"If you've tested positive for antibodies, and have a TSH in the "normal range," but still don't feel well, you may with to consult with a practitioner who has this philosophy.
"One such practitioner is Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, an MD who runs Her Place, a women's health clinic at All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth, and author of Screaming to be Heard: Hormonal Connections Women Suspect...and Doctors Ignore. Dr. Vliet does not believe that TSH tests are the almightly indicator of a woman's thyroid health. Dr. Vliet says that symptoms, along with elevated thyroid antibodies and normal TSH, may be a reason for treatment with thyroid hormone. Here's a quote from her book:
"The problem I have found is that too often women are told their thyroid is normal without having the complete thyroid tests done. Of course, what most people, and many physicians, don't realize is that...a 'normal range' on a laboratory report is just that: a range. A given person may require higher or lower levels to feel well and to function optimally. I think we must look at the lab results along with the clinical picture described by the patient...I have a series of more than a hundred patients, all but two are women, who had a normal TSH and turned out to have significantly elevated thyroid antibodies that meant they needed thyroid medication in order to feel normal. This type of oversight is particularly common with a type of thyroid disease called thyroiditis, which is about 25 times more common in females than males...a woman may experience the symptoms of disease months to years before TSH goes up..."
It sounds as though your doctor is doing the right thing by testing you often. Is she or he a general practitioner? It might be time to find an endocrinologist and ask for a second opinion. Thoughts?
Comment Reply
Hi, Anon!
Welcome to EmpowHer, and thank you for your question!
Can you tell us exacty which thyroid tests were done? Was it TSH, Free T3, Total T3, Free T4, Total T4?
And all your levels were in the "normal" ranges?
If you are not sure, here is a good chart on interpreting your thyroid results:
http://thyroid.about.com/library/howto/htthyroid-test.htm
And here's a page on thyroid antibodies, to treat or not to treat:
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/basics_starthere/a/antibody.htm
This is an excerpt from that page<
"If you've tested positive for antibodies, and have a TSH in the "normal range," but still don't feel well, you may with to consult with a practitioner who has this philosophy.
"One such practitioner is Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, an MD who runs Her Place, a women's health clinic at All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth, and author of Screaming to be Heard: Hormonal Connections Women Suspect...and Doctors Ignore. Dr. Vliet does not believe that TSH tests are the almightly indicator of a woman's thyroid health. Dr. Vliet says that symptoms, along with elevated thyroid antibodies and normal TSH, may be a reason for treatment with thyroid hormone. Here's a quote from her book:
"The problem I have found is that too often women are told their thyroid is normal without having the complete thyroid tests done. Of course, what most people, and many physicians, don't realize is that...a 'normal range' on a laboratory report is just that: a range. A given person may require higher or lower levels to feel well and to function optimally. I think we must look at the lab results along with the clinical picture described by the patient...I have a series of more than a hundred patients, all but two are women, who had a normal TSH and turned out to have significantly elevated thyroid antibodies that meant they needed thyroid medication in order to feel normal. This type of oversight is particularly common with a type of thyroid disease called thyroiditis, which is about 25 times more common in females than males...a woman may experience the symptoms of disease months to years before TSH goes up..."
It sounds as though your doctor is doing the right thing by testing you often. Is she or he a general practitioner? It might be time to find an endocrinologist and ask for a second opinion. Thoughts?
December 9, 2009 - 8:58amThis Comment
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