Hi! does anyone know of any doctors in canada that are willing to prescibe
cytomel or other T3 meds. I have been taking synthroid for 5 years with
my dosage going from 50mcg to 125mcg. I still feel lousy and my doctor
will not try me on cytomel.

Hi Shelley:

Where in Canada do you live?

Shelley,

Many Canadian thyroid patients have been relying on compouding pharmacies to fill their prescriptions for T3 medication while Cytomel is unavailable in Canada. Cytomel has been available in only very limtied dosage sizes since Nov 2004. A compounding pharmacy can prepare your cytomel--possibly other thyroid medications you are having difficulty obtaining at a conventional pharmacy--in the precise dosage your doctor prescribes. The compounding pharmacies can also make T3 available in slow-release format, which many find to be a gentler experience than non-slow-release T3. The name of T3 in slow-release form is triiodo-L-thyronine SR. If the compouding pharmacies listed here are not in your area, you might want to phone one that is out of your area and ask if they know of a compouding pharmacy in your area.

The International Association of Compounding Pharmacists hosts an
online database of compoudning pharmacists in Canada, the U.S., and
worldwide. Their database makes no claims for the compounding
pharmacists. When you click on the "Help me find a compoudning
pharmacist" link in the orange box at the upper-left of thier
homepage, you will be greeted by a very detailed user agreement. Part
of the agreement specifies that they are not taking responsibility for
your experience with any of the pharmacists they list. So, I suppose
that means they are merely listing members of thier association. At
least you'll be able to enter your postal code and find out if there
is a compouding pharmacist in your area. You might also want to ask
your personal physician if he/she can put you in touch with a reliable
compouding pharmacist. I found my compounding pharmacist through my Endo.

The link for the International Association of Compounding Pharmacists
is: http://www.iacprx.org/referral_service/index.html

I hope this is useful.

Karen Morris
Organizer
"Thyroid Patients Canada"
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou...PatientsCanada/

Shelley,

It's not uncommon at all for a Canadian doctor to prescribe T3 thyroid hormone to their patients who are already taking synthroid.

There are a number of published studies in our "Links" section that
clearly indicate that responsible doctors are prescribing T3 in
addition to T4 for thier patients. Poerhaps you could print some of
these off to show your doctor?

Dr. Paul Walfish, an Endocrinologist practicing at Mt. Sinai Hospital
in Toronto and a member of the Order of Canada and winner of the
prestigious Paul Starr Award n Endocrinology, has gone public in the
Toronto Star with details of the mysterious cytomel shortage in Canada.

Dr. Walfish, according to the Star article, became furious when he
learned some time in the fall of 2002 (see the CBC interview with Dr.
Walfish posted in "Thyroid Patients Canada") that King
Pharmaceuticals, which obtains its cytomel from a Montreal-based
pharmaceutical company that manufactures cytomel ? Schering-Plough, of
Point St. Claire, Quebec-- has stopped supplying cytomel for
distribution to Canada, and that during a brief period when King
released supply for
distribution in Canada the price jumped by 800%. King Pharmaceuticals
is an American company, based in Bristol, Tennessee.

To add insult to patient discomfort, the Canadian government declined
Dr. Walfish's request to import supply of cytomel from Great Britain.
Dr. Walfish won the Paul Starr Award in Endocrinology for developing
a thyroid hormone replacement therapy that uses cytomel (T3).
Ironically, the award is sponsored by King Pharmaceuticals.

According to the Toronto Star article, Dr. Walfish was told by
Theramed Pharmaceutical's President, Robert Taylor, that Thermed?a
Mississauga-based company that has the licence to distribute cytomel
in Canada, could not obtain supply of cytomel from King?s Pharmacy in
Tennessee.

According to the Toronto Star, Mr. Taylor wrote in a memo to Dr.
Walfish, "One of the challenges that we are having with King is that
`little Canada' isn't necessarily a priority for them. [King
Pharmaceutical]."

Dr. Walfish's research into the shortage and into King Pharmaceutical
revealed that King Pharmaceutical is having legal issues with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission over its pricing practices
including charges that King Pharmaceutical padded prices to U.S. federal
programs to provide drugs to the elderly and the poor. King
Pharmaceutical is also facing a class action suit by its investors,
whoa re charging that King Pharmaceutical used its charity to falsify
sales figures and thereby falsely inflate its stock price. In
addition, a Tennessee Watchdog group, has asked State officials to
investigate King Pharmaceuticals for its pricing practices related to
blood-pressure medication.

To view the entire story, see it posted at the Toronto Star at:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...yout/Article_T\
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Home

Karen Morris
Organizer
"Thyroid Patients Canada"
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou...PatientsCanada/