I know this isn't strictly ME/CFS related although I know there are people on here who do take T3 (Liothyronine). I was diagnosed hypothyroid many years before the ME/CFS diagnosis and for 17 years I used Thyroxine, until after being ill for years, I decided to get an FT3 test (not done routinely here, they just check TSH or FT4 if you are lucky) and found I was below range. An endo agreed for me to try T3/T4 combined, and when that didn't help, allowed me to try T3 only as long as my GP monitored me, which she did (kind of.... as TSH tests just show suppressed thyroid).
Anyway, I know the UK system is probably a mystery if you don't live here, but you normally get free medication if you are on thyroid treatment, and anyway I am over 60 so it would be free for that reason. Unfortunately a pharmaceutical company bought out the only company who produce T3 here, and began vastly inflating the prices over a few years, and now the Clinical Commissioning Groups who decide what the GPs can spend, are clamping down in some areas on people who need T3.
I was summoned to the GP today and told that the GP would no longer be allowed to prescribe T3 to me. I am not prepared to go back to T4 only so our free healthcare is no longer free then. She will write to the endo to see if he will prescribe it, but I doubt it as it's just shunting the financial burden onto the hospitals instead who also cannot afford it I will be told.
I will then have 2 options:
1. Use T4 only and be iller than I am.
2. Buy off the internet (either T3 or NDT). You can in fact obtain T3 via Greece or Turkey where you can buy it across the counter with no prescription!
I am lucky that I can afford to buy this, but it makes me nervous (not at the supplier as I know of a trusted one), but what happens if the supply dries up? I could be made ill by lack of choice. Or suppose the Govt crack down on people importing their own drugs?
Anyway, I know the UK system is probably a mystery if you don't live here, but you normally get free medication if you are on thyroid treatment, and anyway I am over 60 so it would be free for that reason. Unfortunately a pharmaceutical company bought out the only company who produce T3 here, and began vastly inflating the prices over a few years, and now the Clinical Commissioning Groups who decide what the GPs can spend, are clamping down in some areas on people who need T3.
I was summoned to the GP today and told that the GP would no longer be allowed to prescribe T3 to me. I am not prepared to go back to T4 only so our free healthcare is no longer free then. She will write to the endo to see if he will prescribe it, but I doubt it as it's just shunting the financial burden onto the hospitals instead who also cannot afford it I will be told.
I will then have 2 options:
1. Use T4 only and be iller than I am.
2. Buy off the internet (either T3 or NDT). You can in fact obtain T3 via Greece or Turkey where you can buy it across the counter with no prescription!
I am lucky that I can afford to buy this, but it makes me nervous (not at the supplier as I know of a trusted one), but what happens if the supply dries up? I could be made ill by lack of choice. Or suppose the Govt crack down on people importing their own drugs?