The Why

Hi, my name is McCall McPherson, as the founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic and Chief Hope-Giver at Thyroid Nation, I truly believe objective and measurable data is the key and number one necessity to help me give my patients get their life back. Without it, thyroid diagnosis and treatment is a guessing game, and as a thyroid expert, over the years I’ve found that thyroid absolutely must be done with objectivity, precision, diligence and with a tad bit of finesse.

The When

It cannot be stressed enough how vital it is to get your labs at the start of your thyroid journey and to test and retest every three months until your thyroid medicine and function is completely stabilized. After which I recommend testing annually to make sure it stays within an adequate range. Of course, if you feel as though your thyroid has suddenly shifted, I always recommend getting labs and following up with your doctor early.

For more information in what your thyroid labs mean, read below….

Thankfully, obtaining these kinds of labs even without an endocrinologist or primary care doctor willing to order them is no longer a struggle. You can now order all of these labs yourself without having to go to your doctor first. This is a cash-based model that allows you to save money and bypass the hassles and expense of using insurance.

The What

TSH: The most commonly ordered thyroid lab test is TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone. This is absolutely not enough to gauge your thyroid status. It really just tells us how much work your body is doing in order to get your output hormones, it doesn’t at all tell us what your output hormones actually are.

Free T4: After your thyroid is stimulated by TSH, it secretes a hormone called free T4 which is your inactive hormone, that then must be converted and activated before it takes effect. The analogy I use for free T4 is crude oil. You have to make it into gasoline before it’s useful.

Free T3: The real-difference maker in your quality of life, mood, metabolism, sex drive, and all those other pesky thyroid symptoms, is a hormone called free T3. This is what I refer to as your gasoline hormone and is the end step when free T4 is properly activated.

Reverse T3: Lastly there is an inhibitory hormone called reverse T3, which blocks the absorption of your gasoline hormone, free T3. This is the hormone left out of most lab orders, and truly it is absolutely necessary, especially for patients on Levothyroxine, Synthroid, Tirosent or any other T4 based medication.

Antibodies: To rule out and screen for Hashimoto’s disease, the autoimmune disease associated with hypothyroidism, TPO antibodies and thyroglobulin antibodies are necessary.