Therapy paradigms
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Interpreting Free T3 and Free T4 in therapy
Hypothyroidism is a thyroid hormone insufficiency, so it’s only logical to measure the success of therapy by the goal: T4 and T3 thyroid hormone sufficiency. Especially T3 sufficiency, the active hormone. Lab tests like Free T3 and Free T4 can indicate “relative” T3 and T4 sufficiency in bloodstream … but one has to carefully interpret…
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Why T4 monotherapy has dominated
All thyroid hormone medications have the potential to be effective: L-T4 (Levothyroxine), L-T3 (Liothyronine), and natural desiccated thyroid (DTE / NDT). However, each patient is unique in their response to these medications. Optimizing a patient’s lifelong therapy involves finding the right thyroid hormone medication, or a combination of them, to relieve as many symptoms of…
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Renew the paradigm of thyroid therapy
The TSH-centered paradigm is like the old Ptolemaic or Geocentric model of the universe that put Earth at the center. Science has already corrected that incorrect model of the solar system and universe. Likewise, science has already given us enough evidence that the TSH-centric model is incorrect in the sense that it excludes so much that’s…
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All thyroid therapy is artificial
If you prefer natural desiccated thyroid (NDT / DTE) over synthetic thyroid hormone I know you might bristle at my word “artificial.” Animal-derived vs. synthesized — that’s not an argument I get into here. What I argue here is that at a more fundamental level, taking any ORAL thyroid hormone is NOT the same as…
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Why has TSH testing replaced thyroid hormone testing?
For two related reasons: Because it is mistakenly believed that oral doses of thyroid hormone can sufficiently replace the natural secretion of living thyroid gland tissue. It is mistakenly believed that adjusting TSH secretion within the statistical “normal” range will create and/or signify thyroid hormone health in an individual treated thyroid patient. The problem is……