Why Should you Monitor your Thyroid Antibodies?

Thyroid antibodies are a stable measure of your progress, but many people make a mistake when reading these levels. This isn't about comparing yourself to others, it's about finding your baseline and then compare yourself to yourself.

Instead you need to compare your results to previous ones. Use your first ever reading as a baseline, have your antibodies since then gone up or down?

Up can indicate a flare or relapse, down indicates improvement.

So why should you not compare to others...

People make the mistake that the number of antibodies is directly relevant to the severity of disease, but here's the error... antibodies tag the cells for them to be 'attacked', but just because they are tagged does not mean it will be 'attacked'. Antibodies don't carry out the 'attack' they just tag cells. T cells carry out the attack that degenerates the tissues. Other influences will come into play as well as the antibodies as to whether T cells are actioned.

So one person could have an antibody level of 50, another 100, another of 1000, you can't compare against each other, because other factors are at play. The person with 100 could have lots of T cell action while the person with 1000 has very little.

What the readings do show us in a stable way is whether YOU are improving or worsening, are your levels going up or down. Find your baseline and then watch for patterns.

This is why repeat testing with Hashimoto's hypothyroidism is so important. Ideally every 3 months as a minimum.