Risk Factors of Thyroid Hormone

Replacement Therapy

“Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well” Marcus Valerius Martial

The topic of hormones is riddled with hot debate. If our hormones are out of balance, do we use prescription synthetic hormones or "Bio-Identical Hormones"? Are we better off using herbs or another remedy? The schools of thought on this topic vary widely.

When doctors diagnose hypothyroidism, they see that thyroid hormones are low and that TSH is high. There are 2 types of hypothyroidism: non-autoimmune and autoimmune hypothyroidism.

Non-autoimmune hypothyroidism means the person doesn’t have enough thyroid hormones to function properly.

In autoimmune hypothyroidism, there can be antibodies, or tags, that are made against certain enzymes or proteins involved in thyroid hormone production. Doctors often do not run antibody tests when looking at TSH and thyroid hormone levels. Antibodies are what the immune system produces against invaders, a sort of tagging system. Running the right antibody tests is a good first step towards the diagnosis autoimmune hypothyroidism. Even if an antibody test comes back negative, this does not exclude autoimmunity. Sometimes, the body is too weak to produce antibodies. Even if your thyroid has been removed, you can still have autoimmune hypothyroidism. Autoimmune hypothyroidism is the leading cause of hypothyroidism in the United States, and it is grossly misdiagnosed.

Why don’t doctors test for thyroid antibodies? Doctors do not routinely test for thyroid antibodies because low thyroid hormone in the body essentially means the same thing: you need more thyroid hormone. Once labs come back and verify that the pituitary gland is pumping out extra hormones (TSH) to stimulate the production of more thyroid hormone, then a prescription for Synthroid or Armour is written. Both Synthroid and Armour are thyroid hormone replacement medications.