Re: Chris-TSH stuff

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

You are 100% right. TSH should not be the only diagnostic tool a physician uses

to determine if a patient needs thyroid replacement. I agree with everything you

said...patients' symptoms are the best test. Try getting some physicians to

agree with this, though... Fortunately some do; however, it seems that many just

want to look at the numbers and really don't care how the patients are feeling.

My mom had that problem. She was diagnosed as hyperthyroid when I was a kid, had

a toxic goiter (I think), and had about 60% of her thyroid removed. She's been

having hypothyroid symptoms for quite some time; however, her doctor believed

you could only be hypothyroid if your TSH was over 10 (that's what he told her).

He didn't care about her symptoms and refused to treat her.

Her TSH was 3.5 I think. I sent her the link from the AACE that I posted, she

printed it out, and then she took this info to another doc who agreed to treat

her. He is treating her according to symptoms. Her TSH went down, but she was

still having symptoms, so he increased her meds.

Anyway, at least since the AACE changed the lab values for " normal " TSH, a lot

more folks will be able to demand treatment. Still, what about the folks whose

TSH is under 3 and have symptoms?? They may still suffer if they don't have a

doc who treats according to symptoms.

I'm sorry that you have " fallen through the cracks " and not gotten the proper

diagnosis or treatment. If your docs would just listen to you and treat you

accordingly and not just look at lab values, then you would get the help you

need.

Anyway, I'm in 100% agreement with what you say.

I kinda get the feeling you (and another poster) might be thinking I am some big

advocate of TSH. It's hard for me sometimes to interpret without the non-verbal

stuff, so maybe I'm wrong...But in case I in anyway offended you or anyone else,

let me set the record straight.

I didn't post that info to invalidate you or anyone else whose TSH is below

what's considered " normal. " I should have made that clear when I posted it, so

I'm very glad you wrote back and said what you did.

I just wanted to give Carolyn some information since her doc said he would get

her TSH down to 3.0. Since he thinks a 3.0 TSH is an " ideal " for her, I wanted

her to have info that she could arm herself with in order to try to get her TSH

even lower in case she still doesn't feel well at that dosage of medication..

Let's face it, many docs DO treat according to TSH scores. I thought if he was

reluctant to get it lower, this would be something she could use to get him to

lower it.

Anyway, I appreciate your feedback.

Here's something I came across about an hour ago that you might be interested

in. Granted the study was extremely small (only 16 people), but still

interesting nonetheless. I would like to see some additional studies.

http://www.thyroid.org/patients/notes/july02/02_07_22.html

Take care, Sheila

<moneyatwork@...> wrote:

Quite interesting news Sheila. I think this should become a huge awareness for

alot of suffering people out there along with their docs who have seem to place

more emphasis on what a lab parameter says than how the patient feels. Obviously

the TSH doesn't hold alot of weight as a complete diagnosis and never has.

Perhaps it does in some people but not everyone. The TSH shows to be still

unreliable for detecting even mild thyroid disorders. Many members of my family

are hypothyroid (and still) yet these tests mean 100% of a diagnosis to a doc

than any other pertinent data such as family risk and symptomotolgy or other

signs and biomarkers. Yet if it you had symptoms of " depresssion " , " asthma " , or

an " infection " of some kind the reliance is not on a lab test to determine if

the patient can't breathe. They are treated empirically, meaning simply trying

something to see if it works to help the patient breathe again. We give them

something to help them get on with their lives. It's funny

how some docs can be. Like medicine is supposed to be black or white? Is there

something magical about the TSH that we couldn't tell before? Evidence-based

medicine should really be about the patients " tissue response " (how they feel or

respond to treatment) not a lab parameter. You can either treat a lab number or

you can treat the whole patient. Numbers lie, patients symptoms don't. What

better test than the patient themselves? For 80 years prior to 1973 before the

TSH came into existence, clinicians took a complete and careful history, as well

as clinical presentation where a lab parameter held only 10% of a diagnosis!

Now it has become 100% of the diagnosis. Treating a lab slip is not treating a

patient. A lab test is only a lab test. It's just that. It's not a god-send or

end-all! Normal is normal is normal???? How can that be???? The TSH still does

not relate or represent in any way or form how the patient feels. Even in my

case the TSH has been up to 3.34 even though it

flutuates and symptoms left as meaningless to docs. No wonder I have fallen

through the cracks. According to these new ranges I have been misdiagnosed with

a bunch of names like " fibromyalgia " , " depression " , " anxiety disorder " , " chronic

fatigue " , " leaky gut syndrome " , " burnout disorder " , etc,. etc, etc. that

describe how you feel when you your body screams HYPOTHYROID!!!!!!

http://www.aace.com/pub/tam2003/press.php

Re: mary shomon book

Hi there! A TSH of 3 is still borderline hypo.

This summer the new reference ranges for " normal " TSH came out. It's 0.3 to

3.0.

This is according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Many doctors are not aware of this, and many labs still don't have the current

reference ranges listed.

Here's a link. You can print it out and take it to your doctor.

http://www.aace.com/pub/tam2003/press.php

Good luck. Sheila

carolyneswanson@... wrote:

hi all, i just got the thyroid diet guide by mary shomon and

wondered if any one has tried this. it looks pretty good. i'm

about 25lbs overweight and only take synthoid, my NEW doc says he'll

try to get my tsh down to 3 it is now at 6. any thoughts?