How can i fix anxiety ?

[hipolion]

I can't get rid of anxiety, other than antidepressants(ssri) ??? I've been on cipralex for a while and I don't want to go back on it, it has too many side effects. Although I take t3 and levo but I still have anxiety and visual disturbance. t3 helped me a lot but I don't get rid of anxiety.My doctor suggested I start taking again cipralex. The rest of the values are ok.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Hi there hipolion, my anxiety massively improved when key vitamins were optimal. I need to take a B Complex daily (I use Thorne Basic B) and regularly check ferritin, folate and D via Medichecks. I find taking magnesium in the afternoons really helps me sleep (I use magnesium glycinate as it’s easy on the stomach).

I was wrongly diagnosed with ‘health anxiety’ and saw a psychotherapist fir over a year. Joining this forum was transformative, as I realised that I was under medicated thyroid- wise and my key vitamins were far from optimal.

I still practice mindfulness (I rate the app by Mark Williams) and Pilates to refocus my mind when a feeling anxious. I hope this helps!

[hipolion in reply to Buddy195]

Thank you, you take hormones? In which part of the day you have the most anxiety? I have two moments in day, at 11,30am and 6pm.

[Buddy195 Administrator in reply to hipolion]

I don’t take antidepressants, just thyroid medication and vitamins. Anxiety can creep up on me anytime, but early evenings have been worse in the past (after work) and that’s when I now take magnesium.

[humanbean]

I agree with Buddy195 .

Optimising nutrients had a major effect on my apparent anxiety and depression. In my case the improvement was most obvious when I managed to improve my ferritin (iron stores). But that could just be because my iron and ferritin levels were the furthest from optimal before I started improving them.

The other thing is that optimised nutrients can have quite a dramatic effect on thyroid hormone levels too :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I do take an anti-depressant but not a prescribed one. I take 5-HTP which I mentioned in this post :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Good luck.

[hipolion in reply to humanbean]

Thank you for your reply. May I ask you, how you have improved your iron level(at optimal level)? I took it in the past 5-HTp but I became more anxious than I was and gave up.

[humanbean in reply to hipolion]

I took prescription-strength iron supplements that I bought without prescription from UK pharmacies. They can also be bought online here.

I notice that you live in Romania, and I have no idea what the rules are for getting hold of iron supplements where you live.

Personally, I take ferrous fumarate 210mg which I buy in boxes of 84. I took maximum dose for nearly two years (to get my ferritin to optimal - my serum iron was still very low), but after a lot of experimenting I have found that I can maintain my levels reasonably well with 1 tablet 4 or 5 times a week.

I've written a post for another member on the subject of what people can supplement :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I've also written a post about being very cautious with iron supplementing that you should read :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

...

When you took 5-HTP what dose did you take? I take a very small dose (50mg) but small dose tablets/capsules are not that easy to find. If I take too much I get the jitters (because 5-HTP increases cortisol), but 50mg suits me just fine.

[hipolion in reply to humanbean]

Thank you for reply, I can buy from local store(pharm.) several kinds of iron. The most effective I think would be - Gentle Iron, 25 mg(by Solgar). Yes, I can also buy online (from iherb) but it takes some time until it comes from usa. The last time when I did my iron analysis was around 30%-40% and my endo told me it is fine like that.

5 htp is found in my country in doses of 100mg.

However, after many experiments I concluded that the best combination for me is NDT and levo (75%ndt +25%levo). But due to the lack of ndt on the market I have to stay on the synthetic and that gives me anxiety.

[humanbean in reply to hipolion]

The most effective I think would be - Gentle Iron, 25 mg(by Solgar).

When I was raising my own iron and ferritin I was taking ferrous fumarate 210mg, one tablet three times a day. A single tablet contains 69mg of iron, so in total I was taking 207mg of iron per day.

Some people do manage to raise their iron levels with low dose iron tablets but I never did. And in order to keep my iron and ferritin as close to optimal as possible I still take one tablet, 4 or 5 days a week.

One thing that makes things difficult though is that the higher the iron content of a supplement the fewer people can tolerate it. The only way I could tolerate three tablets a day when I was trying to raise my iron was to take it with food.

It is worth taking iron tablets AND eating liver once a week. Liver contains iron in a different form, and people may absorb it better.

Another link you might find interesting :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[humanbean in reply to hipolion]

The last time when I did my iron analysis was around 30%-40% and my endo told me it is fine like that.

This link is worth reading, and many of us on the forum aim to get to the levels suggested :

rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...

For ferritin people often aim for mid-range or a little bit over. You might find this link of interest :

Title : Effect of iron supplementation on fatigue in nonanemic menstruating women with low ferritin: a randomized controlled trial

cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/184/11...

[shaws Administrator]

I'd ask for an increase in T3. This link may be helpful:-

health.harvard.edu/diseases...

[dtate2016 in reply to shaws]

Such important information in “raising thyroid hormone too quickly” in the elderly.

Couple thoughts: Drs don’t seem to know this / wait to see if the patient complains, rather than proceeding slowly - AND, for those of us self medicating, we could inadvertently raise hormone too quickly by optimizing vitamins while trying to increase dosage of T4 / T3. (Such a delicate balance!) “Elderly” may come sooner / at an earlier age in some.

[shaws Administrator]

I think your GP would do you a favour if he checked both Free T4 and Free T3 and maybe increase T3.

It could be that either or both may be low.

[hipolion in reply to shaws]

Hi shaws, I usually don't need any documents from my Gp or endo to do my thyroid tests, there is no need for such a thing where I live. Any lab in the city where I live does the tests I want for a fee. I usually do them 3 months after I change the doses. Always I do tsh, ft4, ft3. The last analyzes that I have taken in December; TSH-0,089 (0,2-4,3), ft4 15,5(11,9-21) and ft3 4,76(3,1-6,8) on 125mcgTirosint +5T3 and 5T3 in the afternoon and another 5 T3 at 6pm.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

When were vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 last tested

As you previously had Graves’ disease have you tried strictly gluten free diet.