Your annual physical feels complete. But what if your doctor is working with one hand tied behind their back?

I sat in my doctor's office last year, holding a lab report that said my thyroid was "normal."

But I felt anything but normal. Brain fog, hair falling out, gaining weight despite the gym...

And when I asked if we could test more thyroid markers, my doctor said, "Your TSH is fine. That's what matters."

That's when a friend mentioned she'd gotten a full thyroid panel done through a different test. T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4, and antibodies.

I asked my doctor why we didn't test those.

His answer surprised me: "Insurance won't cover it unless you have symptoms of thyroid disease. And since your TSH is normal, they won't approve it."

Wait. So my doctor wanted to give me the full picture, but the system wouldn't let him.

This is the part nobody talks about. Your doctor isn't lazy or dismissive.

They're working within a system that says, "We'll pay for the bare minimum test. If the patient has a diagnosed disease, we'll do more."

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is the gatekeeper test. It's cheap, it catches most thyroid disease, and insurance loves it.

But TSH tells you what your pituitary gland thinks about your thyroid, not what your thyroid is actually doing.

Think of it like checking the thermostat in your house instead of the furnace. The thermostat might say "the temperature is fine," but that doesn't mean the furnace is working well.

To see what your thyroid is actually producing, you need T3 and T4. To see if your immune system is attacking it (Hashimoto's), you need antibody tests.

These tests cost more and insurance typically won't cover them unless you already have a diagnosis.

When you get T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4, and TPO antibodies, you get a completely different story.

I know a woman who had a "normal" TSH but low-normal Free T3 and high TPO antibodies.

Her doctor could finally see what was happening: her body was attacking her thyroid (early Hashimoto's), and her thyroid was compensating by working overtime to stay in the "normal" range.

She wasn't sick yet. But she was becoming sick.

Once her doctor saw the full picture, the treatment changed. Instead of "wait until it gets worse," it became "manage inflammation now, monitor closely, and prevent progression."

Three months later, her energy returned. Her hair stopped falling out.

The test didn't change her diagnosis. It just gave her doctor the high-resolution map instead of a blurry snapshot.

You can try to negotiate with your insurance company to cover these tests, but it's often a losing battle.

Or, you can pay out of pocket at a standard lab, but a full panel like this can run over $400 just for the thyroid markers.

This is where I found Function Health to be the game-changer.

Function doesn't rely on insurance permission. Their membership includes a 100+ biomarker panel—including the full thyroid suite (TSH, Free T4, Free T3, TPO Antibodies, and Thyroglobulin Antibodies)—as the standard, not the exception.

You don't have to beg for the tests. You just get them.

When you walk into your doctor's office with these results already in hand, the conversation changes.

You're not asking for permission; you're providing data.

Suddenly, your doctor has the clues they've been missing and can actually help you optimize your health.

Learn more about Function Health here

The gap between "standard care" and "optimal care" isn't always your doctor's fault. Sometimes it's the system. Function helps you close that gap.