Thyroid and anti-depressants

[Felix]

Hi All,

Just wondered if anyone out there is taking anti-depressants along with their thyroid meds. I'm wondering if I need them as I am really struggling with the tiredness and feeling very low brought on by nearly a year of feeling like death. I seem to have spent a year in tears.

I have heard that they don't mix. What does everyone think?

Thanks,

Felix x

[2big4mysize]

Oh Felix :hug :hug :hug :hug I've been there and so have soo many other Hypo folk I talkd my doc I had depression and he ran tests and told ne I was anemic. SO when those symptoms returned I just upped my iron an extra pill and didn't get better so again I told him I was depressed and when he did my Atkins blood works he included a thyroid panel and guess what I was Hasimoto hypothyriodism causing my depression symptoms. actually they do mix BUT many low thyroid folk are misdiagnoised as depressed and put on only antidepressants which will not help them and meanwhile their hypothyroid is getting worse. which is why they now test all depression folk for low thyroid as a standard diagnostic test.

It takes weeks for the hormone levles to come up and for every part of our bodies to start producing again all the chemicals we need to be healthy normal humas.

Our brains need thyriod hormone so they can produce those neurotransmitters tht keep us from feeling depression all the time. Talk with your doctor and if your thyroid levels have been totally adjusted and he doesn't think you need more he can prescribe what he thinks you need after consulting with you.

[Felix]

Thanks 2big,

I'm still adjusting my dosage but it's been nearly a year now since I started on meds. To be honest, some days I am really very low. I have no energy, can't sleep, don't have any enthusiasm, can't stop crying and have lost all sense of direction. To add to this, I have just had some cortisol test results through that came back high.

I'm scared that an anti-depressant will make me feel worse! I'm also scared that I will put on more weight with them.

I've put off going to see the doctor about all this as I wanted to wait and see if it got better with my thyroid adjustment. Oh, and a bit of the good 'ole british stiff upper lip LOL.

What would you do?

Felix x

[2big4mysize]

I'd demand a blood test of all my levels TSH T4 T3 and my serotonin levels, a CBC and a chem8 and any other blood test my doc wanted to run. then with all that I'd discuss my symptoms and how they can be corrected.

i would know if my thyroid was still out of whack amking me feel depressed,
if any important thing like potassium was off that can cause depression too
if it is low iron can too, as can the Bs
and we know low seotonin will.

there are many correctable causes of depression but you got to know what you are dealing with.

8 yrs ago i was sure I was suffering form depression cause a screening had said i was. my doc said lets see if you are depressed cause you are anemic or really have a chemical imbalalmce well the blood test came back and my crit was 21 :yikes you get a transfusion here if it is below 20.

Some iron and some vit C and in a week i was so undepressed i was euphoric so whe i was getting ready to start Atkins i told my doc I thought I was anemic again cause i was tired and sort of feeling those depression feelings again. he ran the pre Atkins tests and tested my thyroid too and I got a phone call 2 days later i was low thyroid and got put on meds for it. now had I been a self medicator i'd have been taking antidepressants for both and gotten much worse because antidepressants will not help your depression if it is caused by a defiency in something other then Serotonin its self.

So talk with your doc and get checked. you will not regert it. we can speculate on line but hard test results will tell you faster and more accurately.

[Desertthorn]

Felix, go see your physician. Discuss this all with him. You'll be a lot happier.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your advice. Twobig, you are right. It may be a deficiency of something (Christmas cheer perhaps!) or it may be thyroid related. I'm not keen on taking anti-d's as I don't want to mess my body up anymore than it already is.

I'll make an appointment this week to see my doctor and see what he says. My cortisol levels are through the roof so this may be a factor.

Thanks again,

Felix x

[2big4mysize]

um not that I'm doubting your exercise program but vigorous exercise will burn up cortisol too so maybe you could up the exercise a bit and burn off some of that corisol and get you some good endomorphines for your brain to feel better too?

You do know that Hypothyroidism causes cortisol it increase right?

[Jen111]

Hope you're getting the T3 component of the thryoid hormones - usually Cytomel brand.

If your body has difficulty using the availabe T4 thryoid hormone to make T3, your moods will be affected adversely. Many hypothryoid patients do not convert T4 to T3 adequately and they need a little help.

T3 is a mood lifter!! Doctors have been known to even put some depressed patients on T3 hormone.

Hope this helps. I would always be loathe to go on anti-depressants, because most of them make one put on lots of weight. I've seen my sister model that with several different anti-depressants, but then again, some people really need the medication to prevent more serious implications.

[Felix]

Thanks guys,

I did not know that hypo increases cortisol. That was news to me! Does it usually decrease on its own with thyroid treatment I wonder 2big?

I'm working on the exercise but I'm still pretty tired. It's getting better though and I've started swimming a few times a week. Armour thryoid has been a god-send but its still very up and down. Some days I have energy and loads of it and some days I can hardly get out of bed.

Jen, I know what you mean about the weight thing. Its seems pretty unpredicatable which ones make you pile it on and which ones dont. Or are there some ones that don't make you put on weight? That's the last thing I want.

Do these ups and down iron themselves out with time? Is it normal for hypos to be like this?

Thanks,

felix x

[2big4mysize]

one of the problems with the Armor stuff is you don't know from one animal to the next how much thyroid hormone is in the thyroid they grind up so it is hard to standardize the dose. this is why doctors don't like to prescribe it. With the new FAA laws the synthictic stuff has to have X amount and deliever Y amount in Z hours and it has to be the same for every pill.


And yes if your low thyroid is the cause then when your thyroid hormone levels gets better its effect on cortisol will stop. Obesety also elevated cortisol too.

[Jen111]

If your FT4 and FT3 are not in the mid to upper range, you could feel pretty tired. My TSH is 0.03 (very low), but my FT4 is in the low range and my FT3 is higher in the range. I feel fine and not hyper. I could probably reduce my T3 to 2 5 mcg's instead of 2 6.25 mcg's and still be okay and bring my TSH up to about 0.5. Trouble is it is hard to find the 5 mcg's here in Canada now. There seems to be a shortage and not only that my meds have tripled in price overnight. It's highway robbery!!! :sadblinky

Some people say if there FT4 is in the low range, they feel very tired.

Hope this helps some more.

It is not normal for a person with hypothyroidism, who is being treated, to feel tired and depressed. You must go and get the proper tests done to see what your FT4 and FT3 ranges are and up your medication properly.

[Felix]

Thanks to you both for you advice,

I had some tests done a couple of weeks ago. My TSH was 0.01 and FT4 was at the top of the range. My FT3 is nearly there too but have had my T3 raised to help get it up a little higher.

With regards to the depression thing, I'm seeing my GP on wednesday to have a chat about it. It's been a long hard year with this illness as I'm sure you both understand. I just want to ask him why my moods are so erratic and whether its to do with my thyroid directly or a result of the changes it has brought to my life.

Right now, I need to work on relaxation. I've always been a worrier and over-achiever as many thyroid sufferers seem to be. I hate the fact that by body has done this to me and that I have lost a year of my life. I'm not keen on starting an anti-depressant.

I'll let you know how I get on. It's a roller-coaster!

Thanks again,

Felix x

[Jen111]

Felix, you startled me when you mentioned the worrier and overachiever bit and saying that has something to do with hypothyroidism. I guess in other words it can be stress-induced.

Anyway, ummm, are you on Armour or on synthetic meds? Your tests are better than mine actually, BUT on the hand you may just be over-medicated for you. I was reading the adverse reactions of too much thyroid hormone - it can cause this effect on the Central Nervous System:
headache, hyperactivity, nervousness, anxiety, irritability, emotional lability (emotions all over the place, crying, etc. and overreacting to situations emotionally), insomnia.

I don't read any depression in there, except for the emotional lability which could sort of apply, so I'm going to stop trying to be your doctor and ask you to get some more professional advice. I hope you can get it sorted out. Please let us know how things turn out. Prayers going up for you.

Remember once you are optimally treated then you're pretty much as good as new and can go on living a normal life and die from something completely different. In fact, you probably have more thyroid hormone for your body (and heart protective) than most women who are getting older. Most people sort of lose a bit of their thyroid function anyway as they get older - but yours is optimal. Look on the bright side. Don't feel sorry for yourself and think that you are now defective or diseased. Your're treated, so forget about it and live your life! Most of us have something by the time we are middle aged, be it overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases (believe me, there are some awful ones - be thankful!), hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, etc. - we just have to manage it at that point and get on with life again.

Make a list of all your blessings and then read it every morning. Maybe that will help a bit. It may be that your depression is truly a chemical imbalance at the moment and if you are low-carbing extremely strictly, it may be a good idea to introduce more good carbs for the serotonin lift in the brain. Plus, you could also introduce some exercise to release the calming endorphins. Oh my, I can go on and on.....

Felix, prayers for you. You will get better. Believe it!

[Jen111]

Felix, if you get an LED lamp that gives you light that mimics sunlight for about an hour a day - that might help.

Otherwise, if you are really fatigued, did you consider you may have something else going on? Maybe Chronic fatigue Syndrome? I hope not, but just wondering. I read something interesting tonight re CFS:

http://www.immed.org/reports/infectious_disease_illness/Alt.Med.Sept2001Mycoplasmas.html

Maybe this will help somebody.....