Thyroid Testing
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Thyrotoxicosis can occur with high or normal TSH?
Table 17.1 in Braverman & Cooper’s 2013 chapter in Werner & Ingbar’s The Thyroid textbook, 10th edition, lists many causes of thyrotoxicosis. The only time the TSH _hormone_ is listed as a cause of thyrotoxicosis is in the case of “Inappropriate TSH hypersecretion.” If thyrotoxicosis can occur when TSH is inappropriately _high_ or non-suppressed in…
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Thyrotoxicosis vs. Low TSH
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…
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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…
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Thyrotoxicosis: Symptoms and signs
Much confusion exists about the value of symptoms and signs in the diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis. The most common view is to dismiss symptoms entirely because each, considered separately, is “nonspecific” to thyrotoxicosis. However, there is no such thing as a “thyroid-specific” symptom because thyroid hormones have their effects in every organ and system of the body. What’s…
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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…