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.