Newly Diagnosed Thyroid Disorder Patients

For those of you that have been recently diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, you most likely have many questions that seem to have no answers. As you will learn, it is very difficult to get a definitive answer from your physician because thyroid balance is a matter of trial and error. If you have an overactive thyroid disorder, called hyperthyroidism, your treatment will be more definitive within a specific period of time. For patients who have an under active thyroid disorder, called hypothyroid, treatment will involve a thyroid supplement with the goal of correcting your thyroid imbalance. And to make this type of diagnosis even more complicating, the treatment for hyperthyroidism may ultimately lead to hypothyroidism. The questions get lengthier and the answers seem less obvious.

Thyroid disease is diagnosed in over thirteen million Americans each year making it one of the most prevalent health problems in the world. And because many thyroid disorder symptoms are vague, most newly diagnosed patients were caught by surprise when their diagnosis was made.

Treatment Options

Allopathic Medicine refers to the type of health care that is most common in America. Doctors who practice allopathic medicine prescribe surgery, prescription drugs, and physician or hospital visits.

Alternative Medicine refers to medical treatment that is alternative. Some groups refer to this treatment model as complementary or natural. These are the treatment models that have lasted centuries in cultures within areas other than the United States, such as China and include therapies such as herbal remedies and acupuncture.

Integrative Medicine is a combination of both types of medical treatments and it incorporates allopathic standards and treatment with natural re balancing options or alternative approaches.

Traditional and Alternative Testing Methods

Tests that measure the thyroid function are the standard of care for a newly diagnosed thyroid disorder patient. Some doctors will order a TSH and Total T4 as a preliminary screening tool. Various factors such as birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy, and estrogen replacement therapy can influence these test results. For this reason it is imperative that the patient divulge a complete medical history profile to the physician or technician administering the tests.

Additional blood tests might be ordered by the physician to better determine the state of the thyroid disorder. Included in these tests are Free T4, Free T3 and Reverse T3. Also a thyroid-binding globulin test might be ordered to measure the amount of tyrosine-containing protein that binds to iodine from the thyroid hormones. The reason for these additional tests is because high or low levels of TGB, for example, may affect the traditional thyroid tests such that they lead to false hormone levels.

In some cases a thyroid ultrasound or scan will be ordered by the attending physician as a method of digging deeper into the thyroid and examining its function completely without surgical treatment.

As with any newly diagnosed thyroid patient, an endocrinologist of primary physician is the best person to determine which tests should be administered.

Which Treatment Option is Best for Me?

The decision as to which treatment option a patient should peruse is a difficult one to answer without a one-on-one consultation with a personal physician or endocrinologist. In most cases, a newly diagnosed thyroid disorder patient will want to meet with the physician in the privacy of his/her office to discuss medical history and treatment options that are best for the type of disorder of which the patient was diagnosed.

No one should ever assume that all people would be treated with the same treatment plan. All people are unalike with differing medical history as well as many other factors, which make the thyroid disorder treatment plan necessitate a carefully planned strategy.