Saliva and Urine Tests for Thyroid Disease

QUESTION
Are saliva or urine tests for thyroid disease accurate? -- Mary Shomon

DRS. RICHARD AND KARILEE SHAMES ANSWER
It is our contention that the saliva tests for thyroid are not yet as reliable as the saliva tests for female or adrenal hormone levels. The technology is more recent, and the technical problems are still being worked out to the satisfaction of careful practitioners.

Any new tests are worth a try as p art of your overall diagnostic regimen, which should also include appropriate blood testing (insist on the Total T-3 test and not TSH being the primary indicator), regular basal temperature testing, and close monitoring of changing symptoms.

The urine tests, on the other hand, have a longer history of reliability and effectiveness. This is especially true if the tests are done at high-quality laboratories such as Vitamin Diagnostics in Cliffwood Beach , New Jersey , or especially the Broda Barnes Foundation in Trumbull , Connecticut . We have seen people whose blood tests were reported normal by top-name conventional laboratories only to finally obtain the diagnosis and treatment they have long needed when the hypothyroidism finally showed up on the urine tests.

In summary, we recommend the urine testing if a simple blood test shows normal and you have significant symptoms, low basal temperature, family history, or associated illnesses. (July, 2002)