Studies are under way to help determine if gut microbiota is associated with autoimmune thyroid disease. Some people say it is, other say it isn't.
This study isn't complete yet: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT03390582
"The treatment of Hashimoto’s disease includes an administration of substitutive doses of levothyroxine, but the time of treatment beginning is still the matter of discussion."
https://thyroidresearchjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1756-6614-6-S2-A60
There's a lot of controversy - mostly between patients and doctors - regarding the treatment of Hashimoto's/hypothyroidism because doctors like to think there's a "one size fits all" kind of treatment and as long as we all fit into the neat little boxes/reference ranges everything will fine. Unfortunately, many of our labs fit into the ranges, but our symptoms don't - there lies the controversy...
As Red_Star noted, not all studies work in favor of hypothyroid patients, which is what keeps us going here. We'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Having T4 and T3 result within range does not preclude being hypothyroidism. Due to the erroneous assumptions behind the ranges, they are far too broad and skewed to the low end. In addition everyone is different in the levels that work best for them. Far more important than lab results are symptoms, so please tell about all symptoms that you have. Also, lab results must always be compared to reference ranges from the same lab, so please post those for the T4 and T3 tests. Were you also tested for TSH?
A terrible study entitled "Thyroid hormones treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism: a clinical practice guideline" was published in the BMJ on 14 May 2019.
I want to burn this paper and dance around the ashes! This is what Medscape has to say about this study..
"In a recommendation that could "substantially alter prescribing trends," according to its authors, an international panel of experts concludes that patients with subclinical hypothyroidism should not be routinely offered thyroid hormone replacement therapy"
Burn, burn, burn.