Thyroid hormone (T3/T4) is not suppressive; can restore hypothyroid thyroid hormone levels to euthyroid levels, AFTER medication is stopped
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When Ray Peat discussed thyroid hormone therapy helping to restore "order" in thyroid gland function and potentially reversing hypothyroidism, even after stopping the therapy, I initially thought this was just anecdotal evidence.
However, a meta-analysis of 17 observational studies involving 1,082 patients suggests otherwise. The findings reveal that up to a third of hypothyroid patients became and remained euthyroid (having a normally functioning thyroid gland.) after discontinuing T4 therapy, with thyroid hormone fully excreted (median follow-up time: 3 months).
This suggests by some mechanism, thyroid hormone therapy, can reverse hypothyroidism / improve thyroid function.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8110016/
"We searched multiple bibliographic databases for studies.... in which thyroid hormone replacement was discontinued... when all studies were included, the pooled estimate for euthyroidism at follow-up was 37.2%"
Proportion of Hypothyroid Patients Achieving Euthyroid Status After Discontinuing T4 Therapy Over Time
Proportion of Hypothyroid Patient Categories Achieving Euthyroid Status After Discontinuing T4 Therapy
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@alfredoolivas
Thanks, interesting.The problem with this study is that it considers the level of TSH below 8–9 mIU/L "normal"...