I Challenged a Diagnosis of an Autoimmune Condition Destroying My Thyroid & Confirmed a Misdiagnosis

You are the most important stakeholder in your health

Looks like my layperson/noob interest in immunology and endocrinology has claimed a first big win:

• Questioning a diagnosis
• Asking for a specific test
• Getting results back that was able to confirm a misdiagnosis!

I was diagnosed in 2013 with an autoimmune condition, where apparently my immune system was attacking my thyroid gland. To address this, I’ve taken the synthetic thyroid hormone “Levothyroxine” (137 micrograms, daily) for the past 8 years.

Apparently, Levothyroxine is the #2 prescribed drug in the USA with over 100 million prescriptions, so hopefully may want to ask your doctor about this. It’s pretty cheap at $200/year or so, and probably is not too dangerous, but no sense in wasting that money or taking unnecessary medications.

How many medications are unnecessary?

When looking at my blood work, I noticed that my TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, which does exactly what its named) was in the low to normal range, but my thyroid hormones T3 and Free T4 were normal or high. (As a technical issue: concerning T4, there’s “free” T4 that can enter tissue and gets…