Thyroid Autoimmunity
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Antibody status may hide thyroid dysfunction under a normal TSH
This article is part of a series of examples that illustrate why a normal TSH cannot rule out thyroid disease or dysfunction. In a recent series of posts, I revealed the science revealing distortions in the HPT axis due to age and sex (See “Age bias may hide hypothyroidism under a normal TSH“). Antibody distortions…
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TBAb hypothyroidism diagnosed in a mother and baby
In this post, I’d like to share with you a real-life story, suitable for the holiday season, that might warm your hearts as much as it warmed mine. And by the end, it might even motivate you to learn more or take action. Newsflash from 2016: A newborn baby’s hypothyroidism with a TSH of 117…
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The TSAb stimulating antibody can lower TSH despite euthyroid status.
According to scientific research, the Graves’ TSH receptor-stimulating antibody (TSAb) can directly manipulate the TSH—independently of thyroid hormone levels. For many decades, scientists have been very puzzled by the fact that “TSH can remain suppressed after treatment for Graves’ disease, even in the setting of biochemical and clinical euthyroidism” (Yu & Faranhi, 2015). In other…
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The Spectrum of Thyroid Autoimmunity
Let’s get to know what many of us thyroid patients have in common, and what makes each of us unique. Are you an autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) patient? If so, what kind of autoimmune thyroid disease do you have? How do you know for sure? I ask this final question because very few of us…
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Overlooked: How many Hashimoto’s patients with TSH-Receptor antibodies?
Graves’ disease patients routinely get tested for the TSH-Receptor antibody (TRAb) when they become hyperthyroid. Hashimoto’s patients with TRAb antibodies, on the other hand, are overlooked. Just how many of us are being overlooked in various countries? The thyroid-stimulating antibody seen in Graves’ disease is only one of two TSH-Receptor antibodies: TSAb stimulates the TSH…