Health conditions
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The science of thyroid hormone and bone metabolism
This article is for people interested in getting an overview of the influence of thyroid hormones on bone health at the molecular level. It outlines the way bone transports, metabolizes, and uses thyroid hormones T3 and T4. It also raises theoretical implications for people with low T3 during TSH-suppressive T4 monotherapy. Here I draw mainly…
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As of 2019, still no proof that low TSH causes harm to bones
Many research studies have shown a strong association between low TSH and low bone mineral density or osteoporosis. As a result, many guidelines strongly caution against the risk associated with low TSH. Some doctors and thyroid patients have jumped to the conclusion that a low TSH “causes” osteoporosis. Some even believe a low TSH must…
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Overlooked: Hypothyroidism causes osteosclerosis
We should all know that thyrotoxicosis in bone, caused by too much T3 binding to receptors in cells, leads to osteoporosis. (Bassett et al, 2007; Gogakos et al, 2010) Hypothyroidism in bone, characterized by low T3 in bone, is not good for bone, either. (Bassett et al, 2008) Hypothyroidism results in a different bone disorder…
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Pregnancy thyrotoxicosis vs just a low TSH due to hCG hormone
Table 17.1 in Braverman & Cooper’s 2013 chapter in Werner & Ingbar’s The Thyroid textbook, 10th edition, lists many causes of thyrotoxicosis. One of the interesting causes of thyrotoxicosis, rarely mentioned in public discourse, is “Circulating hCG or Mutant TSHR [TSH receptor] hypersensitive to hCG.” What is hCG? “Human chorionic gonadotropin” is a hormone produced…
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The impact of thyroid hormone dysfunction on ischemic heart disease, and how T3 therapy may help
Finally! In the past, the overemphasis on hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis and heart diseases has made many doctors think that only excess T3 and T4 is bad for the heart. We finally have an article that focuses on the real cause-effect relationships on the opposite end of the thyroid dysfunction spectrum: HYPOthyroidism. This May 2019 article…