For hypothyroid patients taking medication, TSH is not sufficient as a guide. The medication we take will always be different from a healthy thyroid gland.
The red lines and shapes are thyroid patients on standard “L-T4 monotherapy” (i.e. Synthroid, Levothyroxine, or Eltroxin).
This form of therapy gives us excess T4 and less T3 hormone.
T3 is the active hormone. It is the only one that can create energy in every cell in our body.
At the same TSH, thyroid patients have less of the most essential thyroid hormone than normal people do. This is not fair. TSH may say we are “normal,” but no, we are different.
This is how the standard medical practice of L-T4 monotherapy and TSH testing work together to keep many patients under-medicated as well as unbalanced in our thyroid hormones.
Read more in our Campaign Statement:
Graphs are based on this scientific article: