Sun, Jul-22-12, 06:29
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Plan: P:E/DDF
Stats: 225/150/169
BF:45%/28%/25%
Progress: 134%
Location: NC
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Freckles,
Here is a new post on thyroid from Hyperlipid, so as always, a bit technical, but also received some intelligent comments.
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot....el-is-very.html
One comment by William in particular spoke to me:
Quote:
My own endocrinologist, after years of exclusively treating hypothyroidism, has concluded that he has absolutely no idea what a particular patient's TSH, total T4, or freeT4 should be, apart from obviously pathological extremes.
He's very smart. He knows what he doesn't know. He thinks.
Different people clearly do better at quite different TSH and T4 levels, which is consistent with the very wide "normal" lab ranges. But there's no way to know which person should be at TSH 0.5 and which one at TSH 2.5.
Unless you ask them how they feel, that is. Radical!
Harder with the dogs and cats, I know—though our own hypothyroid greyhound tells us very clearly when her dose is suboptimal: spooky behavior, fur loss, and skin hyperpigmentation tell us, no matter what the labs say.
As for total T3, free T3, and reverse T3, my endo stopped even testing these years ago. He found them useless. They never added anything to asking patients how they feel (and monitoring TSH and T4 to avoid gross overdosing or underdosing). Interestingly, this is true even when values fall well outside "normal" ranges, which is why he feels no need to measure them at all.
I am very skeptical of any grand conclusions drawn simply because, say, a dietary change "lowered T3." How can anyone know that is a bad thing? Ron Rosedale believes lowered T3 on low carb diets is actually a sign of slower aging. That sounds pretty good.
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Maybe because I lived in the UK and was always impressed that doctors' had "Consulting Rooms" where they actually listened to the patients' symptoms first before ordering blood tests, colors my view of all these thyroid tests and "normal ranges". If you are not feeling well, try adding some natural iodine from kelp or foods. If you feel better, great. If you don't or feel worse, then move on. I do feel better, but then I am eating more vegetables, up to about 70 carbs from 30, no longer in ketosis, and eat more nutrients of many kinds, including a kelp supplement.
Which change caused improvement?..I don't really care, I feel better.
The issue of iodine dose came up in comments here too: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/07/an-iodine-primer/
Dr Rosedale discussed thyroid function in his latest interview as well:
http://drrosedale.com/blog/2012/07/...-harvard-study/
Hope that you can figure it out soon and feel better, |