Info on hypothyroidism from our friends, the pharmacists

[artfemme]

Ran into an article in the Journal for the American Academy of Family Practitioners published this month, telling doctors that Levothyroxine is the ONLY valid treatment for hypo and to trust the TSH. I called the Academy and was transferred to the editor of the Journal and advised him of the more current articles (that I published here) conducted and published in Europe and now published by the NIH. I told him that family practitioners are on the front line of diagnosis for many people and should not be given information that would cause them to mis-diagnose or under-treat. He was very open to new information, saying that their articles were submitted 6 months before publication and perhaps the authors were not aware of the current studies. Maaaaybe, although they were ublished in Europe in 2009, I believe. He had me send him the links to the science. One for OUR team, I hope. I think pro-active dialogue is important.

Also ran into this current article from the professional journal for pharmacists. It's not perfect, but contains information on drug and food interactions as well as on treatment during pregnancy that I thought might be of interest. Also, always good to know what the pharmacists are being taught. Note that at the end, the pharmacists observe the current controversies in treatment and advise that revised guidelines are forthcoming.

Hope this is of interest.

http://www.uspharmacist.com/USPExams/107997/107997.pdf

[artfemme]

bump

[artfemme]

I received a nice email back from the editor of the AAFP journal, thanking me very much for sending the links to the clinical studies. He said he was having his section editor, a medical advisor, and the author of the erroneous article review the information (which is kind of irrefutable) and that they will consider publishing an update to the advisory article if not a retraction. This took all of about a half hour of my time. I recommend this kind of courteous pro-action on behalf of our members.