My how the time just flies when you’re chasing answers from private pathology companies! As Brisbane based naturopath, Sandi Cooper, can attest to having recently been down the seemingly eternal email trail with a pathology company trying to ascertain if their urinary iodine result accounts for the concentration of the urine sample (via the iodine:creatinine) or doesn’t….because of course it can make the world 🌎 of difference. Like clarifying that someone who appears to have very little iodine in their urine, actually has a lot or vice versa! I wrote about this back when I was a mere ‘babe blogger’, more than 5 years ago. After recently reading this historical document, Sandi has been practising due diligence and checking with her providers whether they have already corrected for creatinine..or whether she needs to herself and she shared that multi-departmental epic email endurance event thread with me. The short answer? They used to and now they don’t. Why? Oh…formatting issues or something 🙄
But just in case you do want the ‘short answer’ regarding your particular pathology provider…without emailing enigmas…the answer is, in fact, in front of you & it’s Super Short!
mcg/g Vs mcg/L
If your patient’s urinary iodine result (random or 24hr) is reported using the units on the left, sometimes actually written mcg/grCR, then BiNGo! The pathology provider has done the creatinine correction for you. If they only report the urinary iodine results using the units on the right…it’s time for some maths to avoid misinterpretation. No one panic, the formula is easy: Iodine (mcg) ÷ Creatinine (mmol) X 8.85 = Corrected Iodine. So don’t lose time sending endless emails like poor Sandy or placing countless calls, like poor Nina on my team…who has to pursue pathology providers on an almost daily basis for answers to our zillions of sensible questions!! Just check the units! You’re welcome everyone 😉 oh thank you Sandi for chasing this again and sorry about needing to chase this again! 😳
And if all of this is nEWs to yOU, you might want to review what you thought you knew, about Comprehensive Thyroid Assessment too!
We can never rest when it comes to learning more about the individual nuances of our patients thyroid pictures! In this 90min recording, Rachel covers the key thyroid parameters both functional & autoimmune (TSH, T4, T3, rT3, TPO, TgAbs, TRAB). As well as the most accurate methods of assessing relevant thyroid nutrients: iodine & selenium & a genuinely game-changing insight on interpretation of these . Finally she pulls all the individual parameters together to illustrate common patterns of thyroid imbalance – making it almost as easy 1-2-3! Well, hey..it’s the thyroid…a fickle fellow.