Dr. Tabatha Barber explains why T3 thyroid tests give unreliable results: doctors don't standardize when they draw blood relative to when the medication peaks, which happens 3 to 8 hours after taking it. She recommends fasting labs timed to the peak for consistent readings.
I like that you're just like well let's check it when we need to check it at the peak and maybe I'll start doing that and tell them like okay get your fasting labs done fasting get your thyroid labs done at the peak because explain why to patients I think it's super helpful to understand.
I think it is one of the most important things that has to change to evolve thyroid care because the narrative in medicine is that T3 medications armor side these drugs are not stable, they're not reliable, they're risky because they're inherently unstable they're actually extremely stable. What isn't stable is when there is no set standard of when we need to be checking them that creates a lot of volatility because these medications peak and trough anywhere from three to eight hours so if we are not accounting for that we are guessing and you know we don't get where we need to be and that right if we're guessing.
