Anxiety medication

My doc prescribed anxiety medication for me. Thought I would run this by you all first. Is it safe to take with 88mg of levothyroxin? Thanks

[Marz]

We often read on here that people are prescribed anxiety meds without first checking nutrient levels. Have you had B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD tested - if so do you have the results with ranges ?

Also do you have recent thyroid results with ranges - maybe your T3 is low or you need an increase of T4.

Which drug have you been prescribed ?

[shaws Administrator]

Do you have a print-out of your latest results with the ranges? If so, post them.

Doctors are willing to prescribe for symptoms - but they are unaware they may be connected to being on insufficient hormones to provide sufficient FT3.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

I am not medically qualified but what I would do first, before taking other medication (in case it is hypo) and if doctor has already tested TSH, T4, T3 but hasn't included Free T4 and Free T3 would get the Frees tested. Both have to be towards the upper part of the range. You can get the FT4 and FT3 privately as doctors/labs rarely test these.

When we are on optimum hormones for us as individuals we should have no clinical symptoms.

Marz has also commented upon making sure your vits/minerals are optimum.

On this link you will see the reason why FT4 and FT3 are necessary.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Hypopotamus]

If hypothyroidism isn't treated PROPERLY over a longish time, the adrenals 'kick in' to compensate, and we will feel anxious as a result. We also feel anxious, or 'dis-eased' when we are ill. So medications from the doctors for anxiety are only masking a problem.

As others have suggested, first get your health problems sorted, but if you want help with the anxiety, turmeric is a very effective, and natural remedy that will not interfere with your thyroid meds.

[sidneymark70 in reply to Hypopotamus]

Thank you Hypopotamus, going to try turmeric. Thought it was only what you put in curries. So you can get it in tablet form?

[Hypopotamus in reply to sidneymark70]

You can buy it in capsules, or there are drinks that you can make with the powder. Go to You Tube and search for Turmeric. Also search for other natural remedies.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Do you have autoimmune thyroid also known as Hashimoto's (high antibodies)

[Treepie]

Do you really mean mg or mcg ? And how do you get 88 ?

[Howard39]

Hi

I definitely agree. Everyone is right your thyroid meds need checking together with your vitamins and so important your adrenals.

It's unlikely a gp will do a full saliva test but I'd suggest you consider Genovas. They test your dhea and cortisol over a full day.

You would know if at the 4/5 times in the day your levels were low in range or high. Just as an example- high dhea causes extreme anxiety.

Hypopotamus is right any meds like antidepressants mask symptoms. There is usually a reason we are anxious- yes it can be stress but it's can be bodily stress due to being ill or not being in the correct meds.

I'd suggest adaptagens- ashwaganda is the best general one I know. Dr Axe has done more much research in this area.

Ethnobotanist James Duke wrote adaptagens contain compounds because they experience stress themselves as they are grown in very harsh climates. It states the herb reduces stress and anxiety by 44 percent and cortisol by 28.

( bebrainfit.com) From a personal view many of my friends use adaptagens now for sleep and stress instead of meds and they don't interfere with your thyroid meds- naturally they need a two hour gap.

Good luck and post your results.

[elaine2447]

I occasionally pop a benzo but don't like to make a regular habit. I have read that benzos, like diazepam, suppress tsh so not good to take one prior to going to a gp for a test as they already have this annoying "within the normal range" attitude as it is. I have been trying ashwaghanda and holy basil and I didn't give it up when taking saliva test that was with medichecks and everything came back very high, high, high and very high! . Weeks later I tried Regenerus with no supplements and that apparently came back low, low, low and high, weird or what. Anyway, have been taking the HB, relora and jujube at night but has made no difference to anxiety or disturbed sleep.

[jacrjacr]

great advice above....we have all been down that road and realized it is low normal results with nutrients because of low stomach acid not absorbing nutrients, and or low normal results on thyroid test ignored by dr..

[jamesal0]

Levo has many known side effects, anxiety being one. drugs.com/sfx/levothyroxine...

If you really want to get away from it change to NDT.

J

[sidneymark70 in reply to jamesal0]

Not easy to change to NDT though is it James? Where to get it from and being able to afford it.

[jamesal0 in reply to sidneymark70]

I get a script from GP and buy from my pharmacy (Australia). Costs me about $120 per month. About $4 a day - the cost of a shop bought coffee. So not really considering how much better life is. I also bought 400 grains of thyroid S online as a backup supply for about the same price per grain as the chemist charges.

[bluebug]

From the messages to your thread the answer is "maybe".

However if you read the messages properly the answer is what are your thyroid hormone levels and nutrient levels? If you don't know then don't take the meds. Unfortunately GPs aren't trained in nutritional health. This means they definitely do not know about under medicated hypothyroid patients let alone those with sub-optimal nutrients.

You may have to be get private testing to find out whether you fall into those categories.