his colleagues treat when the patient is 25-30% deficient . A major point of argument was the use of natural dessicated thyroid or liothyronine  a drug prescribed by Dr Hertoghe. The Royal College of Physicians directive for treatment of thyroid deficiency is the prescribing of levythyroxine which is an artificial type of thyroid hormone T4. This is converted by the body into T3 the main active ingredient of thyroid production and very necessary to sustain quality life. Doctors are disciplined by the GMC for stepping outside the dictat. There are estimated to be 1.3 million NHS patients who are thryroid deficient. For about a million of these patients levythyroxine works. For the remaining 300,000 their problems are different as their bodies cannot convert T4 to T3 in sufficient quantities.

Sheila Turner the Chairman of the Thyroid Patient Advocacy Forum commented thus “I suffered symptoms similar to Mary’s daughter, I found a doctor who diagnosed my problem and prescribed T3. My life was revolutionised – I felt normal again. The Forum had 1.25 million hits on its web site in just the months April and May this year to give some idea of the extent of the problem. We have seen 10,500 people who have come to seek meaningful information and guidance”.

“The defence team , Deborah Morgan , Sue Hind (researcher) and me are actually all strong supporters of the NHS , believing health care should be available tax funded at the point of delivery. To quote Dr Fraser however, the leading paediatrician for the prosecution in the witness box , ‘The NHS does not always get it right’.

“Thyroid UK one of the 2 major organisations campaigning for change have called for the government to fund research on the use of T3 in the NHS. They have placed on the Parliamentary web site an e petition , currently signed by 7130 people. We ask you to sign this petition as if  100,000 sign  there will be a parliamentary debate on this very subject and some positive good will come out of the tragic case of Mary Kidson. If the politicians listen to the views of many doctors throughout the world the whole issue can be is resolved by properly funded research for the benefit of many NHS patients” .

“Meanwhile Mary Kidson will fight in the courts for the return of her daughter. During our conduct of the case we have discovered that this is not an isolated tragedy which are mainly dealt with in Family Courts where anxious parents have been threatened with removal of their children into care . This has also been true in the case of ME sufferers, a condition very similar in some respects to chronic fatigue syndrome”.

Fund research into T3 and/or natural desiccated thyroid treatment for hypothyroidism

Responsible department: Department of Health

Many patients with hypothyroidism continue to have symptoms on levothyroxine (T4) but find that their symptoms are often greatly reduced when they take liothyronine (T3) or natural desiccated thyroid.

Natural desiccated thyroid is only manufactured in the US and Canada but can be prescribed in the UK on a “named patient” basis. Many doctors will not prescribe it because there are no randomised controlled trials as it was manufactured before licensing of medicines came into being.

Research has shown that some patients have benefited from natural desiccated thyroid but there needs to be more research done to investigate whether this would be a better treatment for patients.

More research also needs to be done on the addition of T3 to T4 because previous research has been inconclusive.

Note:

1.  Herefordshire Social Services Department was reviewed by Ofsted and found to inadequate on all 4 of the main categories and given a 6 month timetable to improve services .During this 6 month period they took Mary Kidson’s daughter way from her without speaking either to her or her physician.

2.  On the first day of the trial the Wye Valley Health Trust, from which 3 of the paediatric consultants called for the prosecution came, was put into special measures by the Department of Health.

 

Letter from Dr Thierry Hertoghe     (Bolding by HCS)

From: “Dr Thierry Hertoghe” <dr.hertoghe@hertoghe.eu>

Date: November 6, 2014 at 9:53:07 PM GMT+8

To:

Subject: SUCESS : the mother of the hormone-treated child, is CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES AND FREE, OUT OF PRISON – HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL

Reply-To: office@hertoghe.eu

Dear Dr,

Many thanks for your testimonies and petitions.

MARY KIDSON, the mother of the hormone-treated child, is CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES AND FREE, OUT OF PRISON. Your testimonies and petitions were included in my medical report and have contributed to the success.

Mary Kidson is the mother who was imprisoned because she brought her daughter with six years of severe chronic fatigue syndrome (making it impossible for her to go to school) to my consultation and applied the hormone and nutritional treatments, which substantially improved her daughter’s health.

After two and a half weeks of a court trial with extensive media coverage the prosecution claims collapsed before defense witnesses would even provide their evidence.  I did however give evidence as an expert witness during the trial.

None of the absurd claims of potentially or actually harming the child made by the prosecution and the NHS were shown to have any grounds in reality.  In fact, the prosecution, child protection and NHS doctors have themselves severely traumatized child and mother, the child being now in a psychiatric institute with heavy psychotropic medication.

Links to the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-29829946

Links to the Daily Mail: Lynne Wallis For The Mail On Sunday or: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?S=&authornamef=Lynne+Wallis+For+The+Mail+On+Sunday; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2819347/A-cure-thyroid-problems-NHS-ignores-quack-doctor-s-poison-Mary-gave-daughter-hormones-prescribed-crippling-tiredness-police-arrested-child-cruelty.html

Links to the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mother-cleared-of-poisoning-teenager-daughter-with-hormones-supplied-by-belgian-doctor-9829226.html

 

HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL: Let’s make that this will not happen again. Your personal testimonies have shown that this is an international problem, not only limited to the UK. We are building an internet organization similar to Amnesty International called “HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL”, organization of patients, physicians and other health professionals, to defend people’s right throughout the world for them and their family members to receive hormone therapy if they have hormone deficiencies.

Any attack against this right will put HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL in action, launching internet news, emails and (post)mails from HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL members to the institution that intervenes wrongly.  Patients should be free to attend a doctor of their choice without suffering interference by other medics or institutions.

Hormone deficiencies are as frequent as eye problems. Many of us are born hormone-deficient to some degree, and we all become more hormone-deficient with advancing age. Correcting these deficiencies with safe hormone doses gives to people their life and health back.

Become a free member by signing the membership form here below and sending it back to ihs@intlhormonesociety.org

I (fill in what fits):

O      become member of HORMONE RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL and engage once or more per year to send a testimony or sign a petition by email or post mail to any institution who attacks patients, parents of patients or their physicians or other health professionals, and tries to limit their right to hormone therapy.

O      wish to additionally participate more actively in the organization as active member preparing papers and actions, finding journalists, etc.

O      accept that my testimony(ies) is (are) published on websites or in books

First Name: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I__

Family Name: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I

Healthcare  profession: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I__

Address

Street: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I_

n°: I_ __I___I___I       Zip code: I___I___I___I___I___I___I

City: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I

Country: I___I___I___I___I___I____I___I___I___I__

E-MAIL: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I

Phone
Office: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I__I___I___I_

Mobile: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I

FAX: I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I

 

Signature: __________________________________

 

Thanks for all your wonderful input,

Warm regards,

Dr Thierry Hertoghe

President of the World Society of Anti-Aging Medicine

President of the International Hormone Society

Discover www.lifespan-journal.com and enjoy the latest breakthroughs in Lifespan Medicine.

7 Avenue Van Bever

1180 Brussels – Belgium

Phone +32 2 379 34 43 fax +32 2 732 57 43 office@hertoghe.eu www.hertoghe.eu  

Living healthier with hormone and nutritional therapies. Training for physicians

Sick to Death – Trailer

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This short – very moving –  video tells the story of film maker Maggie Hadleigh-West’s struggle with thyroid issues, misdiagnosis and unsuccessful treatment with thyroxine. The doctor she finally found after a struggle of 30 years explained the importance of treating the patient, not the test results, and with the use of natural desiccated thyroid gave Maggie a new life.

(Warning:The movie contains some strong language.)

http://sick2death.com/about-the-filmmaker-project/trailer/

The following comes from the Sick to Death website.

About Sick to Death!

Please Note: This project is a work in progress, and we are currently shooting footage and gathering information for the website and films. Sick to Death! is funded by the Guggenheim Foundation. In Sick to Death!, a multi-platform project incorporating video, animation, medical research and an interactive website, artist Maggie Hadleigh-West exposes her own disturbing, yet determined thirty-year struggle to regain her spiraling health. After seeing hundreds of doctors who either disregarded her symptoms, misdiagnosed or undertreated her, Maggie discovers that her thyroid problem used to be a fully understood medical issue that has become all but erased, and which today leaves more than 59 million people sick and suffering. Follow Maggie into her colorful, unconventional, creative life where she tackles existential milestones, and through the assistance of her team of advisers, including a charismatic doctor, takes on the medical establishment. Participate in the unveiling of a huge body of medical information, which became obscured through the lobbying and business practices of a pharmaceutical giant. At once a deeply intimate portrait and a rousing invitation to seize life and health to the fullest, Sick to Death! invites audiences to turn our diagnoses into a call to arms. The final films will take several forms, including several short films to be distributed online to fans, a 60 minute television film also entitled Sick to Death!, and an interactive website which includes a platform for audiences to connect with one another and to build intentional communities. The project is intended to serve as both a work of art and a resource for millions of individuals around the world suffering from thyroid disease.

http://sick2death.com/about-the-filmmaker-project/about-the-project/

Testimonial – Natural Thyroid Treatment for Hashimoto’s

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Ministry of Health
Singapore

To Whom it May Concern,

It has come to my attention that there are concerns within the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) over the use of desiccated pig thyroid. I am writing to convey my despair and frustration that the MOH does not seem open to allowing a patient to determine their own health choices, especially when my doctor provides an invaluable, scientifically founded and results-driven service.

I came to know about my doctor after being diagnosed with an auto-immune condition, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. The specialist I was seeing upon my diagnosis could offer no explanation for my condition, nor offer any advice on how to improve my symptoms, other than by taking the prescribed T4 based medication. Out of frustration, I educated myself about my condition and looked for a doctor who would consider all my symptoms in a holistic way.

My doctor guided me on my learning journey to make sure I was in control of my own health choices. However, he would always recommend that I made changes slowly, determine what was working and what was not, as well as providing good reasons for not following a particular form of treatment. Through his guidance I have improved my knowledge of my condition and most importantly improved my symptoms and health markers.

Before making lifestyle changes I was taking Nexium for reflux related issues, T4 for Hashimoto’s and was well on the way to needing a statin because of increasing blood cholesterol levels. After adopting the paleo lifestyle and changing to desiccated pig thyroid I no longer need Nexium and my cholesterol continues to fall from very high levels. Not only am I taking less drugs, but my symptoms of itchy scalp, itchy shins, weight gain, light headiness and others have practically disappeared. This was most definitely not the case when taking conventional medication.

I believe strongly enough in the services my doctor provides to recommend him to two friends that I’ve met through an auto-immune support group. Both of whom have provided positive feedback on their interaction with my doctor as they begin to address their own health issues.

I wish to continue having my doctor’s services available in Singapore to monitor and guide my journey to a healthier life through the use of appropriate lifestyle changes and supplements required for complex, chronic conditions, such as mine. If the MOH sees fit to discontinue my doctor’s ability to provide the treatment that I require then I will have no other choice but to find another holistic/integrated medicine practitioner overseas.

I am happy to provide more detail on just how effective the changes that my doctor made to my treatment have impacted my health and upon request will be happy to release my medical records as proof of such treatment.

Yours faithfully,

Blair Layton.