016 - Thyroid Antibodies - How Much Do They Matter?

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

It's common in the alternative medicine world to hear people talk about "how high their antibody levels are/were". But in practice I see people with high antibodies who are doing fine, while someone with low antibodies might feel like they are dying. What's up with that?!? Do antibody levels matter??
The answer is that they do matter and they don't matter. Antibodies can be used to monitor progression, but high levels don't necessarily correlate to disease symptoms or progression.
In this episode I briefly explain thyroid antibodies seen in Hashimoto's - Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO, or microsomal) and Thyroglobulin (TG), and I go through several examples to explain the interplay of antibody levels, symptom severity, and disease progression.
The goal of this episode (and this podcast) is to help you manage your own case, review your own labs, and take better control of your autoimmune journey!