HPT axis
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CSEM’s edit to FT3 and FT4 testing prohibitions, April 8, 2019
On April 8, 2018 The Canadian Society for Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSEM) made the happy announcement that they have made an edit to their prohibition of FT3 and FT4 testing in hypothyroidism. At first, patients were elated, hopeful, feeling like they were finally being heard! Maybe the Canadian Thyroid Foundation said something to open the…
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The pituitary response is abnormal. Stop TSH worship.
After oversimplifying T4 conversion as if it only converts into T3 (see Part 1 of this post), Canada’s endocrinology association make the claim that: “Intracellular T3 levels regulate pituitary secretion and blood levels of TSH, as well as the effects of thyroid hormone in multiple organs.” (1) This may be partially true, but it is…
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REVIEW: TSH does not enhance T3 levels in age
This 2016 research study discovered that TSH plays a role in enhancing T4-T3 conversion, but TSH is less able to enhance T3 levels after age 40. METHODS: Free T3, free T4, and TSH levels from 527, 564 sera collected from patients aged 1 year or greater were studied. … 27,940 samples remaining after exclusion were stratified…
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REVIEW: In illness, T3 testing is more reliable than TSH
In Chatizomaris et al’s (2017) article, Table 2 illustrates the many health conditions — beyond thyroid gland failure — in which a TSH test result is NOT indicative of the patient’s true thyroid hormone status. The table shows what usually happens to thyroid hormones and TSH in a patient who is NOT taking any thyroid…
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Fear of Low TSH causing osteoporosis
Image based on Figure 4 in this source: Gogakos, A. I., Duncan Bassett, J. H., & Williams, G. R. (2010). Thyroid and bone. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 503(1), 129–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2010.06.021 Dear Doctors, You may experience this scenario with some of your thyroid patients. Your patient’s TSH is near the bottom of reference range, but…