Blood Drug Testing

Hashmimoto's thyroid problem with normal blood test?

My thyroid blood tests are all normal, but a thyroid biopsy detects Hashimoto's. Has anyone or any medical person ever heard of this? How would this be treated?

Public Comments

1. Hashimoto's disease causes inflammation of your thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck, just below your Adam's apple. Although it weighs less than an ounce, the thyroid gland has an enormous effect on your health. It's part of your endocrine system, which is made up of several glands and tissues that produce hormones. These chemical messengers coordinate many of your body's activities, from digestion to metabolism to reproduction. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system inappropriately attacks your thyroid gland, causing damage to your thyroid cells and upsetting the balance of chemical reactions in your body. The inflammation caused by Hashimoto's disease, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, often leads to an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). Hashimoto's disease is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States. Doctors use blood tests of thyroid function to detect Hashimoto's disease. Treatment of Hashimoto's disease with thyroid hormone replacement medication usually is simple and effective.
2. The biopsy showed tissue that has been attacked by your immune system. The blood tests were probably for thyroid hormones, which will be normal a lot of the time early in the disease... but they *should* have tested for whether or not your blood contains antibodies to thyroxine or other thyroid hormones (which is probably the case if they've found damaged thyroid tissue on biopsy) Such testing is pretty expensive and *far* too many doctors are wary of the cost of lab work, and if the doctor you saw was a surgeon *and* thyroid specialist, he knows full well that can *make* money by doing a biopsy instead of *spending* money for lab work.