Billewicz Test : Are You Clinically Hypothyroid?

Thank you! I have fibro and hypothyroidism and honestly found the description a bit offensive. Ok, the blood test can (rarely) produce false negatives. That's why you should speak with a registered doctor and talk to them about your options. Ask for more thorough checks of your T3 and T4. I have autoimmune hypothyroidism and I was screened for antibodies. Ask for these tests.

The symptoms of fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism are very similar (you don't need to tell me!) so it's absolutely relevant to mention to people suffering with fibromyalgia to get tested.

Spreading this sort of misinformation, and trying to claim that the Victorians knew more than our most capable modern scientists do is ridiculous and actually pretty disrespectful to modern medicine. Ok, I accept the blood test might miss someone, but it is the most accurate method we have for actually testing if someone has a thyroid disorder. This flimsy test about how puffy your wrists are is stupid.

I agree with the person above, if you are genuinely concerned about a thyroid disorder then you should speak to your GP/doc about a blood test. If it turns out you don't have hypothyroidism and you're disappointed or that you do have hypothyroidism, I just want you to know that the diagnosis doesn't magically improve your symptoms. In fact, it leaves you with a whole bunch of other medical issues you now have to think about as well as feeling like shit.

I'm sorry OP, but this post is spreading misinformation and giving the complete wrong impression of hypothyroidism. If you had made a post trying to raise awareness of hypothyroidism I would have been all over that. You didn't, and you've made me to lose several minutes of my evening writing angry rants about hypothyroidism. I have my blood test due in the next few days, which is why I might be so touchy. Having fibromyalgia sucks and I understand that people want a straightforward solution to this unanswerable problem. Wanting hypothyroidism on top of fibromyalgia doesn't give you an instant fix all. In fact, it makes it a hell of a lot harder. I support your cause of raising awareness but you are raising exactly the wrong sort of awareness here.

(Sorry this ended up getting really long...)

/r/Fibromyalgia Thread Parent