Dr. Tabatha Barber says doctors don't routinely test for antithyroid antibodies like those in Hashimoto's disease, even though the American Thyroid Association recommends monthly thyroid testing for women who have them. Many women stay undiagnosed until symptoms appear later.
And I started to realize, wait a minute, if all these women are having problems that started around these major hormonal shifts in their lives and it's not getting diagnosed until now, it means that there is something majorly missing in postpartum care. So I took a look at some of what the current recommendations are and I started to find these really upsetting paradoxes where, for example, the American Thyroid Association would suggest a woman with anti-thyroid antibodies— so that corresponds to a condition called Hashimoto's, it's a thyroid disorder— if a woman has those antibodies, she should be tested for her thyroid function every month in the first half of her pregnancy and then postpartum. But they don't recommend broad screening of the population for anti-thyroid antibodies. And so I thought to myself, well, how is somebody supposed to know if they have antithyroid antibodies if it's not being screened routinely. And in my world, I work in functional medicine— antithyroid antibodies, full thyroid panels, autoimmune screenings, nutritional screenings— that's like basic level intake, right? So in my vocabulary, I already know if you have antithyroid antibodies, but not every woman has the privilege of ever being seen by someone who's so thorough with their health.
