Hypothyroidism Misdiagnosis/ No Diagnosis
Hypothyroidism is a commonly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed disease. So many people have the condition and don’t even know it. The Colorado Thyroid Disease Prevalence Study tested over 25000 adults and found that 9% of Americans, or well over 13 million adults have Hypothyroidism and don’t know it! Not only that, according to the same study, 40% of those that had been diagnosed and where on medication still tested positive for Hypothyroidism!
How so many people be undiagnosed? Possible many patients don't have symptoms (hopefully) OR that their doctors are not diagnosing or misdiagnosing them. It may be hard to believe but there are many reasons why this happens. The two most common reasons are confusing symptoms and testing error or problems.
Confusing Symptoms
The major problem diagnosing Hypothyroidism is the symptoms that the patient gets. The list of symptoms is long making diagnosis difficult. Difficulties results from patients not thinking that their symptoms are serious, a lack of communication between patients and doctors, the doctor focusing on only certain symptoms, lack of experience of the doctor, and overlap of symptoms with other conditions. (More on Confusing Symptoms)
Testing Issues/Problems
If you are fortunate enough to have a doctor who is able to see that youu might have Hypothyroidism, three other major problems still exist that might lead to misdiagnosis or no diagnosis. These have to do with testing. One is that the normal test ranges used are not truly normal. Another is that the standard tests used do not pick up hypothyroidism result from all sources. The last is that the normal TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone) range used is too broad. (more on Testing Issues/Problems)
How so many people be undiagnosed? Possible many patients don't have symptoms (hopefully) OR that their doctors are not diagnosing or misdiagnosing them. It may be hard to believe but there are many reasons why this happens. The two most common reasons are confusing symptoms and testing error or problems.
Confusing Symptoms
The major problem diagnosing Hypothyroidism is the symptoms that the patient gets. The list of symptoms is long making diagnosis difficult. Difficulties results from patients not thinking that their symptoms are serious, a lack of communication between patients and doctors, the doctor focusing on only certain symptoms, lack of experience of the doctor, and overlap of symptoms with other conditions. (More on Confusing Symptoms)
Testing Issues/Problems
If you are fortunate enough to have a doctor who is able to see that youu might have Hypothyroidism, three other major problems still exist that might lead to misdiagnosis or no diagnosis. These have to do with testing. One is that the normal test ranges used are not truly normal. Another is that the standard tests used do not pick up hypothyroidism result from all sources. The last is that the normal TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone) range used is too broad. (more on Testing Issues/Problems)