Is there help for depression when a person has Hashimotos Thyroiditis?

[suz70]

So the short of it, I have depression that is ruining my life. I'm ok in the am about 2 hours then all I want to do is sleep. I have gained 50 lbs. I am on the following meds: Adderall 60mg day, Pristiq 50mg day, Synthroid 137 mcg day. Subtotal thyroidectomy 2001 to remove goiter rt side of neck. Now one is growing on lt. My TPO antibodies were high but MD never did anything. My main concern is no quality of life. I also take xanax 0.5mg prn for anxiety which is at least once per day. Have tried many things over the years and nothing works. Any suggestions?

[Marz]

Do you have any test results for your thyroid that you could share with us. Sounds to me as if your T3 is very LOW

Sorry I am not familiar with your other meds. Do hope none of them are contra-indicated with your T4 - which could be the cause of some of your symptoms.

How do you take your T4 and when ?

[suz70 in reply to Marz]

I take my t4 in the sm with my other meds

[suz70 in reply to suz70]

I meant to say am with other meds. I just posted my levels

[greygoose in reply to suz70]

Suz, you should never take other meds, no matter what they are, with your levo.

Levo should be taken on an empty stomach, with a large glass of water to wash it down, and then wait at least an hour to eat or drink anything other than water. Other medication should be taken at least two hours away.

[suz70]

Free T3 (3.1)

T3 reverse (21)

Free T4 (1.6)

Thyroid Peroxidase Ab (82 IU/ml)

Thyroglobulin Ab 212( IU/ml)

TSH (.55)

[Marz in reply to suz70]

suz70 - even without the ranges it seems to me your FT3 is at the bottom of the range. Just as I predicted earlier - based on your symptoms.

Taking your other meds with your Levo needs to be looked at as they may be contra indicated. Many meds negate Levo. This could be contributing to your symptoms.

Have you considered being gluten free to help with reducing the anti-bodies ?

[Hidden]

Do you have an unsupplemented B12 result? Hashis and atrophic gastritis, or autoimmune gastritis, which can end up as pernicious anaemia, often overlap. Have you checked your symptoms against the PA lists?

And how is your ferritin level?

[suz70 in reply to Hidden]

Transferrin sat 14%. No ferritin level. My B12 and folate levels are always very high

[suz70 in reply to suz70]

Also, what is a PA list?

[Treepie in reply to suz70]

I am guessing you are over the pond.There is a pernicious anaemia (PA) community on Health Unlocked.

[Josiesmum in reply to Hidden]

Aspmama, do you know how they test for autoimmune gastritis? Thanks

[Hidden in reply to Josiesmum]

It's all highly unsatisfactory. You can test serum gastrin, and antibodies to intrinsic factor, but in the latter there!s a false negative rate of 50 per cent. And MMA. And then they can put a camera down the gut, but they will only do that on unequivocal evidence. If gastritis is advanced your blood profile might show macrocytic anaemia, though a significant percentage, especially of young women, have microcytic anaemia. If you go over to the PA site the tests are all explained.The cost of doing it privately would be v high, and the gp won't order tests without a v low B12 reading, which would mean going off B12 for a couple of months. Even after doing that the b12 will be called normal if it is just within their lousy range.

Or if you have a high suspicion from remaining symptoms after thyroid is optimally treated you can trial B12 patches or nasal sprays and see if there is a treatment effect. The patches don't work for everyone. Some self inject.

In other words, it is more wading through mud in a thick fog trying to work it out.

[Josiesmum in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for that info, it's very helpful.

[suz70 in reply to Josiesmum]

No. This is all new to me. Any suggestions much appreciated

[shaws Administrator]

As stated above - thyroid hormones have to be taken on an empty stomach with one full glass of water and wait about an hour before eating.

A test should be the very earliest possible, fasting and allow 24 hours between the last dose of levo and the test and take it afterwards.

This allows the TSH to be highest as that's all doctors appear to be diagnosing and not our clinical symptoms.

Also ask for Vit D iron, ferritin and folate as we are usually deficient.

Always get print-outs of the results with ranges as it helps members to comment.

[humanbean]

Transferrin sat 14%. No ferritin level.

Your transferrin saturation is horrendously low, and is the lowest I can remember ever seeing.

This link tells you why iron is so important to people with thyroid problems :

rt3-adrenals.org/iron.html

This link tells you the results you need for optimal functioning :

rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...

This link tells you more about anaemia of various kinds :

irondisorders.org/Websites/...

Be aware that it is perfectly possible to have more than one kind of anaemia. So for example, if you have iron deficiency anaemia your ferritin would tend to be low in range or below range. If you have B12 deficiency anaemia your ferritin would tend to be high in range or above range. Put both conditions together in the same body and your ferritin may appear to be normal or almost normal, so unless you have other possible indicators of anaemia tested at the same time you won't disentangle what is going on and could be declared to be healthy, despite being ill with two different kinds of anaemia.

You really need far more information about what is going on with your iron. Read the whole page for the last link I gave then go and see your doctor and ask for thorough testing. It may turn out that you need an iron transfusion which would fix the problem in a day.

The combination of low thyroid and nutritional problems are absolutely classic causes of depression. Anti-depressants won't fix an iron deficiency, and it is lazy doctoring that makes doctors think they only need to prescribe an anti-depressant and the problem is fixed. Your body can't make use of your thyroid hormones if you have low iron.

Some other really important nutrients to get tested are : vitamin B12, vitamin D, and folate. If you have results for all these please let us know what they are. And please make sure when you get results that you ask for the reference ranges as well, and post those with your results.

[suz70 in reply to humanbean]

Vit D, 25-OH 28ng/ml

Folate >24ng/ml

Vit B12 1622pg/ml

I have the MTHR gene mutation on 1 MTHR GENE. I BELIEVE ITS 622? IF THATS WRONG ILL LOOK IT UP. STRANGE ENOUGH FOLATE AND B12 ALWAYS OFF THE CHARTS. IS THAT BECAUSE I NEED METHYL FOLATE AND METHYL B12? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP SO MUCH!!

[humanbean in reply to suz70]

I'm surprised that your vitamin D is as good as it is, given how bad your iron level is. It isn't dreadful. It isn't as good as it could be either.

If you look at this link

grassrootshealth.net/media/...

You can see that you need to take 3000 iU - 4000 iU of vitamin D3 per day to get your levels up to optimal which is 40 - 60ng/mL. It is possible to develop vitamin D toxicity so occasional re-testing is recommended. When you get your level up high enough either reduce your dose, or take the same dose for fewer days of the week, to keep it optimal.

With high vitamin B12 and high folate I wonder how good your body is at using it. For help with vitamin B12 and folate you should join the Pernicious Anaemia Society community her on HU and ask them about your high levels. They deal with all things B12 and folate related.

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about MTHFR so I can't help with that.

[humanbean in reply to humanbean]

I forgot to say - along with vitamin D3 you need to take a vitamin K2 supplement. Do NOT take vitamin D2, and do not take a product which includes calcium as well unless you know your calcium level is low.

Vitamin D increases the body's absorption of calcium from the diet. You want that calcium to go into bones and teeth, you don't want it lining your arteries. The vitamin K2 helps that happen.

Magnesium is another essential nutrient, particularly if you are taking vitamin D. There are lots of different magnesium supplements and people should choose the one that fits in with their lives best. Amazon and iherb are popular sites to shop around for supplements but do shop around :

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

metabolics.com/blog/the-def...

globalhealingcenter.com/nat...

Avoid magnesium oxide. It is very poorly absorbed.