thyroidpatientsca
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Infographic: Thyroid hormone journey

This summary blog post will take you through a visual journey as you follow thyroid hormones through bloodstream, transporters, cells, and receptors. This infographic is not like most others you’ll see that portray a gland-centric view of the HPT axis. Instead, I take a hormone-centric view. The thyroid hormones themselves are the heroes of their…
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Visual bias: The pituitary gland in HPT axis diagrams

Too many diagrams focus on the “HPT axis,” in which the Hypothalamus, the Pituitary, and Thyroid gland are the biggest icons. Take for example this diagram from Ortiga-Carvalho’s chapter in a physiology textbook. The huge, super-ballsy pituitary. Seriously? In diagrams like these (this is not the only such pictorial), the truly pea-sized TSH-secreting pituitary gets…
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Tissue RNA expression of DIO1, DIO2, and DIO3

No, this is not just an article for thyroid science buffs. Anyone who claims to understand thyroid hormone metabolism should become comfortable using the word “deiodinase.” It’s just as important a word for thyroid disease as “insulin” is for diabetes. Three enzymes convert thyroid hormones throughout our bodies: Deiodinase type 1, Deiodinase type 2, and…
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LT3 monotherapy withdrawal: Clearance and effects

How long does it take for the final dose of synthetic LT3 (Liothyronine) hormone to clear from blood, and how much suffering might a withdrawal cause? This is an important question for many people who dose LT3. They want to know what would happen if they unexpectedly ran out of supply due to a pharmaceutical…
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Acella NP Thyroid recall: maternal risk inflated

Acella, the makers of NP Thyroid, issued a voluntary recall notice on May 22, 2020. This is part 2 of a two-part series reviewing the drug recall notice’s statements and the science behind them. [Part 1: Acella NP Thyroid recall: Ethical yet low-risk] We should applaud Acella for being so conscientious about the exact amounts…
