Feeling fed up of not feeling well and being told it's depression.

[Hhossack]

Hi, February last year (2013) I was suffering with a lot of anxiety, sleepless nights, loose stools, loss of appetite, losing weight rapidly, hot all the time and sweating so went to see the doctor who tested my thyroid, my t4 was 26 but my Tsh normal so was sent to see an specialist at the hospital. In the mean time my doctor subscribed beater blockers 40mg 3xday which helped me sleep and feel better. When I went to the specialist she wasn't convinced I was suffering with true thyroid symptoms and believed the test from the doctors may have been a blip so tested my t4 again and anti body's, my t4 had gone down to 14 and my antibody was 0.5 away from being abnormal so was discharged.

I carried on having symptoms so went back to my doctors who said its depression and put me on antidepressants which have helped with my anxiety and sleep as they have sedative in them and I have put abit of weight back on. I was still feeling very jittery so went back to my doctor and had my thyroid tested again(November) it's slightly high again but have been told I have to wait until February to be retested to see if it's still high then they will send me back to the hospital.

I weaned myself of my antidepressants to see what happens and all of the above symptoms came flooding back. Can antidepressants suppress the symptoms of hyperthyroidism? Am I suffering with thyroid problems or am I depressed like the doctor said?( I don't feel depressed and have nothing to be depressed about) my whole personality has changed in the last year. Has anyone els had this problem?

Thanks

Hayley x

[Hidden]

Unfortunately many doctors are lazy and have no knowledge of thyroid disorders so they prefer to hand out ADs as sweeties. Been there done that and done the arguing.

The best thing you can do is take control of your health and request copies of all your blood tests. You are entitled to them although they may charge.

[Clutter]

Your symptoms suggest hyperthyroidism (overactive) rather than hypothyroidism but there are crossover symptoms and without your results + lab ref ranges its hard to be sure.

This link describes undiagnosed hypothyroidism masquerading as psychiatric illness hypothyroidmom.com/when-thy...

[Hhossack in reply to Clutter]

Thank you for your link it was interesting reading how thyroid problems are missed diagnosed, I'm fed up of telling them I'm not depressed. I personally think I'm suffering from an antibodies x

[kiltis]

I think your symptoms sounds like adrenal fatigue. Do you feel worse in the mornings?

There's a test you can do if you have access to a blood pressure monitor, it's called Ragland's test.

afcvirden.com/adrenals.html (scroll down to Ragland's test)

I got myself a cheap monitor from Argos, it's great to be able to monitor blood pressure and pulse rate.

drlam.com/articles/adrenal_...

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

[Hhossack in reply to kiltis]

Thanks for your reply, I have thought and googled Adrenal fatigue as I'm so confused as to what so many different doctors have said x

[kiltis in reply to Hhossack]

Yes it's like detective work, unfortunately doctor's don't know or care about adrenal fatigue. The best way to test is an adrenal stress test, it's a saliva test available from Genova or Blue Horizon.

It cost £ 75 though

pulsescreening.co.uk/hormon...

[Marz in reply to Hhossack]

...it can be confusing - drrind.com can be a useful site where there is a questionnaire where you tick the symptoms of Adrenals v Thyroid. Also what the Thyroid test results mean in connection with the Adrenals. Hope it is helpful.....

[Fruitandnutcase]

I have Graves Disease - hyperactive with lots of symptoms similar to what you have. Many years ago when my GP and I thought I was under active I was told I was actually borderline hyperactive and nothing was done.

For many years I had so many random symptoms I felt that I must be a real hypochondriac, I never felt well and although I was not depressed it was depressing to be constantly be told there was nothing wrong when I knew there was. I used to google autoimmune diseases but didn't think of thyroid because I had been told I was fine and none of the other ones fitted. I was even told in August 2012 just before I was diagnosed that I 'needed my holiday' I came out really frustrated and said to my husband that the doctor I saw clearly thought I was a total nutter.

In December 2012 I discovered I had Graves and started treatment.

To get to your point - at one point when I needed an increase in my thyroxine I started having massive palpitations again (I thought I had gone hyper again but I hadn't) and I was given amitryptiline - which is an antidepressant that my doctor said was being used for other things nowadays - to calm them down because I can't take beta blockers (I have asthma) and sure enough the amitryptiline calmed it all down, I weaned myself off them when the palps settled again and by the time I went back to see my endo who increased my thyroxine and the symptoms went away again.

Hope that helps

[Hhossack in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I think my nan had Graves' disease my mum said she had bulging eyes at one point and lost lots of weight. But my antie said that my nan wasn't on medication for it as it wasn't that bad x

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Hhossack]

Graves runs in families, my mother probably had it too, I recognise the signs now that I have it. The only treatment she ever had was when she was very elderly and was for pernicious anaemia which also goes with Graves. You should just tell your doctor she had it, because it sounds like she had, don't mention that she never had medication for it. x

[Hidden]

Nhs gps get extra funding for putting patients on anti depressants...see how it works?

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Hidden]

Pity they didn't get extra funding for treating thyroid problems.

[Hhossack]

I think it may be hashimotos as I can feel normal at times but seem to go hyper when stressed x