Posted by Scott L. Schofield on January 1, 2000, at 21:22:24
In reply to influence of thyroid on depression, posted by juniper on January 1, 2000, at 17:45:34
> six years ago i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and i take 1.0mg of synthroid daily. i have my TSH levels checked every 6 months or so and usually i swing around normal (though i do not understand precisely what this means). i wonder though if considering my depression and energy level it would benefit me to be on the high end of normal (i do understand that the semantics here are a bit tricky, as high levels of TSH are indicative of low levels of other thyroid hormones). does anyone know if staying on the high end of the normal spectrum may help depression?
I just responded to another person’s post that may be of some help here. Not to be pretentious…
> Thyroid analysis is a tricky thing that I don’t trust the average run-in-the mill endocrinologist to perform.
The tests themselves may be simple enough, but interpreting them can be a real challenge. TRH, TSH, T4, T3, T4/T3 ratio… Now try to interpret them in the context of severe neurophysiological depression and the changes in thyroid function that may result from it. Now try to interpret them in the context of severe neurophysiological depression and the plethora of drugs the subject may be taking as treatment. Now consider all of the aforementioned as being totally irrelevant because, regardless of thyroid function, thyroid medications will be used as an allotropic adjunct to augment the current treatment being employed on the subject.I think that there are some clinicians who would agree with your surmises regarding thyroid levels. Low thyroid levels in and of themselves are capable of producing depression. It is not an uncommon practice to add thyroid hormones to a treatment regime, regardless of test results. It seems to me that it would be a lot simpler to just consider trying thyroid medications and see what happens. Both T3 (Cytomel) and T4 (Synthroid) should be considered as neither are universally effective. Cytomel actually made me feel significantly worse, while Synthroid was somewhat helpful. For others, it is Cytomel that does the trick. Psychiatrists may tend to choose Cytomel, as much of the past literature has focused on it. I think that this tendency may thus be self-perpetuating, leading to the unwarranted neglect of Synthroid.
Good Luck… Let us know what happens.
Sincerely,
Scott
poster:Scott L. Schofield
thread:17804
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000101/msgs/17818.html