Thyroid condition and depression...

[teraberry]

I was talking to my friend last night. She (after having her first baby) was having a real hard time. She would have periods of depression and general moodiness. She also had said she was having occasional anxiety attacks for a few years previous to that. She gained a lot of weight with her pregnancy and was having a hard time losing it.

She went to her doctor her proceded to test her levels of hormones and found that she was WAY WAY under the normal level. This was why she was having the problems with the depression, moodiness, and weight gain. So she went on daily medication - I think it's refered to as hormonal supplements, because her thyriod had gotten so out of whack. This medication had been most helpful for her.

I asked her if the "anxiety attacks" were also a part of her thyroid condition and she said no. She was sure that was just her own doing.

I thought this was interesting and since there are some here on anti-depressants I thought it may be possible that one would have a thyroid condition as well.

I have another good friend who has a thyroid problem which is exactly the opposite. Her levels were WAY high - she has a hard time keeping weight on and also would get exhausted easily and have a hard time with moodiness too. Once they saw her thyroid problem they gave her the hormonal therapy and that made it better.


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[rselenius]

Speaking from experience...

My thyroid levels are being treated for low or Hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed around 11 and I'm 31 now. During my first pregnancy, the Dr. had a way difficult time keeping up with my body's need for more hormones to keep my levels up. Depression and Hypothyroidism for me go hand in hand but only when my levels are out of whack. As long as your friends Dr. is very proactive with this and tests her levels constantly, the depression will get better.

As for the anxiety, It could also be a symptom. Mine is getting bettter with a change in diet as well as constant monitoring.

I hope this helps a bit. Look on About.com for more info on Hypothyroidism and all the symptoms it can create.

Rhonda

[Maxie X]

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[cujo0123]

I was just tested for thyroid problems and my thyroid is normal. A thyroid that is not working properly and depression are 2 separate chemical imbalances.

[bassmount]

Cujo, that is not exactly true. My mother is on Synthroid and this has helped both her depression and her thyroid. As I explained in the other thread, for "us" thyroid and depression go hand in hand also, just as with rselenius. It is unclear to me whether or not the Thyroid being out of whack causes the chemical imbalance or whether the chemical imbalance that causes the sepression sends the Thyroid out of whack. Which one causes the other has not been answered for us and may never be.

[cujo0123]

A thyroid problem can cause other health problems such as depression but, depression along the other problems that can occur are still considered separate problems in the medical field. They are treated separately. Depression does not cause thyroid problems.

[bassmount]

OK, but Thyroid problems could cause depression (in our case it does and it only treated with two meds, Magnisium (sp?) and Synthroid, both mainly for Thyroid probelms, so in essence they treated one problem and solved two with my Mom) and I think that was what I thought Teraberry was asking... right? Could there be a coalation in some (please note I said some and not all) that Thyroid problems could cause depression in some people and the answer to that is yes, it can.

thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa110599.htm

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as many as 40% of clinically hypothyroid patients (mainly women) have significant
depression. This is often accompanied by psychomotor slowing and mild cognitive impairment. Thyroid hormone therapy will often completely reverse these symptoms, rendering antidepressant medication unnecessary. However, even after correction of their hypothyroidism, some patients do require antidepressants. In such cases, to my knowledge, there is no "drug of choice"--any antidepressant should be of help.

Now please also note that this IS NOT the case with everyone. This is just my Mom's "type" of depression.