Conventional thyroid labs use ranges too wide to catch problems. Functional medicine targets TSH below 2 mIU/L, citing research that higher levels impair ovulation and cause infertility. The speaker experienced fatigue and brain fog at elevated TSH levels conventional labs called normal.
They're smoldering like the tiny little embers in a fire. And all you gotta do is add a little lighter fluid to that and you're gonna be a hot flaming mess. So, here's what I want you to understand. We need to look at the lab ranges differently. There's optimal ranges and then there's you're a mess, you need to be in the hospital ranges. And we are looking at the wrong ranges. So, When I first started studying functional medicine and they explained this concept to me, I was just like, what? What are you talking about? TSH shouldn't be above 2. And the, the cool thing is conventional medicine is starting to come around. Like, reproductive endocrinologists now acknowledge— they have, um, showed the research that a TSH above 2 makes it really hard for women to get pregnant because we're not ovulating consistently. Constantly, the thyroid is suppressing ovulation in the ovaries. And so yes, the optimal range is less than 2, but it took decades of telling women that your thyroid's fine, there's nothing wrong with you, and these lies being perpetuated so that it's really hard to shift that narrative. And it's not going to happen overnight. It takes time. So you still have thousands of doctors around the world who think a TSH of 6 or 4 is good, and it feels like garbage. I'm here to tell you, I'm living proof. When I had that elevated TSH level, I was falling asleep at my desk, I was 30 pounds heavier, my— like, I couldn't remember stuff, my brain wouldn't work. And it's because my thyroid was struggling and not optimal. So That's why we created the lab, you know, PDF for you to just look. And then if you're way outside of that, maybe you need to work with a provider like our team, but find someone who understands the difference between like hospitalized ranges and optimal ranges. I love that.
