TSH IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
If you don’t see the whole picture, what parts of the picture are you missing?
TSH ⭐
The gold standard of hypothyroidism testing is TSH which is produced by the pituitary gland in your brain. That TSH is produced to signal the thyroid gland to increase or decrease thyroid hormone production. TSH is an “indirect” measure of thyroid health. It is NOT a direct measure of the level of thyroid hormone circulating in your blood. It is miserably missing the full thyroid picture. With a reference range as wide as the Grand Canyon and as deep as the Pacific Ocean, the devastating result is too many patients declared perfectly “normal” despite lingering symptoms.
FREE T3 (FT3) 👑
Every cell in your body has nuclear receptors that bind to T3 thyroid hormone like a lock and key. It’s by that binding that thyroid hormone exerts its biological effects like regulating metabolism and body temperature. It’s the “free” unbound T3 in the blood that is “free” to bind to those receptors. I fondly call T3 “my queen of thyroid”. It’s that T3 that makes magic happen which is why so many hypothyroid people finally find relief with a combination of T4 and T3 medications like natural desiccated thyroid.
FREE T4 (FT4) 💊
You know the thyroid pill you take every morning just as prescribed. There is a high chance that it is a synthetic T4 levothyroxine medication like one of the big brands Synthroid or Unithroid or one of the many generics on the market. Why? Because T4 is mainstream medicine’s drug of choice for hypothyroidism. In medical schools all around the world doctors are taught that T4 is what you prescribe and nothing else. It’s a tragedy for the estimated 15% of us that have persistent thyroid symptoms on these levothyroxine medicines. Let me explain. Cells all around your body have receptors in their nucleus. Those nuclear receptors have a greater affinity for T3 thyroid hormone which is why T4 is considered “inactive”. The conventional medical model for hypothyroidism is based on the flawed presumption that, when given T4 in the form of thyroid medicine, our bodies will automatically convert that inactive T4 to the active T3 our cells require like clockwork. The problem is that conversion of T4 to T3 that is assumed to be so simple is far from easy. For many of us, our bodies struggle with that conversion and we end up sick and tired because of low T3 levels. Could you be a poor converter of T4 to T3 like so many of us? If you experience lingering symptoms despite taking your levothyroxine thyroid medication every day as prescribed, that may very well be the problem. How would you ever know if you don’t test?
REVERSE T3 (RT3) 🚗
Reverse T3 is the metabolically inactive form of T3. Think of T3 as the gas pedal of a car and Reverse T3 as the brakes. When the body perceives that is in a life-threatening situation such as severe illness, hospitalization, starvation, injury, pain, chronic infection, or severe nutrient deficiency, it signals the conversion of T4 to inactive Reverse T3 instead of active T3. As chronic unrelenting stress has become normal, even revered, in today’s go-go-go pushing ever faster motto, you can just imagine how many people are walking around with high Reverse T3 that robs the body of the Free T3 it desperately needs.
THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES (TPOAb) & THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES (TgAb) 🐅
Who knew your immune system could begin attacking and destroying your own thyroid gland like a tiger with its prey. When the immune system goes awry and begins producing antibodies against its very own body part, this takes more than thyroid medication. The first step is knowing whether or not autoimmunity is part of your thyroid story or not. Be sure that your doctors tests for the thyroid autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. There are two thyroid antibodies to test so make sure you get both: Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies and Thyroglobulin Antibodies.
What should every single hypothyroidism patient do right now? Get a full thyroid lab panel. We need our doctors to run full thyroid lab panels, but it can be like pulling teeth to get them to do it. Even when doctors say “yes”, insurance companies most often refuse to cover these thyroid lab tests because they are deemed “above the standard of care”. It shouldn’t be so hard in this day and age but the reality for many of us is harsh. We are often refused the very lab tests that we need.
If your doctor says “no”, order them yourself. Patients can now order their very own full thyroid lab panel directly and it’s about time.
You can use Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA )cards with the Visa/MC logo to purchase.
*This is not available in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island as these particular states have laws that prohibit direct access testing.
