Today, the British Medical Journal’s website published my “rapid response” letter: How can truly hypothyroid patients be accurately diagnosed within the enlarged subclinical category? Link to full text: https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l2006/rr-6 It is a response to the new guidelines for subclinical hypothyroidism: Bekkering, G. E., Agoritsas, T., Lytvyn, L., Heen, A. F., Feller, M., Moutzouri, E., … Vermandere, M. (2019). Thyroid hormones treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism: a clinical practice guideline. BMJ, 365, l2006. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l2006 Quotes “My main concern with the new guidelines is for the health of patients who are truly hypothyroid despite TSH and T4 levels that place them within the …
Author: thyroidpatientsca
The two T4-T3 ratios that confine thyroid therapy
Here are the two most pervasive, limiting, and potentially harmful presumptions about T3:T4 hormone ratios in thyroid science today. Ratio #1: There is a perfect physiological T4:T3 ratio secreted from the healthy human thyroid gland, and it is approximately 15:1. (Various ratios are cited, most often from 13:1 to 16:1) Ratio #2: In the human body, 20% of our T3 supply comes from the thyroid gland and 80% of T3 is converted from T4 outside the thyroid gland in peripheral tissues. Ratio 1 about “the” thyroid gland’s T4/T3 secretion ratio feeds into Ratio 2 about “the” human body’s rate …
CBC opinion article draft on subclinical hypothyroidism and its therapy
I just sent this opinion article draft to the CBC opinion editors by email. — Dear CBC opinion editors, I would like to offer my opinion piece on this trending topic. First, about me, then the article draft: I am the main researcher and writer for the Canadian Thyroid Patients’ Campaign, who launched a federal petition in 2018 that was sponsored and read in parliament in early January 2019. You can find out more about our fledgling organization and about me, its writer, on our website at thyroidpatients.ca . In my day job, I serve as an associate professor of …
Subclinical hypothyroidism guidelines delay (in)effective therapy
This week, a BBC news article is circulating with the report that “Thyroid disease [is] being over-treated.” (May 15, 2019). (1) More specifically, it reported that newly published guidelines claim that “almost all adults with mild or “subclinical” hypothyroidism will not benefit from hormone treatment.” In response, thyroid-treated persons who suffer poorly optimized thyroid hormone levels are feeling even more depressed and grumpy about their disability than they normally do. AN UNREACHABLE DIAGNOSIS This newly published guideline by Bekkering and team (3) is based on a 2018 research review article by Feller and team, who analyzed 21 previous studies of …
2014 ATA Therapy guidelines: 4. Using Synthetic T3
This post continues my paraphrase of Jonklaas et al’s 2014 “Guidelines for the Treatment of Hypothyroidism: Prepared by the American Thyroid Association Task Force on Thyroid Hormone Replacement.” Posts in this series: 2014 ATA Thyroid therapy guidelines: 1. Levothyroxine 2014 ATA Thyroid therapy guidelines: 2. Ethics 2014 ATA Therapy guidelines: 3. Desiccated thyroid 2014 ATA Therapy guidelines: 4. Using Synthetic T3 [this post] 2014 ATA therapy guidelines: 5. Research 6. [ not yet published; still in draft form] 7. [ not yet published; still in draft form] As I’ve explained in my previous post, I’ve decided not to let my …