Depression and Thyroid

[foreverlostmom]

I am wondering would you blame your depression to be caused by your thyroid?  Has anyone gotten to just the right levels and had the depression go away?  or did your depression caused by your thyroid stick around even after reaching optimal levels?

I feel like I am pretty depressed and while I know I have many reasons to be depressed I used to think I had a handle on it but the last year since I started treating my thyroid problem I have seem to feel like I have that doomy feeling hanging over me that is not going away my levels seem to be getting close to being good so I wonder if this is from my thyroid issues or not.

And one last one if you do have thyroid depression do you treat it?  And if so do you feel the medication is helping?

Thanks guys and gals :)

[yallolorry]

Hi foreverlostmom, I'll share my experience in the hope it might be of interest/helpful for you.

I was diagnosed hypothyroid in August last year and am going through the process of being treated for it (with increasing doses of standard thyroxine). It's taking longer than I expected to sort out but I am now a lot better than I was. Like most people with this disorder I've tried to read up on it. I'm still very new to the topic though, with lots to learn.

One thing I've seen mentioned a lot is a link between thyroid and depression.

In my own experience, early on in this process, between being diagnosed and early stages of treatment, I was having thoroughly weird doomy thoughts: "I just want to run through that plate glass window and fall the two stories to the street so I can die now" / "my life is a total disaster" being two that recurred a lot!

My doctor asked me if I thought I was depressed and, alongside thyroxine for the thyroid, offered counselling, CBT and/or antidepressants "if you want them", I opted for some counselling as I always think it's good to talk and was feeling very panicky and scared so appreciated having a safe outlet to explore those feelings. I have also said I'll try CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) as she thinks I may have chronic fatigue as well as hypothyroid and apparently CBT can be helpful for dealing with that. I'm up for giving it a try while being wary of being labelled in "need" of it. Still waiting for my first CBT appointment though.

Anyway, I'm still off work and not 100% well but I do feel much less ill in general and less psychologically distressed. I think the crazy suicidal depresssion thoughts were a lot more to do with the thyroid than anything else. I don't think we can underestimate the extent to which physical stuff impacts on how we feel emotionally. Like you I had stuff in my life I could legitimately be depressed about, but the feelings I was having felt out of proportion when I weighed things up rationally.

personally I prefer not to touch anything like an antidepressant. I'm just trying to be gentle and kind to myself, meditate, eat well, do my best to accept what's happening and let myself cry when I need to. Touch wood, I seem to be getting better, little by little.  I'm keeping everything crossed that things will work out.

[laura1967]

Hypothyroidism can cause depression....and so can our female hormones. I can tell you that once my thyroid levels were optimal, my female hormones are more manageable and pms is much better!  :)