Jessica Yadegaran of the Contra Costa Times has published an excellent article at the DailyNews.com site that focuses on how difficult it can be to actually get a proper thyroid diagnosis.Yadegaran's article features thyroid, hormone and metabolism expert Dr. Kent Holtorf, who was recently featured here at the About.com Thyroid site, talking about Long Term Weight Loss for Thyroid Patients: Hormonal Factors That Affect Diets.
Here's an especially on-target quote from Yadegaran's piece:
"There is debate among health care providers as to what is normal TSH and if it is even the most accurate marker for hypothyroidism. For instance, Kaiser Permanente considers a healthy TSH range to be 0.1 to 5.5, while the labs at Stanford University's School of Medicine use 0.4 to 4.0. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends treatment for patients who test outside a TSH level of 0.3 to 3.0.Also, more and more research is proving that levels of other thyroid hormones such as T4 (thyroxine hormone) and especially T3 (triiodothyronine hormone) provide a better picture of hypothyroidism..."Read the full article -- Thyroid disease may create a life of ups and downs -- now.
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Mary, I can not thank you enough for providing all the wonderful information regarding Thyroid Issues. I was told I had thyroid problems about 3 months ago. I have learned so much about taking care of myself and how to take the medicine and what not to drink when taking the medicine from your newsletter.
The doctors do not tell you all of this and in fact I was drinking orange juice with my medicine before I read one of your newsletters and learned this was not a good thing.
Thank you again!
Thank you Mary for so much good information. It is clearer now why I can’t loose weight. Never been a big on lots of food but this is really bad for me as one meal a day is an ideal I can’t always live with for long.
My TSH is now with T3 and T4 non existant and diabetes, cholesterol. Gee I think I’d rather the Graves instead of the RAI that has made life harder for me some 20 years later. I don’t live well with the weight nor the meds reaction to them. I won’t add the normal reaction feeling down as this will only add another medication to cope with as I react badly to these as well.
I complained to my Endocrinologist that I was having chest pains a couple of hours after taking my Synthyroid. He made me see a cardiac doctor. The Cardiac Doctor’s Nurse made an off the collar comment that they have been seeing a lot of female patients coming to them with complaints similar to mine after being taken off their Armour Thyroid. I have tolerated Levoxyl better but Armour gives me a sense of well being.
I had to go to a Body Logic Doctor to get diagnosed and treated for my Thyroid. It turned out to be AI Hashimoto’s. I’ve been complaining about cold feet, arthritic type pains, boot strap stiffness in my ankles, fatigue, depression, since I was 42. Heavy Periods, elevated cholesterol levels for 5 years prior to menopause. I am now 57 years old and after three days on Armour Thyroid my feet are now warm. My Cholesterol level returned to normal without drugs once I was started on Thyroid. I had been to multiple doctors who would say it was my Thyroid but would interpret the results per the lab normals written on the paper. I’ve had seven Thyroid Tests done yearly without getting treated. My Thyroid TSH ranged from 2.36 to 3.74 . I’ve been on antidepressants, arthritis meds, endometrial ablation done for the bleeding and prescribed Cholesterol lowering meds despite my insistence that my diet was good. I blame my psychiatrist, my family practice MD’s, my OB Gyne… no one asked for me to see my labs which I always bring with me. A system needs to be set into place for universal lab work availability. Wireless component??? I’ve laid around for years, cold feet days were unproductive, been taunted that I was brain dead, confused easily, moppey, unhappy facial look, tolerated stress poorly, complained about not having a back-up battery system. My adrenal tests were always normal.
By the way, I still complained about joint stiffness until I inadvertantly doubled my new Thyroid dose for one week and I haven’t complained since. My life still goes up and down but at least with the Armour Thyroid…I feel alot better on most days and my feet are finally warm.
Also, I got depressed after my third baby, then 9 years later I fell apart. I do believe it was all related to my Thyroid and an extremely stressful job.
Terri G. 57 years old
your stuff is awsome. i have it too and im only 15. my mom got it too and shes almost 46 i think. this stuff that were reading is really helping us. i hate this . i hate felling like crap all the time. wish it would just go away.
FREE Health Education Seminar!!
Advances in the Surgical Management of Thyroid Disease
Thursday, April 15th, 2010, 6:15pm
Weill Greenberg Center (2nd Fl.) 1305 York Ave., E 70th St.
RSVP at mmprc@med.cornell.edu OR call (646) 962-5721