im a male-can i have thyroid disease?

[zbone]

im 34 and fightinf alot of things.im recovering addict,have hemachromatosis and pretty bad depression. im on celexa for the deppression. thyroid desease runs rampid in my family.my mom has it,sister,cousins,uncle and grandmother.what are the chances of me having it?is my deprssion cause of my drug use or is it cause of thyroid?every once in awhile,like now, i get very depressed and at the same time i feel like something is stuck in my throte.is that a sign?plus i just dont feel rigt.always tired and unhappy.this isnt me though. ii was very happy go lucky,energetic,motivated,and just productive.now im not and it seems to be getting worse.i guess i should talk to my doctor but it always feels like im there for somethin.pls help with some guidance.

[LazyMoose]

Were out numbered, but out there.

[gimel]

I can personally confirm that males have thyroid problems also.  With your family experience with thyroid, plus your symptoms, I definitely think you should go for some thyroid testing.   Doctors always test for TSH, and sometimes TT4.  As a start, you should insist that they check for free T3 and free T4 (FT3 and FT4, not total T3 and total T4), along with the TSH.  The reason for this is that TSH is a pituitary hormone that is affected by many variables and it is inadequate as a diagnostic, by which to diagnose and medicate a thyroid patient.  

FT3 is the most active thyroid hormone.  It is for times as active as FT4, plus FT3 correlates best with hypothyroidism symptoms.  TSH does not correlate very well at all with hypo symptoms.   Doctors also will sometimes resist testing for FT3 because they say if FT4 is okay, then FT3 will be also.  This is not always the case, and since FT3 is so important, why not test and be sure?  So insist on testing for FT3 and FT4 and then get a copy of the lab report and post the test results and reference ranges, so that members can help interpret.