Blog — thyroid

*By Jim Paoletti, ZRT Laboratpry Many patients who produce sufficient hormone from the gland still suffer from low thyroid symptoms. Hypothyroidism is defined as: “lack of thyroid hormone production from the thyroid gland.”  When thyroid levels are not within normal ranges, many conventional treatment protocols rush into thyroid replacement therapy. Two problems exist with this approach: If the patient has normal levels of T4 and T3—but a slightly elevated TSH—they are classified as “Subclinical Hypothyroid” and continue to suffer from symptoms. If the patient has low levels of T4 and/or T3, they are given thyroid replacement therapy—even though they may produce...

By Dr. Kate Placzek, ZRT Laboratory I was so tired. I needed a new word for tired. I felt exhausted and incapacitated, utterly drained and hollowed out. It was like my brain and body were fading. And yet, these words are still not descriptive enough to relate how I felt. Getting out of bed felt grueling, punishing. I was 24 at the time, in my 4th year of my PhD program at Purdue University. I was newly engaged and so in love with my soon-to-be husband. Really good things were happening in my life. And I could barely function. On the...

Part 2 By Margaret Groves As more health care practitioners have understood the need to assess thyroid function based on what is going on at the cellular level, there has been an increasing demand for testing of reverse T3 (rT3), a hormone sometimes referred to as the “hibernation hormone.” However, there is also much confusion about how it fits into the picture of thyroid function, and controversy regarding whether or not there is a clinical utility for this test in patients suffering from thyroid imbalance symptoms. The “hibernation hormone” that isn’t Technically, the term “hibernation hormone” is inappropriate to describe reverse T3.  Reverse...