Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #238150 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

From the Author
Raising Awareness
The aim of the book is to raise awareness of the misinterpretation of thyroid function test results, to help people become informed so that they may make informed decisions.

The book chronicles my own personal story and other peoples stories, also my research, whereby I identify the flaw in the present system of interpreting thyroid functions test results.

There is a chapter on "What's Happening Out There'. In many cases this does not present a pretty picture. Too many patients are fobbed off, belittled, and even bullied by the medical profession. One quote from a consultant to a patient, "You can't grow hair under youre arms because you are too fat". Another patient was losing the outer third of her eyebrows and she was told by her GP, "You must have overplucked them in the sixties". Losing hair is a sign of a low thyroid function.

This is followed by my conclusion and 7 recommendations.

The objective is to bring about a change in clinical practice, whereby the blood test result is not the sole determining factor for diagnosis but that signs,symptoms, and history and a clinical appraisal is taken into consideration

Customer Reviews

Patient empowerment & hope from someone who has been there
Diana Holmes is to be commended for daring to speak out about hypothyroidism - an underdiagnosed, undertreated, and often overlooked chronic health problem that can DRAMATICALLY impair quality of life if not diagnosed and treated properly. Diana is telling her own story, from a patient perspective, the way she wants to tell it, with true honesty. She does not pretend that this book is meant to be a manual on everything about hypothyroidism - rather, she is hoping to inspire or help people understand the difficulties getting diagnosed and the perseverance that is necessary. By offering some hope that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, Diana is offering what many doctors and many patient groups fail to provide. I strongly recommend this book to everyone who, like me, believes "We're Patients. . . NOT Lab Values!!!" Mary Shomon Editor, "Sticking Our Our Necks," The Thyroid Disease News Report

Highly recommended.
I now run the Thyroid Action Group, along with some other hard working women who have been plagued with symptoms the doctors could not sort out. This book tells the story of a women who has been to hell and back. It gives hope to many people who have been told by their GP's and Consultants that they must "pull themselves together" and "you are suffering from stress, have some Prozac". It is a good starting point for many people who may now be on the road to recovery because of Diana's determination to make sure that other people are not in the same position she was in for so many years...

If you have a chronic illness, this book is for you.
This book is a must for both the general public and medical practitioners.

Every doctor needs to understand its message. Thyroid disease is serious, widespread and frequently misdiagnosed.

Diana's own experience of chronic illness, misdiagnosis and her dedication to helping others, make this book so important. Nowadays, the reliance on the blood test has meant thousands (probably millions worldwide) have suffered wretched symptoms that have been misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, epilepsy, infertility etc. and in Diana's case, (supposedly) myasthenia gravis from which she was confined to a wheelchair. With treatment for hypothyroidism by a doctor who examined the patient and didn't just rely on the blood test results, Diana was given back her life.

She has suffered, found help and then in this book, she has shared her experience for the benefit of others. She has spent the last few years endeavouring to change the medical profession's reliance on the results of blood tests. The test parameters are too wide and so patients are told they have a normal thyroid hormone level, when in fact, this is not normal for them. As a consequence, they suffer terrible chronic illness consulting one specialist after another. In many cases being diagnosed and treated for other illnesses and hence being given inappropriate medications.

In the days before blood tests for hypothyroidism, doctors relied on their own judgement, i.e. if the patient before them presented with various symptoms, such as (not necessarily all) goitre, thin hair, dry hair, outer edge of eyebrow missing, chronic infections, feeling cold even on a hot day, menstrual problems often leading to infertility, swollen ankles, puffy face, constipation, headaches, weight gain, the list is endless, then hypothyroidism had to be suspected and treated.

Thank you Diana, for all you have done for so many of us who have suffered so much for so long.