Re: More on the 'other' thyroid hormones

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure that they can test T1 and T2.... they are only just beginning to understand what their function is... T2 is being linked to metabolism and weight management.. and T1 is being linked to brain function.

Both are obtained through the same conversion process as T3... so if you are testing with low levels of T3, indicating poor conversion... the T2 and T1 will be low as well.

Remember T4 has four iodine molecules, during the conversion process a selenium molecule attaches to an iodine molecule and pulls it off, leaving a T3, to obtain T2, another selenium molecule attaches to an iodine molecule of a T3 and pulls it off.... same for T1... the T2 has an iodine molecule pulled off.....

For Calcitonin... if your body isn't making it, and you aren't taking natural or one of the new Calcitonin nasal sprays that I've heard of.. you ain't getting it.

As for test ranges and where the come from.. here is the best info I've found on how the new TSH ranges came to be....

http://www.thyroid.org.au/Information/NormalTSH.html

it's worth a few minutes of your time to read this and look at the charts... it will be easy to see why it should be NOT be acceptable to allow a doc to keep you at a TSH of, for example, 2.0 and saying that you are well within 'normal range' and to feel like crap... there is a reason that we are always suggesting that everyone aims for lower TSH levels and that it's more important to to monitor the thyroid levels rather than TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, the messenger to the thyroid to increase or decrease thyroid gland production.)

Stop and think about it a minute.. if you are taking thyroid hormone and have either no thyroid function or very little... why would it be acceptable for the pituitary to continue to shout at the thyroid gland (high levels of TSH) to produce more, if it can't???

To have any TSH reading at all means that the body senses that it needs more thyroid hormone.... to have a low TSH means that the body is not screaming for more. BUT, remember, too.. the it's the level of T4 in the system that is used to clue the pituitary and it's TSH signal... so if you are taking a T4 only med and/or are a poor converter... you can have a low TSH, a relatively high T4 and still be deficient in T3... and since T3 in the active thyroid hormone, it's level being too low means that you will be suffering hypo symptoms...

That is why it's MANDATORY, especially for those on T4 only meds, to monitor their Free T3 levels..... and why its a very good idea for everyone, synthetic or natural users, to become familiar with self monitoring to be able to see how their bodies are doing...

Topper ()

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:15:08 -0000 "dawn prince" writes:

Hi,Exactly right Gossimer. I was just thinking [uh oh], and I was looking at some old test results and I could not see T1 and T2 having been tested, or does that have another name? Who was it that came up with these # scales someone that knew what they were doing or some tech who only saw blood samples and petrie dishes?Dawn