Edited by Salvatore Benvenga, Roberto Vita, Christian Koch
Last update 25 September 2020
This Special Issue covers different aspects of hyperthyroidism. In particular, pathophysiological and therapeutic issues of hyperthyroidism are addressed, with special attention on autoimmune hyperthyroidism.
Mental disorders merge highly with thyroid diseases. Because of its regulatory effects on serotonin and noradrenalin, T3 has been linked closely to depression and anxiety. It has known that in many cases, the mental symptoms persist even after normalization of thyroid function by treatment. Psychosocial factors including stress have been associated with mental symptoms even after thyroid function normalization in Graves’ disease and a combination of mental disorders have been related to the exacerbation of hyperthyroidism. These findings suggest that psychosomatic approaches based on the bio-psycho-social medical model are important for the treatment of mental disorders associated with Graves’ disease.reader.elsevier.com/reader/...
For_my_girl This doesn't address your question about finding a psychiatrist with endocrine expertise, but thought I'd post it in case you haven't already come across it in your research.
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The Two Faces of Janus: Why Thyrotropin as a Cardiovascular Risk Factor May Be an Ambiguous Target
Johannes Wolfgang Dietrich, Rudolf Hoermann, John E. M. Midgley, Friederike Bergen and Patrick Müller
Endocrinology and Diabetes Department, Medical Hospital I, Bergmannsheil University Hospitals, Ruhr University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany
2Ruhr Center for Rare Diseases (CeSER), Ruhr University of Bochum and Witten/Herdecke University, Bochum, Germany
3Private Consultancy, Research and Development, Yandina, QLD, Australia
4North Lakes Clinical, Ilkley, United Kingdom
5Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
6Department of Cardiology II, Münster University Hospitals, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Elevated concentrations of free thyroid hormones are established cardiovascular risk factors, but the association of thyrotropin (TSH) levels to hard endpoints is less clear. This may, at least in part, ensue from the fact that TSH secretion depends not only on the supply with thyroid hormones but on multiple confounders including genetic traits, medication and allostatic load. Especially psychosocial stress is a still underappreciated factor that is able to adjust the set point of thyroid function. In order to improve our understanding of thyroid allostasis, we undertook a systematic meta-analysis of published studies on thyroid function in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies were identified via MEDLINE/PubMed search and available references, and eligible were reports that included TSH or free thyroid hormone measurements in subjects with and without PTSD. Additionally, we re-analyzed data from the NHANES 2007/2008 cohort for a potential correlation of allostatic load and thyroid homeostasis. The available evidence from 13 included studies and 3386 euthyroid subjects supports a strong association of both PTSD and allostatic load to markers of thyroid function. Therefore, psychosocial stress may contribute to cardiovascular risk via an increased set point of thyroid homeostasis, so that TSH concentrations may be increased for reasons other than subclinical hypothyroidism. This provides a strong perspective for a previously understudied psychoendocrine axis, and future studies should address this connection by incorporating indices of allostatic load, peripheral thyroid hormones and calculated parameters of thyroid homeostasis.
Absolutely! I can personally vouch for the fact that undiagnosed hypOthyroidism can cause horrific mental illness. I have forever been thankful to Richard Asher and his Myxoedema Madness paper, which was one of the very few sources of such information when I needed it around fifteen years ago. Unfortunately the psychiatrist I was referred to completely dismissed the connection and refused to even read Ashers paper when I offered it at the time. I sincerely hope things have moved on since then, but fear that's often not the case.
Well perhaps I feel a bit touchy about this having being sent 2 letters by my GP for a review of my mental health! I have never had any counseling or taken any antidepressants in my life. As you know I also have "delusional" written on my GP notes by a doctor who is now retired. After several requests to have that word removed the surgery have ignored me. This does imply I have mental health problems which I do not have or ever have had.
Completely understand how you feel. The whole subject of medical ignorance and refusal to accept the connection between thyroid and mental health makes me so very angry.
We have no facility for merging threads. The best we can do is put links from thread A on thread B - and vice versa. (Or repeat our replies on the other thread.)
pennyannie, Your interaction with this member is on a separate forum (Graves Support). So even if we had the facility to merge posts , which we don't, it couldn't be done across forums
I notice that For_my_girl has added that the person concerned has been taking some recreational drugs which could have contributed to her mental health condition.
From my experience if someone is hospitalised/ mental health issues they do run checks on the thyroid, especially before starting certain psyc meds
In terms of more general mental health In this instance they would only test thyroid if symptoms showing this needs testing I guess
I have been in bipolar remission a very long time but I do think my hyperthyroidism is because either being on lithium many years helped mask an underlying issue / or other issue I am still being investigated and awaiting anti body results.
I don't really get it, as like I say I am still in bipolar remission, but if someone is an inpatient for psych reasons they do normally test the thyroid as far as I am aware
I saw For_my_girl post looking for a pdoc who also specialises in endo well this is not the case, normally the pdoc will run tests and if there is a thyroid issue they would be referred to endo if needed. For eg when I started lithium I was tested then regular thyroid checks 6 monthly to check the thyroid as lithium can affect it. To be honest all trained pdocs will have some awareness about the thyroid but any specific thyroid issue would be referred for that! Hope that helps make a bit of sense to it all
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