Posted by Noa on January 14, 2003, at 3:55:23
In reply to Low Thyroid and lithium - not a good combo, posted by BarbaraCat on January 14, 2003, at 0:31:39
I had a similar experience.
I took lithium for about 2 months, to help with refractory depression. It did start to work after about 3 weeks, but by about week six, I started feeling worse--depressed, fatigued, weak, achy, I had edema, etc. etc. I got my TSH done and it had gone up.
I decided to stop the lithium, and then found a good endocrinologist, after reading up on hypothyroidism. He told me I could have stayed on the lithium if I had wanted to, just upped the dosages of my thyroid meds. At that point, since I had already stopped, I decided to see how I felt after treating the thyroid problem more aggressively, which was his approach at that point. Treating the hypothyroidism is what finally got me to respond decently to the antidepressants. I started to feel better and better.But I did not have the manic side of things to contend with, as you do. I wonder if there is more that you can do about the thyroid side of things before going off lithium.
Which thyroid meds are you taking?
poster:Noa
thread:135769
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030113/msgs/135779.html