Thyroid Hormones Part 3: Misunderstood and Mismanaged

It is widely known by endocrinologists, physicians and the medical community that low thyroid function is always secondary to something else; yet, the issue of the autoimmune attack is almost never addressed. Instead, patients are considered to be managed and treated properly when the TSH normalizes. In a sense, the patient is having his or her thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) managed, but the underlying mechanism for low thyroid function (the autoimmune attack) is not. In many instances, a doctor will even refuse to run thyroid antibodies because it is not seen as an effective agent of change for the prevailing method of treatment.

In conventional medicine, “the replacement model”; a drug, or in this case a hormone, is meant to replace actual physiology. Any symptoms that remain after the normalization of the TSH marker are attributed to some other cause. In other words, the prevailing medical thinking is that because the TSH reads as normal on the lab report, or within laboratory range for prescribing medicine, not only should the symptoms be resolved, but that the drug being taken has worked as a perfect replacement for actual thyroid hormone.

For example, if a thyroid condition is causing depression, which it commonly does, then the medical doctor or psychiatrist will give antidepressants instead of trying to identify and correct the root cause, because if the TSH, which is the standard measure of thyroid function, is now in the normal laboratory range, how could the depression symptoms be related? On the surface, it seems logical. Sometimes the physician will prescribe an antidepressant and imply that it’s all in the patient’s head.

Perhaps individuals do suffer depression as a result of the thyroid problem that is not being managed properly, or it might be that they are depressed because they have a chronic problem that no one is taking seriously and the only alternative they have been given is more pills. Either way, an antidepressant isn’t the cure.

In most cases, because the actual autoimmune response is ignored, over time, patients will continue to lose more thyroid activity and the requirements for a thyroid replacement hormone prescription continue to rise. Even more importantly, despite the fact that the TSH is considered “managed” with replacement thyroid hormones, Autoimmune thyroid patients will continue to have all the symptoms of low thyroid function. Why run extra tests if the doctor is not going to alter the treatment based on the test results? This is considered “waste” in the HMO insurance model that has become so prevalent in this country.

Dr. Doug Pucci, DC, DPSc, DAAIM, is a licensed member of the Pastoral Medical Association, a doctor of chiropractic medicine, holds certificate status from the American Functional Neurology Institute and is a diplomate of the American Association of Integrative Medicine. For more information, call 201-261-5430 or visit GetWell-Now.com.