Antidepressants and thyroid meds

[Tigglypoo]

Anyone taking antidepressants and thyroid meds ,Iam trying hard to get off antidepressants but struggling ,Iam wondering do thyroid meds help anxiety ,

[greygoose]

They should do, given that anxiety is a hypo symptom.

Are you taking your antidepressants at least two hours away from your thyroid hormone?

[shaws Administrator]

I really wish that doctors could be better educated in the function of the Thyroid Gland but unfortunately seem to think that TSH result is sufficient.

TSH is produced and rises by the pituitary gland to try to provide more thyroid hormones.

You should ask your doctor to check both Free T4 and Free T3. Usually T3 could be low and we need both FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of the ranges.

Antidepressants doctors prescribe due to the patient's clinical symptoms but as you are hypothyroid and your Free T3 is low and it is also the Active Thyroid Hormone needed in our millions of T3 receptor cells and brain and heart have the most.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Welcome to the thyroid forum

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking?

Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine?

When were thyroid levels last tested?

Can you add most recent results and ranges

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking, if any?

Anxiety is a very common hypothyroid symptom, suggests you may not be optimally treated

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Do you know if you have Hashimoto’s? Ever had thyroid antibodies tested?

Ask GP to test vitamin levels

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

Is this how you do your tests?

Just testing TSH is completely inadequate

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin (doesn’t include folate)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thyroid plus vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Medichecks - JUST vitamin testing including folate - DIY finger prick test

medichecks.com/products/nut...

Medichecks often have special offers, if order on Thursdays

Thriva Thyroid plus vitamins

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

Medichecks - JUST vitamin testing including folate - DIY finger prick test

medichecks.com/products/nut...

Please add actual results and ranges if you have any

Or come back with new post once you get results

[humanbean]

Optimising your thyroid hormone levels will help in reducing depression and anxiety.

Another thing that helps, and is far easier to do without a doctor being involved is to optimise your nutrient levels. One of the commonest symptoms of hypothyroidism is low stomach acid, which leads to poor absorption of nutrients from the diet, which then leads to nutrient deficiencies.

There are lots of nutrients that are important for people with thyroid disease which turn out to be low in many cases :

vitamin B12

folate

ferritin

vitamin D

Just being in range isn't sufficient to make people feel well, we need to optimise our levels to have a hope of feeling as well as possible, and this requires people to get levels tested before supplementing.

Personal anecdote : Improving my iron and ferritin (iron stores) virtually eliminated my anxiety and reduced my depression. For other people it may turn out to be some other nutrient which has the biggest effect.