The only genuine symptoms of Hypothyroidism are inability of the Thyroid to supply sufficient Thyroxine & Triiodothyronine, A Damaged Hypothalamus and/or Pituitary Glands, Goitre, and Cancerous and Benign Nodules on the Thyroid Gland.
All the other symptoms we experience are in fact symptoms of Free Triiodothyronine (FT3) Deficiency.
It all comes down to the UK medical profession's definition of Hypothyroidism. The Failure of the Thyroid Gland to Supply Sufficient Hormones. It is no more and no less than that.
This is why when we complain to the doctor about our "hypothyroid symptoms' s/he essentially ignores us and treats us like the idiots we are. Furthermore, when treating us for Hypothyroidism, s/he considers the fact that we are FT3 deficient to be an irrelevancy. The only remedy for Hypothyroidism is to restore a healthy Free Thyroxine (FT4).
So if we want treating we need to complain about being Free Triiodothyronine (FT3) Deficient.
We need to play their little game and win.
Written by
mighty_mouse
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You are saying that we need to restore a healthy FT4 as the only remedy. In your next paragraph you mention we need to complain about being T3 deficient.....surely these two comments are contradictory or perhaps I have missed the point ! As it seems almost impossible to have the FT3 tested on the NHS it seems an uphill struggle....
Conversion problems also spring to mind....am sure you will enlighten me....
I agree that FT3 testing is the desirable test for replacement therapy. FT4 is less good, because sometimes, if a patient has only a small thyroid reserve working, you need to take a lot of T4 to force the tissues to produce enough FT3 - so you can get high-normal or just above-normal FT4 and suppressed TSH. And we must remember two other things. First, if you are also suffering from a nonthyroidal illness, the body produces more reverse T3 and less FT3, to cut down your metabolism (a kind of "hibernation" response). So FT3 should only be measured knowing that the patient is otherwise well. In other cases, either wait to get better from the nonthyroidal illness before testing, or combine rT3 and FT3 tests. Also FT3 tests are very badly made (50% variation in actual numbers, depending on the manufacturer). This is a strong reason why FT3 is not taken up and why the simpler, cheaper and more consistent TSH test has predominance.
It's an interesting point you make, diogenes, regarding a 50% variation in the testing of FT3 - I've noticed a "trend" when comparing my test results over the years when FT3 was tested together with TSH and FT4 against the times when only TSH and T4 were tested. This being that when FT3 was tested (4 times in 12 years) the TSH is always very low (suppressed) ie 0.008-0.59 (range 0.35-4.94mu/L) and the T4 high, ie 17.76-21.6 (range 9.00-19.00pmol/L). Either side (over the years) the TSH ranged from 1.15-3.54 (same range). I wonder if sharing the blood for the third (T3) test produces a weaker serum perhaps? Any views?
Not really. The problem is that the various manufacturers produce FT3 tests with their own particular numerical range. For example, in one source of test you might get a number of about 5 for your blood, in another from a different source a number of say 3.5. The two tests have been standardised differently and therefore their normal ranges are different. This causes confusion if your blood is measured by more than one source of test. There's a desperate need to unify all the tests so they read the same. Otherwise if you move from one testing place to another your GP can be very confused about what is going on.
Rather because a) its expensive and b) it is yet one more step more removed from "the action" ie thyroidal output and body cell receptor response. There are so many possibilities for each individual for regulation at each level of action and so many different pathways for regulation that the further away the test is from the actual important response (thyroidal output and T4-3 conversion) the less likely it is to be a definitive test suitable as a screen. TRH is OK to test the response of the thyroid gland by injection. Eg if you are hyper, your TSH won't rise in response, if euthyroid it will.
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