Medical Thyroid Test Misdiagnoses 58.6 Million Women (Are You One of Them?)

Imagine this for a second…

You walk into your doctor’s office to discuss your latest labs to find that your total cholesterol is 400 mg/dL.

We all know that’s quite high (roughly double what it should be).

But what if your doctor points to the lab printout and tells you that your cholesterol is well within the reference range and that your heart is perfectly healthy?

Wouldn’t you be alarmed?

I would hope so.

Well, this is exactly what’s happening when your doctor tests your thyroid using today’s TSH Test.

Is the TSH Test accurate?

Consider this… 6,516,166 women (or roughly 6.5 million) in the United States are currently diagnosed as hypothyroid according to this TSH Test.

And 58,645,496 women (or roughly 58.6 million) in the United States ARE hypothyroid, yet are being failed to be properly diagnosed by this test.

In other words, the TSH Test is failing to diagnose 45% of women over the age of 15.

Are you a woman 55 years of age or older? Then your odds are even significantly worse.

I would say that’s an epidemic problem.

What’s even more interesting is this…

…back in the 1920’s and 1930’s, before any of this modern day thyroid testing was developed, 40% to 45% of the population was diagnosed and treated for hypothyroidism.

Coincidence?

I think not.

And I’m going to prove it to you.

The good news is that there’s a much more reliable test that I recommend and that you can use, which I’ll introduce you to in a minute.

But, before you get your next thyroid checkup and your doctor tells you that your thyroid is just fine, here’s what you need to know.

It’s the reason why you can’t rely on TSH testing.

Is the TSH Test Accurate?

Like any medical test today, the accuracy of the test depends entirely on the accuracy of the test’s reference range.

Based on the cholesterol example used above, you and/or your doctor might have thought that your heart was in great shape.

But in reality, you’re a heart attack waiting to happen.

And this is exactly what’s happening with thyroid testing today.

When it comes to the TSH Test, the gold standard of thyroid testing today, the normal reference range is a huge problem.

Accordingly to most labs, your test results are considered “normal” if they fall within the range of 0.5 – 5.0 mIU/L.

(Note: Different labs use different reference ranges but we’re going to use this common one in our analysis.)

This “normal” reference range was first established because it was originally predicted that five percent of the population was hypothyroid.

So, based on population studies for TSH, it was discovered that five percent of people happened to have a TSH greater than 5.0 mIU/L, which is how this upper reference range was established.

This is illustrated using the graph below.

This graph represents the entire US population based on their TSH measurement.

If you look at the red shaded area above, a TSH of five was the cutoff that included the five percent of the population.

This is where the problems begin.

Most don’t realize that this originally predicted five percent was based on a previous test called the PBI (Protein Bound Iodine) Test.

Even though this PBI Test has long since been invalided and shown to be highly inaccurate, the medical system continues to use this roughly five percent prediction still today… for example:

Source: National Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases Information Service “About 4.6 percent of the U.S. population age 12 and older has hypothyroidism.”

(Note: Almost all thyroid tests are inaccurate.

Even full thyroid panels have their issues as covered in this article on “Why (Almost) All Thyroid Tests Are Unreliable”.)

Needless to say… any test that is developed based on inaccurate data will always provide inaccurate results.

In 2003, based on newer research, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists were determined to lower the TSH reference range to improve the test’s accuracy.

They recommended that the upper end of the TSH reference range be lowered from 5.0 to 3.0 mIU/L.

This change is illustrated using the graph below.

It should make sense that if all people with a TSH above 3.0 mIU/L were now diagnosed hypothyroid, that there would be a lot more people diagnosed.

If you look at the new red shaded area above, this represents the new percentage of the population that should be diagnosed hypothyroid.

To be precise, this equated to roughly 20% of the population.

While this was a step in the right direction, was it truly accurate?

The answer is NO.

Not even close.

(NOTE: I walk you through exactly how to properly interpret your thyroid labs and show you exactly how you can test your thyroid function more accurately than any lab test in this Ultimate Thyroid Testing Protocol.)

How the TSH Test is Failing 45% of Women

Based on the work of Dr. Broda Barnes, whose research proved that hypothyroidism is the cause of modern day heart disease, we now have even more research to help us determine what the truly accurate TSH reference range should be.

For example, the study below is one of many studies that gives us more insight.

Thyrotropin levels and risk of fatal coronary heart disease: the HUNT study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443261 “Compared with women in the lower part of the reference range (thyrotropin level, 0.50-1.4 mIU/L), the hazard ratios for coronary death were 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.96) and 1.69 (95% CI, 1.14-2.52) for women in the intermediate (thyrotropin level, 1.5-2.4 mIU/L) and higher (thyrotropin level, 2.5-3.5 mIU/L) categories, respectively.”

This study found that for women, TSH level can predict your risk of heart disease and that a…

• THS between 1.5-2.4 mIU/L resulted in a 41% increased risk of heart disease.
• TSH between 2.5-3.5 mIU/L resulted in a 69% increased risk of heart disease.

In other words, if your TSH is 1.5 mIU/L or higher, your risk of heart disease is significantly increased.

So, based on Dr. Broda Barnes’ research, we know that the true normal TSH must be below 1.5 mIU/L.

And this is where things get interesting…

Based on further TSH population studies we know that roughly 50% of women have a TSH above 1.5 mIU/L and 50% of women have a TSH below 1.5 mIU/L.

This is illustrated in the graph below.

If you look at the new red shaded area above, this represents the new percentage of the population that should be diagnosed hypothyroid.

This is a great argument that shows that 58,645,496 women in the United States (or 45% of women in general) are in fact hypothyroid and are failing to be properly diagnosed outside of the mere 5% who currently are.

And considering that prior to modern day thyroid testing that 40% to 45% of people were diagnosed hypothyroid, it provides even further evidence to support this argument.

Regardless, this just goes to show you that the TSH test used today is completely inaccurate and alone should never be used to measure thyroid function.

And if you’re TSH is 1.5 mIU/L or greater, then you are hypothyroid whether you’ve been diagnosed or not.

But we recommend and prefer to use far more accurate thyroid testing.

What Thyroid Testing Is Accurate?

In the 1920’s and 1930’s there were many thyroid testing markers that were observed when doctors at that time were diagnosing hypothyroidism.

And most are still valid today.

However, other tests have also been developed and improved upon over the years that are even simpler and more accurate.

One such test which we use with each and every one of our clients can be done for free and in the comfort of your own home.

And in the Ultimate Thyroid Testing Protocol, we’ll show you exactly how you can use this test yourself and track your thyroid health as you go.

This protocol is simple and easy enough for anyone to use.

If you’re not already using it, then I highly recommend you start now.

Get more information about the Ultimate Thyroid Testing Protocol here.

And next time you get your thyroid tested you might want to reconsider whether your results are as accurate as you and your doctor might think.

If you do nothing else, then be sure to use the more accurate guideline provided and make sure your TSH is below 1.5 mIU/L.

In my experience, a TSH closer to 1 mIU/L or below is even better.