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Given that most of the time, thyroid treatment is woefully inadequate and somewhat controversial, I was prepared for the letters and comments that my Experience Life magazine article, Repair Your Thyroid, would receive. I knew that some from the conventional medical community would squawk.

[Image credit: Conde Nast.]

And sure enough, several squawked. But the squawking and slamming that was published in the magazine’s “Talk to Us” section was from some in the conventional medical world who appear entrenched in the status quo and their accusations were seemingly knee-jerk, defensive reactions to an article that shed a different light on a way of assessing a thyroid problem and treating the thyroid – a way that has gotten a whole lotta hypothyroid and Hashimoto’s sufferers…nowhere.

One comment in particular left me dumbfounded and deserves a public response. It was from a local physician’s assistant who states, “Not only was this article factually inaccurate, it encourages the overuse of the healthcare industry. In a time of ever-increasing medical costs, this is a serious offense. While millions go without healthcare, our clinics are bogged down by the ‘worried well,’ telling us what tests to order and what medicines to give them. Grunewald is adding fuel to this fire.”

If the article is “factually inaccurate,” then I guess that Dr. Datis Kharrazian, Dr. Alan Christianson, Dr. Richard Shames, Dr. Janet Lang, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Sara Gottfried, and Dr. Laura Thompson are all charlatans. Because these trailblazers are whose shoulders I’m standing on. And people like Chris Kresser and Janie Bowthorpe are spewing falsities? (Not to mention, Experience Life’s fact-checking team is a force to be reckoned with.)

As Pilar Gerasimo states in her article, The Ways of the Worried Well, “…in my view, we fall into two rather distinct categories: (1) those inclined to believe they’re sick, want a pill for every ill, and who eagerly pursue every last body scan, diagnosis and prescription drug they can get their hands on; and (2) those who are intent on proactively maintaining and optimizing their well-being (even if other people make fun of them for it).”

From my professional experience, most of the “worried well” fall into the second category. They’re not hypochondriacs, they’re intelligent, informed, and empowered. And they know that it’s critical to take their health into their own hands because too often, the conventional medical community has failed them.

People with ongoing hypothyroid symptoms despite having thyroid drugs shoved at them, with no mention of nutritional suggestions or the possibility of autoimmunity, aren’t “well.”

Far from it.

In fact, some are so unwell, that these same doctors who limit testing and limit the hormone replacement they’ll prescribe are often the ones who are so quick to write a prescription for an antidepressant, an anti-anxiety drug, to recommend laxatives, and to tell their patients to eat less and work out harder when the pounds aren’t coming off. All of which can backfire for those with hypothyroidism. 

I can’t tell you how many clients we’ve had whose doctors have told them that their symptoms are “in their head.” Several of these doctors have said, “I don’t want to see you anymore. There’s nothing I can do for you.” (Insert silent scream.)

So I’m adding to the problems with our healthcare system? Seriously? Thyroid sufferers who want a full thyroid panel and who want their thyroid antibodies tested are “the worried well?” This is downright ridiculous and offensive, especially when TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is a relatively worthless test, despite the fact that the majority of doctors will proselytize ‘til they’re blue in the face that it’s the only thyroid test you need.

Dr. Aviva Romm states, “In a world where medical over-testing is rampant, I have to say, I find myself confounded by the fact that so many physicians are resistant to ordering anything but a TSH – or thyroid simulating test – as the first form of evaluation, when from a scientific and medical standpoint, that test can be normal and there can still be a low functioning thyroid. It’s outdated medical dogma to order solely this test.

“On top of this, medical guidelines, while based on hard data, are only as good as the data they are based on, and on what’s known at the time the guidelines are made. So for example, the TSH lab values for normal are based on TSH averages for most generally healthy Americans. But many Americans are under- diagnosed for thyroid disease. When we take an expanded view of thyroid health, and only include the TSH average of people with absolutely no hypothyroid symptoms, the number changes.” 

To add to the problem, many doctors feel that getting thyroid antibodies tested – which show the presence of Hashimoto’s – is unimportant. Antibodies are probably the MOST important labs to run. And they’re rarely tested. Why? Because the conventional medical community knows so very little about how to deal with autoimmunity. Many doctors will say, “I’m not going to test you for antibodies/Hashimoto’s because I would do nothing differently for you.” (Insert silent scream.)

If you have an autoimmune condition – any autoimmune condition – and it goes undiagnosed and unaddressed, the liklihood of you developing another is greater than 50%. Many people already have more than one autoimmune disease.

Patients DESERVE to know if they have Hashimoto’s (or any other manifestation of autoimmunity) because this disease can be a precursor to other autoimmune conditions. The fact that so many in the conventional medical community feel that it’s not worth their time to test for autoimmunity is egregious. 

Maybe these doubters should check out this article, which states, “…[health care spending] it is still expected to rise faster than the gross domestic product. Aging baby boomers and tens of millions of patients newly insured under the Affordable Care Act are likely to add to the burden.”

Sorry, but I just don’t see how running a full thyroid panel comes close to comparing with some of these biggies. And when you consider that Type 2 diabetes, obesity (which is now considered a “disease”), and cancer – all largely preventable diseases – are expected to bankrupt our healthcare system, asking for a full thyroid panel pales in comparison.

To say that I’m “adding fuel to this fire” is, well, crazy.

Any thyroid doctor/endocrinologist and their team should be running a full thyroid panel. Heck, even GPs should be running this panel. 

“Overuse of the healthcare industry?” Overuse of the healthcare industry results when people are NOT getting well and going back to their doctor over and over and over because they’re not getting better. I believe that ill-informed and careless doctors are the ones contributing to the “overuse of the healthcare industry,” not those of us who are demanding proper thyroid treatment. Anything less is a “serious offense.”

Millions are without healthcare because we have a screwed up system. Not because people are asking for comprehensive thyroid testing.

Pilar continues, “Being one of the worried well makes it more likely you’ll notice and deal with such problems early, before massive damage has been done, and while they can be more successfully (and less traumatically) addressed. These days, frankly, if you’re not at least a little concerned about your health, you’re probably not paying attention.

“Go ahead, make fun of us if you want. I suspect we’ll have the last laugh.”