Scientific research analysis
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Relational Stability, part 3: Shifting TSH-T4-T3 relationships
Why are some people extremely hypothyroid while their TSH is above reference range, while others have no symptoms and are completely healthy? How important is the Free T3 test when diagnosing true “euthyroid” status within the TSH reference range? Is it true that a normal TSH alone, or a normal TSH and normal FT4 test…
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Relational Stability, Part 2: Normality of TSH and thyroid hormones
Does the statistically-defined “normal” TSH reference range for the healthy population describe the TSH range for a healthy individual? Does having a TSH within the normal laboratory range always mean you, as an individual are biologically euthyroid? Does falling outside statistical TSH normality really mean that you are hypothyroid or thyrotoxic? This is part 2…
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Relational stability among thyroid hormones and TSH, part 1
In a series of posts, I’m sharing my plainer-English paraphrase of a very important article in thyroid science. My hope is that the public, doctors, and educated thyroid patients can better understand and appreciate its insights. This article by Dr. Rudolf Hoermann and colleagues Midgley, Larisch, and Dietrich explains the complex interrelationships between TSH, T4…
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In 1981, Canadian physicians argued T3 was the best test in thyroid therapy
Canadians can take pride in their historical defense of T3 testing in thyroid therapy. Our job defending the T3 test today is to remind people of what has changed since then in thyroid testing, and what is still the same. In 1981, Min Min Wong and Robert Volpé, MD published an article in the Canadian…
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Discordance in thyroid symptoms reported by patients and their doctors
There’s no surprise that patients and doctors would disagree about the incidence rate of hypothyroid symptoms in a given patient. “We have an average of 7.2 symptoms per patient” says the cohort of 262 patients. “No, you have an average of 4.0 symptoms per patient,” says the cohort of 100 doctors about those 262 patients.…