Use distilled water when taking thyroid medication
Minerals in tap and bottled water can deactivate some of the hormones in thyroid medication.
Thyroid Disease
Updated guidelines for thyroid disease in pregnancy
The most recent guidelines discuss management of pregnant women with known and undisclosed thyroid conditions.
FDA warns of health risks with diabetes drug
Patients who take the diabetes drug liraglutide may be at increased risk for thyroid cancer and pancreatitis.
Hashimoto’s takes a toll unrelated to hypothyroidism
Women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis suffer from a high symptom load that negatively affects their quality of life, even when thyroid function is normal, a new study suggests.
Laboratory evaluation of thyroid function
Blood tests can detect thyroid dysfunction, which can result in cardiac, GI, and menstrual disturbances as well as abnormalities in fetal neural development.
Thyroid dysfunction and the menstrual cycle
What is the mechanism by which thyroid dysfunction affects the menstrual cycle?—JULIA ARNETT, ANP, Newton, Mass. Thyroid dysfunction is associated with a range of menstrual abnormalities, including oligomenorrhea, amenorrhea, and menorrhagia. Women with hypothyroidism may also be at increased risk of pregnancy loss. The connection between thyroid hormone levels and the menstrual cycle is mainly…
TSH in patients on thyroid replacement
As a newly graduated clinician, my supervising physician taught me that the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels of patients undergoing thyroid replacement therapy should be kept between 0.5 and 1.5 mU/L. Is this correct? I have since found no evidence in the literature to support or refute this advice.—ANA POPOCA-LOGUE, PA-C, San Diego Measuring TSH is…
Hashimoto thyroiditis
Description • Autoimmune lymphocytic infiltration of the thyroid gland closely associated with the presence of antithyroid autoantibodies and often resulting in chronic hypothyroidism• Sometimes associated with a euthyroid state or transient hyperthyroidism• Most common form of chronic thyroiditis ICD-9 code • 245.2 chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis Who is most affected • Females • Peak age of onset: 30-50 years• Inherited as a dominant…
Thyrotropin linked to fatal CHD risks in women
Women’s risk of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) rises with levels of thyrotropin, a hormone that stimulates thyroid function— even when those levels are within the normal range, a recent study suggests…
Subclinical hypothyroid monitoring
A patient with subclinical hypothyroidism has a very high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), but his other thyroid function tests (triiodothyronine, thyroxine, etc.) are normal. His insurer will not pay for testing more often than twice a year. Is retesting the TSH alone sufficient for adjusting levothyroxine doses?—Ferdinand M. Rivera, MD, Salinas, P.R. Subclinical hypothyroidism is a…
