My family has been destroyed by the lack of better thyroid treatments, plus lack of earlier and better diagnosis of thyroid problems.  Low thyroid problems are especially in need of help, although we could certainly use better and safer treatments and drugs for high-thyroid problems, as well.  I should know, as I've had both.  And both run in my family, yet it's still not always easy to officially catch and treat it early, even when someone has obvious symptoms.

  When a thyroid problem isn't being caught and treated well,  it can lead to all sorts of other health problems, as thyroid function affects how every cell and organ in the body functions.   I do this petition in memory of my brother, Jordan, who I believe developed a serious liver problem because his thyroid condition was not officially caught and treated until it was too late.  Jordan didn't drink or anything, but he had low thyroid symptoms for years that regular blood tests failed to catch, and only when I learned about thyroid antibodies blood tests--and begged for doctors to run on him--did he get diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease (autoimmune low-thyroid).

  Thyroid antibodies blood tests should become a regular part of thyroid testing for everyone, even kids--especially if thyroid disease runs in the family.  I'd like to see thyroid testing for children become required, especially by ages 8--12, as if caught early and treated well, I believe it can help prevent a lot of other health problems throughout one's life, thereby saving the healthcare system a lot of money, and alleviating a lot of needless suffering for many.  A good list of thyroid blood tests for everyone should include Free T4, Free T3, TSH, TPO/ab and TG/ab ( the last two are thyroid antibodies tests.)  Reverse T3 could also be useful, as well. 

I'd also like to see more research money given to develop better thyroid treatments for the many who don't do well on what's currently available (including me), especially for those who must rely on thyroid-replacement drugs every day to keep them in good health--but for some (like me) they don't help enough.  This keeps some of us out of the workforce, which is bad for the economy--and for patients themselves, who suffer daily. 

I used to do well on an old version of Synthroid they quit making in 1982-83, but I haven't done well on anything else, since.  Reformulation of thyroid-replacement drugs--without the patient being told about it, and without the new versions being required to be tested on people for safety & effectiveness before being unleashed onto the public--has happened a number of times throughout the last decades with both synthetic and natural thyroid drugs, and this needs to be addressed, as well. 

Finally, new and innovative treatments should be given funding for both hypo and hyper thyroid patients, and more education should be required to be given to doctors and healthcare providers about how important treating the thyroid is, as treating it well can help prevent other conditions from arising.  I still struggle every day because my thyroid treatment isn't good enough--my brother is now gone because I believe his untreated thyroid led to his liver failure, and we couldn't get a transplant in time. My mom is gone because her thyroid treatment wasn't good enough--same with my Grandma Sarah, and my dad was not officially diagnosed with thyroid but I'm told he had obvious symptoms--and he died when I was one, from cancer. 

 Make tragedies like this STOP for others in the future--sign this petition, and let the Biden Administration know that thyroid patients need help in many ways, and we need them to step up and HELP us!!  Thank you--and please get others to sign, too.  from Jordan's sister, Starr D.