Posted by dreamboat_annie on October 13, 2006, at 18:22:00
In reply to Thyroid Expert Please, posted by Phillipa on October 12, 2006, at 15:19:48
Hi!
First, I'm not a thyroid expert, so you can take what I have to offer with a grain salt.
Even though your TSH is 0.5, have your free T3 and free T4 levels been tested. When I was seeing a naturopath a few years ago, she said that the TSH test does not always give a complete and accurate picture of what is going on with the thyroid, and that testing free T3 and free T4 levels can be more useful. That being said, a lot of mainstream doctors will not test those things if TSH is normal. But, it can't hurt to ask, or demand, that those things be tested. I have read that the T4 is converted to T3, which is the more potent and active hormone, but that some people do not convert the T4 to T3 well, so they will end up with symptoms even when their TSH test is normal. Also, it is my understanding that hashimotos is diagnosed by testing the thyroid anti-bodies. If they are extremely elevated, then there is a problem (I think that's how it works). However, I was under the impression that elevated thyroid antibodies do not necessarily affect the TSH test, so it is important to have the antibodies tested separately.
With respect to menopause, if your symptoms of anxiety and depression really took hold about 10 years, that is the time, I am assuming, that you were heading into menopause and in the perimenopause stage. Perhaps, you need to be on some kind of hormone replacement therapy. There are bioidentical hormones now which do not have the same horrible side effects, etc., that you could discuss with your doctor. From what I understand, progesterone is anti-anxiety and estrogen mood-elevating. It can take a month or more to get the dose right and feel full benefit, but it may help the problems you have been having. The increase risk of breast cancer scare I think was in relation to Premarin, which is synthetic estrogen. I don't know if the bio-identicals have the same risks since they are essentially the same as what your body makes. Premarin is extracted from the urine of pregnant mares.
Anyway, just my thoughts FWIW.
Cheers.
> Okay for l0 years I've had bad anxiety and now depression. Anxiety going up. So I also have hashimotos thyroiditis. Was rechecked and 0.5 TSH. So the GP is lowering the dose by one notch. My question is when I first found out about the hypothroid TSH was 22 and anxiety horrible even with benzos. But how come if it's low the anxiety is horrible too? Now I've gone through menopause could that be why? And how to get it up? Any suggestions and reasons for the change? Love and Thanks Phillipa
poster:dreamboat_annie
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