Hashimoto and other thyroid conditions are often described as emotionally intense, such as feeling angry/upset, weepy, anxious or depressed... but does anyone feel like they have been sucked into an emotional vacuum?
I used to be joyful, exuberant, compassionate... now I can't experience any positive or warm emotions. In my heart area it feels horribly empty or like a ton of bricks dragging me down.
It's different from being depressed, which I also suffered from during the major outbreak of my Hashimoto. At least it's not a mental/psychological depression because I'm not in a negative mind set. Sometimes it feels like a 'somatic' depression because of the intense physical symptoms. I just seem to alternate between morning bouts of anxiety and then this awful emotional emptiness and/or heavy feeling. Is it a symptom of thyroid dysfunction or something else? Can anyone relate to this?
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hugatree
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Having emotions uses up energy. When T3 levels in the body and brain are too low then the emotions get dispensed with. You need what little T3 you have to keep the lungs breathing, the heart pumping, and the digestive system digesting. Emotions aren't strictly essential for life.
If you are on anti-depressants they make the problem even worse.
I don't know why it isn't mentioned in lists of symptoms. I was just going by my own experiences of being untreated and under-treated for hypothyroidism.
I did find that being low in nutrients - particularly iron in my case - made my brain function issues even worse, including the lack of emotions.
I should also have mentioned that mid-range Free T3 isn't high enough for many sufferers. Some people like theirs to be around 70% - 80% of the way through the range.
Rather than asking in the middle of someone else's question you would be better off creating your own post and asking your question there. I'm afraid I can't help you.
Patient information and healthcare materials on general prioritise a biomedical discourse. What this boils down to is that the body, the physical signs and symptoms, the treatment and cure - when there is one - are written about. Emotions and feelings are rarely written about, even when they might fall under the signs and symptoms banner.
It's a well known effect of anti-depressants (ADs), often referred to as "emotional blunting" and it's very common. ADs might ease depression in some people, but they also remove a sense of humour, laughter and joy too. People feel indifferent to the world and life in general.
If you do a web search for "anti-depressants flat emotions" you'll find loads of info on it.
After being put on a new brand of Levothyroxine which says new formula called Teva I fel terribly I’ll. shaking trembling very strong anxiety. I have never felt like this in my lift the gp I saw send she was referring me to the mental health team but gave me no medication to help. It’s all over the internet about this new brand how it makes everyone feel that they are going crazy. Next go I saw send he’s never heard that. Even though there are so many posts on the internet just send I see you have been referred to mental health team. I came off thyroxine meds for one week then started back on old brand. Making sure I took them in the middle of the nite. So they didn’t interfere with anything else. As it now says u must take at least 2 hrs before even a cup of tea or any other meds. My doctor also this time different doctor! Put me on fluanxol and I feel much calmer anxiety has gone shaking has stopped. I don’t feel on a high or low but just on a normal level.. which is good because I live alone and have lived with depression for years. Us that has lifted and I feel very gratefully normal. I’m not one hundred percent if this is the meds or starting back on old brand and I think it’s a mixture of both I am going to ask GP if I can stay on these long term as I have never felt so normal. And can experience good emotions on a normal level. Can anyone else identify with this. Thankyou. Gulimara
Also when you low in emotions you don't run around and live life to to fullest. You sit at home and look at the wall therefore save all the little precious energy. It's a clever way to make sure you stay at home. As you say body doesn't care about happy when low on thyroid hormone. The priority is to keep you alive.
I’ve had this for 5 years . I can cry easy but I can’t feel , love , joy , connection , even grief even through I can cry . Emotional blunted feelings . It’s called Anhedonia. I came across this lady and it brought me a lot of hope and peace for the first time knowing there was a name . I haven’t done the course as yet as it’s a bit expensive but after 5 yrs and knowing it’s different than depression. I’m considering it . I found two stories and I’ll post them here but it gives you hope ... anhedoniasupport.com and if you go to hypothyroid
Mom
And google hypothyroidism ruined my relationship. Great story there ... it’s an awful feeling
I found the mention of antibiotics at AnhedoniaSupport interesting, as I've had a weird year since finishing three months on three varieties, only leaving the house for a couple of hours each week for shopping and hiding away from the glorious summer.
If you have had antibiotics you need probiotics to rebuild the microbiome in your guide. It is widely accepted now that we have a 'second' brain in the gut and the bacteria in our gut make 90% of the serotonin in our brain!!! Lack of the good bacteria releasing serotonin in the blood would definitely affect your mood. Just do a google search, lots of scientific articles coming to this conclusion. A great book to read is I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong.
Thanks, I make my own probiotics and also make sure of prebiotics. I did not suffer the gastrointestinal distress many who take doxycycline report. Erythromycin made me feel more hungry.
How are you feeling now ? My seemed to get worse 6 weeks ago with severe depression and anxiety and crying spells . Looking to see what meds to take to help . Yes I’m with you ... hiding away . Just lying down as the fatigue is bad as well
Yes, you have described exactly how I feel. Yesterday I visited a place I use to go in my youth, although I was happy to be there and it is a very beautiful place I had such dumped emotional response, it made me sad to remember how that place made me feel before.
I think this could very well be the case, and exactly describes how I have felt at times. I was diagnosed hypothyroid by chance 11 years ago with no real symptoms and have been on levothyroxine ever since. However, looking back I have had recurrent bouts of what you describe from as early as teens, with also some since diagnosis (though of course I would have had the Hashi's some time before being diagnosed hypothyroid). I only found out this year that I actually have Hashi's as doctors have never mentioned it!
Definitely a symptom of inflammation and cold weather with the dehydrating effect of central heating I think. It's worse in the cold weather coupled with so many virus bugs, mould spores etc. that we tackle unknowingly - it's a big drain on scanty resources. Supplements are harder to absorb so the things that help are not getting through. Limiting sugar helps me, as I suspect Candida is rife, plus keeping on top of deficiencies by taking things that are easy on me... I like cod liver oil in liquid form and although my iron levels were great in the summer, they are lowering now, so a Spatone sachet seems to help keep me motivated and semi-lively. NB Candida uses up iron and is fed by sugar.
Yes hugatree and thank-you for posting this, it is how I feel. I have three lovely adult children, a sweet little cottage with an orchard that I planted, two dear grand-children, a job that is great and yet I am flat. It's really horrible. I feel unnatural when I see my children or grand-children but don't feel love, joy or excitement. It's an awful emptiness. I can't understand why we can nevertheless feel sad and cry - like today for instance, hearing Wilfred Owen's poetry leaves me crying with grief and pity.
Someone has mentioned low iron and my ferritin scrapes along the bottom, how about you? Do you think that might be the answer?
It’s awful and exactly how I feel . It’s quite disturbing and heartbreaking. I have read that dopamine the neurotransmitter that causes us to feel these emotions are impaired and low . So I’m researching I’d there is a way to increase it or even if there is an antidepressant that will increase dopamine .
I'm so glad you posted this, as it's exactly how I feel, although I'm taking Paroxetine for PTSD, I am flat in the emotional sense. I don't find comedy shows that I used to enjoy funny any more. I don't feel excited about things, and I don't cry at the things I used to. It's a joyless existence.
I think I can, though at the moment, because of circumstances, it's more depression and anxiety (I think) and all sorts of other things. But yesterday I thought "flat," the very word.
I will look back carefully at the other replies and advice.
Yes I feel the same way all the time. I just attribute it to feeling sick all the time. The Thytrophin PMG has tremendously helped with my hair loss but I don’t feel 100%. I also suffer from rheumatoid arthritis though as well and have a history of depression. Usually much of the sadness and feeling you may be feeling could just be from not feeling well most of the time. I think that’s what it is for me. It’s difficult to feel while when you feel sick all the time
I found that insufficient T-4 was very much part of lack of interest for me . It just shows that Optimal of both T-3 and T-4 is so very crucial for our emotional and physical well being . It's a balance .
Exactly! Well stated. If I’m not regulated, I’m flat emotionally (and recognize it) and I don’t dream. What has helped me is eating well, no caffeine, limited gluten, dairy and sugar except honey, (Not rigidly, but I try), keeping my TSH numbers in the .03-1.45 range and Free T4 and Free T3 in correct ranges. I also eat 4-6 refrigerated Brazil nuts a day for the Selenium, Zinc, Copper balance, B-Complex, D3 5000iu, multivitamin, fish oil, turmeric, and NAC off and on. Moderate exercise and socializing help.
I really think the Brazil nuts have helped along with the others. I’m trying to address my adrenals along with my thyroid and I think it helps.
There are days when I wake up and I realize I am completely normal, like I used to be, and it gives me hope I can keep it going. Then of course, something happens to get me off kilter (strenuous days, long string of rainy days, out of a pill, decide to drink socially). But at least I feel I am 90% for the most part and know if I keep it clean, I can get rebalanced. Every morning I try to reflect if I dreamed. I use that as a gauge if I need to bump up my diet. If that isn’t working, I go in for tests.
Your reply Dragon5 is very helpful, I don't dream either, along with the flatness and have realised that just occasionally I do have a dream so I'll watch to see if those days are when I feel better and if it links with any of the things you have mentioned. Thank-you
Before being given thyroxine I would sometimes sit staring into space for what seemed like hours. There wasn't enough mental energy to read a book, watch a video or even think about anything in particular, just sat there waiting to get sleepy enough to go to bed. Lying on the settee didn't help because I couldn't really relax either. It was incredibly boring. Not depression, just like being in a kind of vacuum.
The thought of being like that all the time is horrible. And that is nothing compared with what some of you go through.
I can absolutely relate to emotional problems. I have Graves disease and had a thyroidectomy 2 years ago. I have been emotional ever since. A lot of crying for no reason. When my hormones are off or out of the range, I'm not sure whether high or low doesn't seem to matter, I have cried every morning for a month for no reason at all, very short-tempered angry, no joy in my life, constant worry. I tried antidepressants but it didn't make a difference. I do notice when the hormones get more in range I don't feel like crying anymore and actually start to get happy and laugh, then something changes and I start feeling sad and mad again. I think in my case I need to be at the higher range of T3. The doctors don't understand this at all and just keep trying to tell me I'm depressed. you are the first person I read on this blog that has these emotional up and down problems. I don't know what to tell you to do other than keep trying adjusting the hormones, I take naturethroid which has more T3.
Whatever you do please don't just stop taking anti-depressants all of a sudden. It can be dangerous to just stop taking them and are best cut down gradually. I have taken anti-depressants a couple of times for about a year at different times of my life and they were a useful tool so I would never dismiss them.
I do agree with others that the emotional side of thyroid imbalance is not given the prominence it should as it is not just about feeling physically
tired when hypo, it's the attendant emotions of hopelessness or worthlessness or just flatness like having an adrenalin bypass - however it is expressed. When I was hyper I could take on the world - until I burnt out. At the same time I was possibly impatient snappy and critical . (for others to judge!).
So let's keep bringing feelings up with the medics so they get it that they are not just dealing with physical symptoms.
I'm on the other side of the world and coming out of winter, so been blaming it on minimal sunlight exposure altho i suspected it (flat mood, lack of motivation) could be thyroid-related.
I've read that our brains need T4 and my levels have slowly improved during this year (Hashi's, first year on Eutroxsig). However i don't seem to convert well, even with diet changes and supps.
Long story short..i struggle with a sense of "its not worth the effort". I used to paint and longed for more free time to be creative, yet now that i have that, i really can't be bothered.
It feels as if a whole range of feelings have disappeared, replaced by blandness and a lack of capacity to feel really joyful.
Sadness, on the other hand, is a close companion - which i put down to mourning the loss of my former self.
I see that some of you are better with additional iron, but my Dr already refers to me as "ironwoman".😁
Hormones are known to impact on moods, and given that the thyroid is the master gland and orchestrates others, its no wonder that we don't feel as we did before.
Thankyou to the OP who brought this subject up.☺ Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find a solution.
What is your current state of wellness? Do you still have thyroid antibodies? Have your T3 & T4 levels been restored well into the normal ranges?
You need to decide what level of emotions are characteristic/"normal" for you. Think back several decades, what was it like then? Speaking from personal experience, I had anhedonia in spades (along with anxiety, panic, depression) when I was deeply hypothyroid. But now that my Hashi's is gone and my FT3/FT4 are at good levels, I don't feel like I drop into an emotional hole everytime something unpleasant happens. My spouse interprets this as being emotionally flat, but I was on an emotional roller-coaster so long, that I don't want to return to the state I was in before.
I experienced severe apathy when on thyroxine only. I am normally a very emotional person but when on T4 only medication I didn't feel anything (no sadness, no happiness, no emotion of any kind). It was awful. My emotions came back when I started taking medication containing T3 (initially NDT and later T3 alone).
I certainly can relate to this at the moment, mainly due to a family situation that has arisen.
I'm working on my panic attacks and decided to get in the car out of the house a drive. I was taking in the countryside views but felt disconnected whereas I'd normally be joyous at the autumnal beauty, blue skies, fresh air and thinking of Christmas. The hollow paralysed feeling is just horrible and like you, I feel that heavy, lead weight feeling on my chest.
I've had lots of great advice from the fab people here and hope to be back to myself soon. I too am Hashi's and underactive.
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