Biochemical bigotry: Enforcing normalized thyroid lab results

Valentine's day is a good day to attempt to promote kindness and tolerance toward people suffering from a rather invisible health condition. Thyroid disease. What better day than today to identify and attempt to remove a medical attitude that is a barrier to effective thyroid therapy ... "biochemical bigotry"? Most doctors take for granted that … Continue reading Biochemical bigotry: Enforcing normalized thyroid lab results

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 … Continue reading Relational Stability, Part 2: Normality of TSH and thyroid hormones

Principles and Practical tips for Reverse T3, FT3, FT4

This post follows up on several recent posts on the topic of Reverse T3 (RT3) and our thyroid hormone conversion enzymes, the three deiodinases. Here I'm providing some practical tips about Reverse T3 testing, test interpretation, and where we should be focusing our attention. In these posts, I aim to improve thyroid therapy by debunking … Continue reading Principles and Practical tips for Reverse T3, FT3, FT4

Individual thyroid ranges are far narrower than lab ranges

We've known since at least 2002 that being within "normal range" is never good enough when it comes to thyroid hormone blood tests. An important set of four articles has taught us that each human being has an optimal range for TSH, Total T4 and Total T3 that is far less the width of the … Continue reading Individual thyroid ranges are far narrower than lab ranges

The Abbott Free T3 test kit recall of 2018-2019

Recently I came across the information about the Free T3 lab test assay kit recall by Abbott Laboratories announced in late 2018. The recall was initiated in October 2018 and the FDA record was published in February 2019. The reason they list is the potential for a mistakenly lower Free T3 test result. "Samples tested … Continue reading The Abbott Free T3 test kit recall of 2018-2019