Posted by bleauberry on June 17, 2009, at 18:53:19
In reply to Thyroid, posted by psyclist123 on June 17, 2009, at 10:45:28
> Is it true that the thyroid has a marked effect on medication. i.e. If your thyroid is low your medication will have a muted effect and if your thyroid is high your medication will have a more vibrant effect?
While it is usually overlooked or not considered, and usually not even known, by general practitioners, I feel cortisol is much more powerful on efficacy of ADs than is thyroid. Though there is partnership interplay between both. Change one, the other follows. Takes time. Months.
Cortisol can be measured by the Adrenal Stress Index test which is a saliva sample taken 4 times throughout the day. Any other kind of one-time cortisol test is useless. You need to see the whole daily pattern, not just some random reading at some point in the day.
But yes, I do believe that when thyroid or cortisol or both are not in optimal ranges it does indeed effect how well things work, quite dramatically actually. I have my own experience to vouch for that.
The problem with thyroid measurements though is what is normal? I tell you, the so-called normal range they use is bogus. It is so wide and broad. Someone who falls smack in the middle of normal could actually display all the symptoms of hypothyroidism and respond very well to thyroid meds. The lab numbers, in the hands of real good doctors, are not the bible. They are merely a guide to see where we are now and to compare to from the future. Good docs use symptoms as a guide more than numbers. The numbers just help to paint the whole picture, but are by no means the definitive thing upon which decisions are made.
What is more important is that our thyroid is optimal...not just normal...but optimal. That involves looking at the relationship of T3, T4, and TSH, and symptoms, to see the bigger picture. Everyone's optimal numbers will be different. Normal is not good enough. It is too broad and it is a flawed range scale.
poster:bleauberry
thread:901512
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090611/msgs/901587.html