In a nutshell: You Need the Free T3 Test and your results should be in the top 10% of "normal" .
It is estimated that at least 40% of hypothyroid cases are going undiagnosed because of faulty testing procedures. Here's how to educate your doctor to avoid this fate.
Step 1: Get the Correct Test Free T3 Currently doctors will check to see how high your TSH levels are but this test is not accurate enough.
The TSH is a pituitary gland hormone that kicks in when your thyroid levels get too low. The TSH stimulates the thyroid to make more thyroid hormone. So the medical theory is that if the TSH is too high then something is wrong with the thyroid, it's not making enough
The most accurate test to determine a thyroid problem is the Free T3. T3 is the hormone you need in your cells to keep metabolism up to par and this test tells us how much is circulating in your blood which is as close as we can get to an accurate blood test. There IS a way to see how much T3 actually makes it INTO the cells, and it's a 24-hour urine test. But that can be expensive so most people diagnose by symptoms AND Free T3 blood test. You need the Free T3 test.
The thyroid actually makes T4 hormone (and a little T3) which has to then be converted to T3. A number of minerals are needed to convert T4 to T3 and if you are deficient in a mineral that conversion may not be happening. So the Free T3 test tells us more accurately if you have enough usable thyroid hormone.
Step 2: Read the Lab Results CORRECTLY: "Normal Ranges" aren't Normal in the case of Thyroid
OK, so the doctor has done the right test. What results constitute a sick thyroid gland?
Every lab will measure differently, in different units. When they print out the lab results they will also print out a range of numbers that they consider to be "normal". The doctor doesn't have these normal ranges memorized, in most cases, so he depends on what the lab tells him is healthy.
But the "normal" ranges are produced by taking all the results of every thyroid test they have ever given, averaging them out, and chopping off the extreme 5% at top and bottom.
This way of arriving at "normal" values doesn't work in the case of thyroid. Because who gets tested for thyroid? Only sick people who are showing strong signs that they might HAVE a thyroid problem already! So these "normal " values are mostly "sick" values. And, in fact, the collective experience of thyroid patients is that most do not feel good unless their values on the Free T3 test are in the top 10% of this "normal" range.
This value range is so unreliable that we know now that women in the lower 20 percentile of "normal" on the Free T3 thyroid hormone test have an almost certain chance of developing dementia. How normal is that?
To feel good, Free T3 values need to be in the upper 10% of the laboratory's range of "normal" values.
Read the experiences of 30 years of bad testing, bad diagnoses, and bad prescriptions at http://stopthethyroidmadness.com.
Step 3: Take the Right Medicine
There is a synthetic T4 that many doctors today prescribe. The idea is that it is more natural to let the body convert to T3. But if we have problems with the conversion we can be just as hypo as ever despite taking optimal amounts of this drug. Most people feel better when they are able to take direct T3 and many are taking a combination. But many people don't even have good results with both T4 and T3 probably because the thyroid makes more hormones than just T4. It makes T1 and T2 and Calcitonin (for bones).
Many people find relief taking the entire spectrum of hormones that the thyroid gland makes by taking dessicated pig thyroid. Pig organs are closer to human organs than those of any other mammal. Doctors have complained that amounts of the hormones in dessicated pig thyroid tablets aren't standardized, but this has been solidly refuted.
There is only one big difference between a pig thyroid and a human thyroid and that is that the human thyroid makes slightly more T4. For that reason a some people are experimenting with adding the synthetic T4 products to their Armour regimen.
You will probably have to educate your doctor. Those whose pride is invested in their accuracy - and not your good health - may be rude.
It won't be the first time! Don't let that keep you from taking good care of yourself.
You can talk to others who have been on a hunt for informed doctors. http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com is one place to find them.
