Our medical system has invested so much in the TSH test that we’ve given it authority to override medical discernment about thyrotoxicosis. The oft-repeated mantras that “TSH is the most sensitive and specific test” and “the only necessary test” have blinded many doctors to the diverse influences that can suppress or inflate TSH secretion. Many doctors are reducing hypothyroid patients’ thyroid medication doses on the basis of a TSH number alone. However, this TSH-centric view of thyrotoxicosis is inconsistent with the definition found in the most respected textbook in endocrinology. This leading authority defines thyrotoxicosis based on high Free T3 …
Category: Scientific research analysis
Thyrotoxicosis? Many factors can lower TSH
Many substances and health factors can, independently of thyroid hormones, lower TSH secretion significantly. These factors are not listed in Braverman & Cooper’s chapter on thyrotoxicosis in Werner & Ingbar’s The Thyroid textbook, 10th edition 2013, because their chapter avoids defining the syndrome by a low TSH. Nevertheless, these TSH-lowering factors should always be mentioned along with “thyrotoxicosis” in the context of today’s TSH-worship. Whenever doctors see low TSH lab results with normal thyroid hormones, they may presume it’s subclinical thyrotoxicosis and that they must do something about it. Essentially, these are temporary and variable factors that induce “acquired central …
References for Thyrotoxicosis vs. Low TSH series
Posts in this series July 2019 Thyrotoxicosis? Many factors can lower TSH Thyrotoxicosis: Symptoms and signs Thyrotoxicosis vs. Low TSH Thyrotoxicosis can occur with high or normal TSH? TSH “can be very misleading” during thyroid therapy, say researchers How TSH ultrashort feedback works, and antibody interference Pregnancy thyrotoxicosis vs just a low TSH due to HCG hormone REFERENCES Anderson, J. L., Jacobs, V., May, H. T., Bair, T. L., Lappé, D. L., Muhlestein, J. B., … Bunch, T. J. (2018). Abstract 11290: Free Thyroxine (fT4) Within the Reference (‘Normal’) Range Predicts Risk of Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation, 138(Suppl_1), A11290–A11290. https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.138.suppl_1.11290 Bargi-Souza, …
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 co-authored by three women and two men from Portugal emphasizes the research on hypothyroidism, especially T3 deficiency, and its adverse effects on ischemic heart disease. In the past, I’ve written a prior campaign blog article about thyroid hormones and the cardiovascular system, but none of …
Question Pilo’s Study: Thyroid Hormone Reductionism
Many aspects of biology are incredibly complex. People love simplicity. It’s necessary for a model to reduce a system down to its basic principles and proportions. Pilo’s research study published in 1990 is now cited as the definitive proof of where human beings’ T3 thyroid hormone supply comes from. Pilo’s paper is what many people point to when they say that “the” thyroid secretes T4 and T3 at a molar ratio of 14:1. Pilo is often who they cite when they claim that 20% of our T3 comes from the thyroid gland, and 80% of our T3 comes from peripheral …