Hypothyroidism, a deficiency of thyroid hormone, is a common condition worldwide. Thyroid hormones act on almost all body systems, and the classic symptoms of deficiency, such as fatigue, weight gain, and cold intolerance, are non-specific.
When thyroid disease is on the list of possible explanations for someone’s symptoms, the TSH blood test is usually the first test requested.
TSH is one of the blood tests I use most often in everyday clinical practice.
Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, and roughly 3% of women and 0.5% of men will develop it during their lifetime.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is one of the thyroid conditions that can quietly affect an athlete’s life, training, and performance.
Thyroid panels in athletes can sometimes look unfamiliar at first glance. Clinicians are often used to seeing a compensatory pattern: if one thyroid marker moves down, another tends to move up.
In clinical practice, athletes who present with fatigue, unexplained performance decline, or symptoms resembling overtraining often ask for laboratory testing.
In everyday clinical practice, thyroid tests are ordered very frequently.
In my clinical experience, TSH and free T4 are often interpreted together when screening for thyroid disease, but in athletes the picture is not always straightforward.
Athletes often come to my clinic due to slowed or stalled progress, fatigue, and lack of motivation. Laboratory testing is usually the first-line investigation, often at the patient’s request.
