Merry Mutts,

One thing I learned was not to take a blood test too seriously, especially not the TSH test.

1) The TSH test is not even testing your thyroid gland, it is only testing your pituitary. In theory, if the pituitary is creating more of the "thyroid stimulating hormone", chances are your thyroid is low. This is not always accurate, for numerous reasons.

2) The TSH test has a variety of ranges, depending on what doctor you go to. The same exact blood test may be interpreted differently from one doctor to the next. This tends to decrease any validity received from TSH test score.

3) Approximately 60% of women are supposed to be in some way unbalanced in their thyroid gland secretion. Most of these women do NOT even know it. For this reason, when blood tests are taken, you have to read them with a grain of salt AND in conjunction with one another. This is because these blood tests are comparing you to "normal" society. If this "normal" society includes as many undiagnosed hypothyroid people as my doctor believes, then your blood results don't mean anything.

4) Free T4 and Free T3 tests are probably the most important out of any of the thyroid blood panels - but you must have a T3 and a T4 blood panel taken in order for the Free T4 and Free T3 results to be interpreted. This is because these tests rate the amount of thyroid hormones present in your body [as indicated in the T3 and T4 panels] that are actually AVAILABLE for use in your body - NOT the total amount present.

If you have a high level of binding proteins [which you DEFINITELY WILL HAVE if you are on the birth control pill] then you might have a sufficient amount of TOTAL T3 or T4 present, but not a sufficient amount of active T4 or T3. The binding proteins attach themselves to the T3 and T4, making those hormones inactive. So, while you might test normal in T3 and T4 tests, Free T3 and Free T4 show you truly what amounts are available for use in your body. Therefore, a "normal" reading of your TSH or T4 and T3 tests could still miss a truly hypothyroid individual.

5) Reverse tests are important too, because it shows you if your body is attacking the remaining viable T3 or T4 hormones in your body. So, if you are producing the right number of T3 or T4 hormones, and have a sufficient amount left free floating for use, it still doesn't reflect the amount available for use because of this factor.

6) Therefore, if you are going to get your thyroid tested by blood work, you need to have the T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, and Reverse T4 done in addition to the TSH.

7) Although T4 is more prevalent than T3 in the body, T3 is the hormone that regulates energy level and metabolism. For this reason, taking T4 supplements alone will not alleviate the symptoms of hypothyroidism. You need to make sure to be put on a T3 replacement specifically - which you will get on Armour, but NOT on Synthroid or Levoxyl.

8) Although there are a number of blood tests to have taken and to read in CONJUNTION with one another, a better indicator of hypothyroidism is your body temperature. If your temperature is consistently below 98.0, then you probably have hypothyroidism. This is because the lack of T3 in your body reduces your metabolism and energy levels.

As you can tell - I have been doing a lot of research on these areas. If I hadn't, I probably would never have been diagnosed myself, even though I had a genetic history and knew for four years prior to ultimate diagnosis. My mom had undiagnosed hypothyroidism for 12 years, and then was only on a T4 replacement for 20 more. Just this past April I brought her to my doctor, and he put her on a special mix of T3 and T4 together. She's lost over 11 pounds since starting her mix in May, and that is without any additional effort on her part.

It's amazing how living with a functioning thyroid gland can do for your weight and energy levels!! My mother has never known what normal feels like, because she's been undiagnosed and undermedicated for all of her adult life.

Anyway, I highlight some of my personal history to point out that getting help in this area requires a lot of effort on your part - effort to educate yourself, effort to remove the societal notions that the symptoms are "normal" and a result of the natural aging process in women, and effort to find a doctor who knows this area. Not many doctors do know, but worse, most think that they do.

My doctor is amazing - I have been referring people to see him at his office, which is in Torrance, California. I fly in to see him, and have flown family from Maryland & NYC to see him. I have had people fly in to see him from NC and AZ, too. He is worth it. Everyone who has seen him loves him because he is so knowledgable and helpful and he listens. His main motivator does not appear to financial, either. He is hypothyroid, and really wants to help women feel better.

I will send you information on how to get diagnosed, and other information about thyroidism if you want to e-mail me = this goes for ANYONE.

thyroid~justice.com [thryoid AT justice.com]