It’s certainly nice to see *any* type of publicity for thyroid issues, but it’s unfortunate that such a complex issue was covered with just a few “sound bytes”. I would have expected the Wall Street Journal to dig a little deeper.
I represented the GDATF at an American Thyroid Association conference last spring, where they spent two whole days discussing treatment of hypothyroidism, including the pros and cons of T3/T4 combination therapy. This reporter didn’t talk to anyone from the ATA, and I’m guessing that Dr. Garber from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists likely provided a lot more detail that wasn’t printed!
If you survey our members here, you will likely find mixed reviews of T3/T4 combination therapy. Some will swear that adding T3 gave them their quality of life back, while others experienced a return of their hypER symptoms…insomnia, tremors, rapid heart rate, etc..
One study that has attracted a lot of attention (but wasn’t mentioned in the article) poses a theory that patients with a specific genetic type could benefit from combination therapy:
(Note on links: if you click directly on the following link, you will need to use your browser’s “back” button to return to the boards after viewing, or you will have to log back in to the forum. As an alternative, you can right-click the link and open it in a new tab or new window).
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/94/5/1623.abstract
This is an area that definitely needs further research…it will be interesting to see if this theory explains the vastly different responses in different patients.
