Further reading - trusted sources

There's lots of information online about thyroid disease. Unfortunately a lot of it is of questionable quality and doctors may be understandably dismissive of much of it if it is not from a known and trusted source.

From personal experience I can also report that reading some of that stuff can make you anxious about things that may be complete red herrings, some websites seem also purpose designed to generate anxiety amongst thyroid patients. I really think sticking to trusted sources of information is a much smarter use of our time.

further reading - trusted sources.....

The links below are all regarded as sources of good quality, trustworthy information which may help you in educating yourself about your thyroid and can also assist you to point your doctor towards facts and mainstream medical opinions that may help them to give you the best treatment.

British Thyroid Foundation (BTF) - the UK's leading thyroid patient charity, works closely with the medical establishment,] to make a difference to quality of care and information provision for patients and provides both information and support, including meetings around the UK, telephone support contacts, leaflets, quick guides and an approved list of books about the thyroid.

British Thyroid Association (BTA)- the official body for thyroid specialists in the UK.

The BTA website includes the official guidance for treating hypothyroidism which you can show your doctor if you are concerned that they may not be treating you as they should. 

European Thyroid Association (ETA)- Like the BTA, only more international and some say possibly more progressive in outlook.

 European Thyroid Journal  (ETJ) - articles from this journal are highly informative and again can be shown to your doctor as having impeccable credentials.  In the links below, in order to clearly signpost content of potential interest to patients, I have sometimes provided a descriptive title rather than always using the actual title used in the Journal.

ETJ: Treatment of Sub Clinical Hypothyroidism - this article gives an overview of thyroidologists attitudes to treating patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). If you have SCH, with hypothyroid symptoms but your doctor doesn't want to give you thyroxine, you may want to show them this article and it's various references - it demonstrates that medical opinions vary but that most specialists would advise treatment of SCH where symptoms are present, particularly if thyroid antibodies are found. 

ETJ - June 2012, The use of combined T3 and T4 medicine for hard to treat hypothyroid patients - this article outlines a thorough review of the evidence for combination treatment and makes recommendations for when it may be worthwhile. 

Endocrinology Research on suppressed TSH: http://www.endocrinology.org/press/pressreleases/2010-03-16_thyroxine.pdf.  This research appears to show that while suppressed TSH has long term heart and bone risks, the risk only applys if it is very suppressed, eg - under 0.04, useful for anyone feeling well on a low TSH who is concerned about risks. I don't know if this research has subsequently been contradicted but it's pretty recent, worth showing to your doctor is you think it may be relevant in your case.