Health care system – Thyroid Patients Canada

Article on hypothyroidism features Thyroid Patients Canada’s Tania Smith

August 29th, 2023Tania S. Smith0 Comments

An excellent article on Healthing.ca by Postmedia Network journalist Karen Hawthorne provides a wealth of insight into hypothyroidism in a short article. I think it’s so well-written that it deserves an award for excellence in journalism. https://www.healthing.ca/wellness/hypothyroidism-in-canada-treatment-chronic-condition-status This is an article worth discussing and amplifying. I know that a journalistic article must be short. It can’t include everything, and I had a lot to say in my interview that could not be included. So I’m offering my selected paraphrases, quotations, and additional commentary, in my characteristic manner. I go on short forays into the relevant thyroid science. I also have …

BBC UK TV segment on hypothyroidism is re-broadcast by TVO in Canada

April 13th, 2023Tania S. Smith5 Comments

A five-minute documentary segment on the topic of hypothyroidism is found in the BBC UK TV series “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor,” season 6 episode 2. It was first aired in the UK on February, 2017. The segment is part of the show’s larger discussion of the question, “Can we boost our metabolic rate?” It has just been re-broadcast in Ontario, Canada on the TVO television network in Ontario — yesterday, April 12, 2023. Since the ideas of this UK TV show are being disseminated in Canada, it’s timely to feature it on our blog. To aid discussion of its …

5 steps to individually-optimized thyroid therapy

January 4th, 2023thyroidpatientsca6 Comments

Patients should not have to cross their fingers, wait, and hope for change. The hopes of hypo- and hyperthyroid patients focus on attaining individually-optimized treatment. Their hopes, wishes, and requests are not unreasonable. Effective treatment ought to alleviate symptoms and improve health outcomes. Relative changes in thyroid hormone doses have a measurable effect on certain symptoms and biomarkers. However, standard thyroid treatment guidelines do not yet prioritize individually-optimized treatment. Instead, they consistently target “the clinical goal of normalization” of biochemistry (Ross et al, 2016, American Thyroid Association guidelines for the treatment of hyperthyroidism). Normalization means that a previously hypothyroid or …

Potassium iodide (KI) dosing in a nuclear emergency

March 4th, 2022thyroidpatientsca3 Comments

Concerns about a possible nuclear accident in the Ukraine are fueling interest in dosing potassium iodide (KI) to protect the thyroid gland. An acute overdose of potassium iodine (KI) protects the thyroid gland from harm during a nuclear emergency. There are signs that some Europeans are already stocking up on high-dose KI tablets designed for radiologic emergencies. The Globe and Mail reports “Europeans scrambling to find iodide pills amid fears of nuclear blast in Ukraine” (March 1, 2020). Even in Canada, located many thousands of kilometers away from Ukraine, people are feeling concerned and are purchasing emergency-strength KI pills in …

Petition: Include thyroid disease in Canada’s chronic diseases list

February 25th, 2022thyroidpatientsca0 Comments

We are planning to launch a formal federal petition to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to add thyroid disease to its list of 20 diseases under surveillance by the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CCDSS). Our first step is to test the waters with this Change.org petition! Sign the petition at Change.org here: https://www.change.org/p/include-thyroid-diseases-in-canada-s-chronic-diseases-list Why include thyroid diseases in the CCDSS? Currently, the majority of thyroid diseases other than thyroid cancer are not included in Canada’s official list of chronic diseases and are not being monitored. In other countries that track prevalence rates of thyroid diseases, the combined …