Hi, I had private thyroid antibody tests. My thyroid antibodies were in normal range. I thought this was fine until I heard on the recent thyroid summit that antibodies weren't normal if more than '1' which is enough for controlling/initiating cell death and no higher requirement is needed.
Anyone else hear, or have a considered opinion ?
Many thanks
Lynne
LynneG,
My understanding is that most adults will have some thyroid antibodies and Hashimoto's is confirmed if thyroid peroxidase &/or thyroglobulin antibodies are over range.
That's what I had previously thought. But we all know ranges are just made up from samples of people many of whom will have undiagnosed issues. This is especially the case with Thyroid as tere are so many undiagnosed people and that is why we are alerted to the fact that the lab ranges really should not be respected eg TSH/B12/fibrinogen/CRP/ transferrin %/ ferritin - they are just the ones that I have had concerns with.
Some, you need to be ideally at the top of the range or above and others the bottom of the ranges or the middle.
I never quite got the antibodies because I would have thought that you don't want any at all against your own tissue. That is until I learned that our bodies create some to control cell death a necessary factor. And so had thought that being within range re antibodies was OK.
When I heard the thyroid expert interviews and the fact that we need no more than a blood level of 1, I was quite shocked. Basically the advice was if you have more then 1, there could quite possibly be an escalation and that you need to be proactive and reduce them, just as you would if over range
LynneG,
The ranges are calibrated to the analysis machines used and to a local population sample. Of course there may be optimal areas within a range, especially some of the broader ranges, but that doesn't mean the ranges are wrong or should be ignored.
It may be that the antibody range in the USA calibrates <1 as negative. In the UK it varies and in different areas <34, <60, <100 and <160 are the ranges used for thyroid peroxidase.
Thanks clutter for the clarification re US and UK different labs and machines. It seems though to me therefore that we need to still be in the bottom of what ever range a lab uses when it comes to antibodies. With your information I should have said the very bottom of what ever range then 
However, I do feel that now having heard this - I still need to be proactive and have measured again in the future to see if there is any reduction in antibodies with being proactive or escalation re climbing TSH which is being ignored as in range still. I just personally think that this is yet another example or reassurance by the UK med profession that could be misleading
For instanceI know from the work of British GP/cardiology specialist for instance that fibrinogen is a major factor in heart disease and that our blood level should be low normal. Register Normal high but within range and we are at risk of heart attack/disease (Fibrinogen levels are something that RA patients like myself have a problem with so much so that it could be used as a marker to determine RA) However it is not normally measured unless you ask for it to be because there is no pharmaceutical prescription that they can then hand you. So the med prof ignores. Even tho it is written in their little guide book that my GP proved was stuffed at the back of her bottom drawer along with old socks. There are natural ways and nutritional supplements that can be used to bring fibrinogen levels down but as they are not in the vision of medical care, testing that could save lives is being ignored and ranges misleading.
Perhaps the range is just outdated and not meant to mislead but it still does.
I had a vit B12 test 6 yrs ago and was told normal by GP and sent on my merry way, unsuspecting. I later found that my B12 had been at the very bottom of the range at 191 (191-700) if I had been at 190 a tiny bit lower, I would have received specific advice and possibly injections considering my family history. Now the bottom of the range a few years later has been raised to 197. And also often other countries base their lab ranges and intervention markers on more uptodate science. The Japanese for instance have their normal range parameters for B12 set at 500-1300.
CRP (inflammation marker) should be 1 or less but if 5, in the UK we are told we are fine and dandy if 5. Inflammation is at the root of all ill health and chronic disease.
I am afraid that every which way I turn when trying to learn to support my health and be proactive is always marred by GP's ignorance and total reliance on Blood level ranges.
I just worry that our reliance on ranges for antibodies would lead down a similar path after hearing this information.
I think it is important that there is awareness of such so that people can make their own minds up and act accordingly.
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