The Basal Metabolic rate became the fad in the 30s and 40s and almost every office had a machine to measure it. It was quite good but subject to difficulties of interpretation and interference by emotional factors. The blood cholesterol levels were used: if you had a high cholesterol level in the middle of the 20th century, you were suspect hypothyroidism. Both diagnostic methods were abandoned around 1960 to be replaced by the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid, which turned out not to be clinically applicable in all cases. Then the determination of PBI (protein related to iodine), was abandoned in favor of the measure of T4 total, which was hailed as far superior to the PBI, but it too went the way of the rest of the tests – as not being reliable enough. Then the TSH came.
PREGNANCY and FIBROMYALGIA
Dr. Kurland Norbert If you have fibromyalgia and are contemplating pregnancy, it’s natural to wonder what impact your illness will have on your ability to