After reading a book or two on hypothyroidism, I had all kinds of new fancy opinions. Then I made the mistake of spending some time reading ‘legit’ information, such as that posted on the Internet by thyroid specialists and drug companies.

These sites made me feel as if there’s no way I could possibly have a thyroid disorder – even though all my symtoms are consistent – because my labs are ‘normal’. (Well, the one and only lab I’ve ever been able to get so far.)

Today I visited alt.support.thyroid and a few links off of that, I found this in An Interview with John Dommisse, MD:

“Besides, an elevated TSH can only suggest primary hypothyroidism (in which the defect is in the thyroid gland itself), not secondary, tertiary or nonthyroidal-illness hypothyroidism (in which the defect is in the pituitary, hypothalamus, and peripheral enzymatic conversion of T4-to-T3 with 5’deiodinase, respectively, and TSH is not elevated in these types of hypothyroidism, may even be below its ‘normal range’). If the TSH has any usefulness at all, it only has it in a trio of tests including the FT4 and FT3 as well.”

But then… this guy isn’t even an endo. He’s a shrink. Argh.

There are no thyroid specialists in the entire state of Iowa; I’ve decided to just pick an endocrinologist out of the book next week and make an appointment for the week after I get back from Chicago.
——–