The headlines say your thyroid medication might cause cancer. Before you stop taking it, read this.
A 2021 study of over 600,000 people found that long-term levothyroxine users had higher rates of several cancers. That number spread quickly, and for good reason. It sounds alarming. But the study had a critical flaw: it could not separate the effect of the medication from the autoimmune disease that caused people to need it in the first place. In this episode, Evan H. Hirsch, MD breaks down what the research actually found, why Hashimoto's is likely behind the numbers, and what to focus on if you want your health to actually improve.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why the study cannot prove levothyroxine caused the cancer, and what it was actually measuring
How Hashimoto's thyroiditis, not the medication, likely explains the elevated cancer risk
What the study got wrong about who it compared, and why that changes the conclusion
Why switching to natural or desiccated thyroid does not reduce your cancer risk
What drives autoimmune thyroid disease, and what you can actually do about it
Why stopping thyroid medication is not the answer if you want to improve your health
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