Dr. Westin Childs Podcast: Thyroid | Weight Loss | Hormones

Free T3 and free T4 are incredibly important lab tests that all thyroid patients should be aware of. Having said that, is one better than the other? The answer is yes, and it will become obvious as we have this discussion. First: what are free thyroid hormones and why do they matter? Free thyroid hormones differ from other hormones that you can test because they represent the amount of hormone that is free and ready to be used by the body. Because of this, measuring the free concentration of hormones is always the most important and relevant way to measure the activity of any given hormone. Hormones can either transport through your body in the free state or the bound state and, as a thyroid patient, you want to concern yourself with the thyroid hormones which are NOT bound to a protein. Now that you understand the importance of free thyroid hormones, let's talk about free T3 and free T4. What is free T4? Free T4 is the measurement of free and active thyroxine in your bloodstream. Thyroxine, also