Is your doctor using out-of-date guidelines for assessing your thyroid health?

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists published new guidelines for interpreting thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in 2003. However, many family physicians still use the guidelines that have been out-of-date for over a decade for diagnosing thyroid disease. Learn what the new guidelines are so you can present this information to your doctor.

An estimated 1 out of 10 Americans suffer from thyroid disease, yet half of them remain undiagnosed. In an age in which everyone is aware of the existence and dangers of cancer and diabetes, relatively few are aware of conditions such as hypothyroidism (an under- functioning thyroid) even though there are more thyroid sufferers than there are cancer and diabetes patients combined. Perhaps you are one of the many individuals looking for acupuncture in Del Mar, CA who suffer from thyroid symptoms and suspect a thyroid condition, but every time your doctor tests your thyroid the lab test results all come back “normal.” Many acupuncture thyroid patients in Del Mar, CA and Encinitas, CA have ultimately been told they need to learn to relax, do some meditation, eat less and exercise more, or take an anti-depressant because the problem certainly isn’t their thyroid. The entire process of trying to figure out where the long list of symptoms are coming from, and being told, “There’s nothing physically wrong with you. It’s your imagination,” is almost as exhausting as hypothyroidism itself.

But what if I told you that your symptoms aren’t all in your head? You actually DO have hypothyroidism, and your doctor isn’t reading your test results correctly. If you trust the medical establishment, you might be thinking, “But how could my doctor graduate from medical school and remain in practice if she doesn’t even know how to read a simple lab test result?” The answer is simple. Doctors are very busy. They don’t always have time to keep up with the latest research on every kind of subclinical health issue a patient may have. If you had severe, life-threatening hypothyroidism, your physician would surely be able to recognize it on a thyroid blood test. However, if you have a low-grade case of hypothyroidism (which is what most thyroid sufferers have), with symptoms such as brain fog, lethargy, difficulty sleeping, slow metabolism, cold hands and feet, dry skin and hair, water retention, low libido, infertility, tendency toward miscarriage, anxiety, and depressed mood, you could still very well have thyroid blood test levels in the “normal” range -- according to guidelines set forth before 2003.

If your doctor finished medical school before 2003 and doesn’t specialize in the treatment of thyroid patients, she probably isn’t aware of the new guidelines. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists changed the criteria for the interpretation of the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) test, which is the most basic screening test for thyroid disease, in 2003. The new guidelines are based on the actual TSH levels of healthy individuals in the population who aren’t experiencing any symptoms of thyroid disease or other disease. The TSH guidelines set forth before 2003 are based on the TSH levels of the general population -- both healthy and sick.

According to the old TSH guidelines, a healthy TSH level should be 0.5 to 5.0. According to the new guidelines, a healthy TSH level should be between 0.3 to 3.04. Therefore, if you’re experiencing the symptoms of an underactive thyroid, and your TSH in above 3.04, you most likely really do have hypothyroidism as evidenced by your blood test. These new numbers alone are reason enough to try acupuncture in Del Mar, CA.