what are the psychtric symptoms patient have faced like paranoia or delsuion ?anyone have history of mental illness?

[rai44]

[LouiseRoberts]

Hi

Please can you give some more information about yourself as this will help people to better offer informed support.

Are you diagnosed with a thyroid problem? Which one?

Have you got your latest thyroid blood results, including the reference ranges?

Are you having any other thyroid symptoms?

Are you on treatment?

Thanks

L

x

[rai44 in reply to LouiseRoberts]

diagnosed with hypothyroidism with tsh of 16.87 and ft3 2.4..latest is tsh .8 and ft3 is 3.8..currently on 75mcg levo

[Marz]

It is better to have the ranges too as labs vary. Even without the ranges I am suggesting that your FT3 looks LOW. This could be a problem. I am not experienced in mental issues personally but have read a great deal both on this forum and elsewhere that thyroid issues are linked. T3 is the most active thyroid hormone and the greatest amount of T3 receptors are in the brain. If you do not have enough T3 then things may begin to go wrong.

Diet is also important - foods do affect the brain behaviour....If you pop Mental issues into the Search Box on the Green Bar at the TOP of this page - previous appropriate posts may appear...

Sorry not to be more helpful. Are you on treatments other than for the thyroid ? Supplements for deficiencies ?

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

[heathermr]

I was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease when I was at my lowest trying to get the correct medication for my hypothyroidism. I fought the NHS through 2 different Endos who were both useless and did not take any notice of my mental health situation. When I finally persuaded the Chief Endo that it was T3 I needed and he finally gave in and perscribed it for me, I discovered that some of my dementia problems improved much to the amazement of the dementia specialist I see. Since starting to take just T3, my hypo has improved dramatically and my dementia has stabilised, so much so that my dementia specialist has written to my GP telling him that he must not stop the T3 under any circumstances! Clearly a huge amount of damage has been done in my brain because the hypo was not treated for such a long time, but I am just so delighted that the dementia has more or less stabilised. I am now taking 100mcg of T3 which seems right for me, I have lost 3.5 stone and I can now play tennis 3 times a week as well as enjoy a 5 mile walk. I may never get back the ability to handle numbers, or understand complex situations like I used to, but I can still enjoy life to the full.

Heather

[real_mission in reply to heathermr]

Good for you ,Heather! 8)

[PinkNinja in reply to heathermr]

Sorry to hear you were treated so badly but what fantastic news that T3 is helping you and your dementia specialist is fighting your corner.

All the best

Carolyn x

[Hidden]

What a story heathermr. I'm really glad you stood your ground to get the treatment you so obviously needed. So pleased you're getting your life back. X

[Hidden]

I can sadly relate to your journey only too well.

I have posted a few times of my journey with mental health issues ( which I only too well know started being an issue when it appears my endocrine system began to fail me)

I have been to hell and back through many failings. More recently I see they have forwarded an e mail I sent them (asking for copies of my long outstanding request made to them on 5/08/2013 for mental health records) to a researcher on Dementia?

I have learnt so much on Thyroid UK and it gives me some comfort that what I have personaly experienced healthwise (but been ignored) confirms my health and mental health is all endocrine related.

[TSH110]

I suffered from increasingly severe depression. I became paranoid and used to think people were spying on me and following me, although I still had an inkling that I might be imaging it. I became obsessed with death and frequently thought about suicide. I was eventually diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I had become so ill I used to see a skull looking back at me in the mirror. The depression persisted with treatment on levothyroxine and only began to lift when my TSH was very curbed I'd say less than one. I now struggle psychologically because although I am supposedly better and fully optimised I cannot properly reconcile feeling like I am not quite the same person as I was, that my mind is slow, I have lost my sense of humour, that I used to be very athletic but now I feel like an old wreck. I have put on a lot of weight and I feel exhausted all the time - no amount of sleep ever refreshes me. I am not in that deep black hopeless pit of depression that simply would not lift now, but my life feels very one dimensional and often a matter of just surviving. I felt much better that this when I was on 125mg a day but it was reduced to (125mg x7) and (50mg x3) per week because medicos said I was hyperthyroid on it. I become very hypo on 100mg a day. I think my depression must have been hormonally induced and the hypo greatly exacerbated this as my hormones went completely wrong. Now I am post menopause the mood swings including cyclical depression I had from youth have gone. I did used to wonder if I might be a mild manic depressive when I was younger.

[real_mission in reply to TSH110]

Ive kind of lost focus since my meds have been messed about with. I can remember who I was, but Im spending so long fighting tiredness, fuzzy thoughts and general 'getting through the day'ness, I do feel a little off kilter. I wouldn't say its a mental illness, just a way of the body coping with whats going on. You tend to try to focus on other things, to take the focus off something you should have control of,but do not and are constantly scuppered by 'people who know whats best for you' I used to have great focus and mental processing powers, i now struggle to take on new projects as I get distracted or frustrated with my forgetfulness. I know I will get a handle on this one day and be back to my old self, its what keeps me going.

Keep your chin up and dont let the b******s get you down!

[TSH110 in reply to real_mission]

I understand exactly what you say real_mission . I seem unable to start new projects at all, I live in such dreadful chaos and despite trying seem incapable of addressing it and getting myself back to the tidy, organised and methodical person I used to b, ready to use my creative talents for all sorts of really fun projects....one day I hope your energy levels improve it could make all the difference for us for better quality of life

[puncturedbicycle in reply to TSH110]

TSH110 has anyone ever suggested t3 for you? I suffered for years with terrible depression and eventually clawed my way out with therapy and good relationships and I suspect more than a little good ****ing luck but t3 has given me a cheerful sparky energy I could only have dreamed of when I was ill. T4 had some very small effect on me - I felt a little warmer and at a good healthy dose my hair began to come back - but it had no effect on my mood.

Age favours some people when it comes to depression.

[TSH110 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I had begun to wonder if T3 might help me, puncturedbicycle. It is interesting that you suggest it. I will ask the doc at my next appointment. I think I probably don't need much but the sparkle that you speak of is exactly what I lack. Will keep you posted see doc on 25 feb thanks for the helpful advice

[puncturedbicycle in reply to TSH110]

Oh good luck. I will be thinking of you.

Maybe bring some articles about t3 and depression with you so they don't think you're just angling for more thyroid hormone (or whatever they are trying to be obstructive about). T3 is now used to treat treatment-resistant depression.

If your doc won't go for it it isn't the end of the line. You still have options.

Have you posted your levels here? If you felt better on a higher dose it sounds like you might have grounds for asking for an increase. The way I look at it I was really very unwell and unhappy for long enough and now is MY time. I have paid my dues.

I think there may be a typo in your reply where you say your t4 was reduced. You were on 125 but reduced to - ? I'd be interested in knowing more. I wonder if the reduction was too harsh. When is your next post-reduction blood test due?

[TSH110 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I need to get a print out of my levels from the docs. I think I will ask for all of them. I used to get sent copies of the letters from my Endo to the GP, with all the blood test results but once I was discharged that was it. I felt best on 125mg/day but that was reduced to 125 then 100 on alternating days and I have been tried on various combos of 125 and 100, it is 100x7 and 25x4 per week at present. On 100 my TSH was c6.8 and I felt very unwell, on 125 the Endo said I had gone into hyper, I felt a darn sight better on that than on any other dosage! I just had a blood test for the latest 100/25 juggling act - I was only allowed that increase cos I complained about having no sex drive! It comes back properly on 125mg anything slightly less and it starts to faulter, loose another 25mg per week and it's gone again. Interesting that lack of sex drive was taken more seriously than other symptoms. I felt too embarrassed to mention it before - not anymore lol! Seems to be my trump card

[Clutter]

I was diagnosed bipolar many years ago. I was tested for thyroid problems pre diagnosis and had follow up thyroid tests via company medicals that were always clear. I delayed getting treatment for spiralling Hashimoto's ascribing the symptoms to a bipolar episode, even though many of the symptoms were atypical.

It is common to be misdiagnosed by GPs as depressed &/or bipolar when undiagnosed hypothyroid and often picked up by psychiatrists. I'm firmly of the opinion that antidepressants should never be prescribed until thyroid function is tested.

There are harrowing posts of patients being committed and committing suicide during psychotic episodes.

hypothyroidmom.com/when-thy...

[humanbean]

I struggle with memory problems and my planning ability has gone, probably for ever. If anyone ever asked me to organise a piss-up in a brewery, I know I would fail.

[TSH110]

You could write a really funny story about everything going wrong humanbean

[5858]

Being snowed in a bit has got me to do some things....like things that I have had sit around for about a year...Done in no time at all...Wish I was my old self....Maybe on the road to good health wish I could help you...xoxo Susan

[PinkNinja]

Hi. I was diagnosed with Schizo affective disorder many years ago. Despite my "borderline" thyroid results, they would not treat me for that until my TSH was above 10. When I was finally diagnosed hypothyroid, a very good GP prescribed T3 and my psychiatric symptoms disappeared. On being switched to levo, they came back. I am now on t3 again and I no longer need any psychiatric meds or epilepsy meds.

Many people seem to suffer psychiatric symptoms when hypo or hyper. If only doctors would make the link!

Sorry to hear you are suffering this way. I hope things get better for you soon.

Carolyn x

[puncturedbicycle in reply to PinkNinja]

Omg CarolynB. The mind boggles. x

[TSH110 in reply to PinkNinja]

That is very interesting info CarolynB. I was still in a horrible state with a TSH of just over 10, I consider it cruelty to make anyone suffer untreated at that level of deficiency. Thank goodness yours has now been so successfully treated. My partner is bipolar (antidepressants do little to properly control it) and his sister is schizophrenic (also very poorly controlled by medication), she is hypo but she was only tested after being put on lithium. Who knows if she was already hypo prior to lithium, she certainly looked that way. He has never been tested for thyroid function. I wonder if t3 only works for bipolar if there is an underlying thyroid disorder. So far he has refused to seek advice about T3/thyroid status with his GP as I twigged from discussions here its possible significance for him. He has the more unusual fast cycling bipolar. Unfortunately, stubbornness and apathy seem to be symptoms of it in his case.