Posted by bleauberry on October 6, 2011, at 5:07:58
In reply to TSH is high, posted by Deneb on October 4, 2011, at 14:08:07
Since weight loss seems important to you, your progress is great!
As for thyroid, those tests are actually not very helpful without knowing what Free T3, Free T4, and thyroid antibodies are. Without including those in a comprehensive thyroid exam, the TSH and T4 values alone do not paint a very good picture of what's actually going on.
Another issue is the supposed normal reference range used, which often will vary from lab to lab. Furthermore, those references ranges are for general usage but do not include all individual cases. For example it is quite possible for someone to be hypothyroid and yet test as normal or even hyperthyroid. Response to thyroid med/herb trials is really the only way to confirm for sure if there is a thyroid issue involved. As in the previous example, someone with all the symptoms of hypothyroid....yet they tested as normal....can respond wonderfully to thyroid treatment....meaning the test was wrong the person was actually hypothyroid.
We can measure the amount of hormone in the blood, but that gives us no clue as to whether it is being received at the docking station on the receptors. Other things such as infection debris or metals or other contaminants can clog those. So in those situations a person will appear normal in a test, but in reality their hormone isn't getting the job done because of competition and so more of the hormone is needed to compete.
Anyway, I'm not a doctor and this is all just general discussion stuff, but I just wanted to point out that thyroid issues are not as clear cut as most doctors seem to convince themselves it is.
poster:bleauberry
thread:998722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111006/msgs/998896.html