T4-ONLY people: Does the depression ever go away?

[NeedSomeHelp123]

T4-Only people: Did Synthroid (Levo, etc.) make you depressed?  I am worried the depression will not go away.  Did not really have depression before going on Synthroid.  Will the depression go away if I get my numbers better?  

Thank you.

[LazyMoose]

This is a tough question in a way. The only real way to know if any symptoms will go away on whatever thyroid med your on is to max out on it.

I have been hyper by maxxing out on several thyroid meds so I know what it feels like. it certainly was not enjoyable but I did learn a lot about my body. Fortunately I did not have heart issues so I was not that worried about it.

What I learned was T4 was not enough for me, and a combo with T3 lessened many hypo symptoms. I took as much T4 as I could and still had symptoms.

I have decides to give you the long answer:

We all talk about getting the frees tested as it is the best indicator of available thyroid hormone floating around in the blood.

What is seldom mentioned here is there is no way to measure what your cells are absorbing and what your body is simply passing through - not all unused hormone stays in your blood, some passes through. At this time there is no test for that. None. If YOUR cells dont like the way a thyroid hormone fits or looks it wont use it. This is not common, but it happens. That is one of the few interesting comments I ever heard from an endo. And it makes sense. The term "identical thyroid" is BS. The only thyroid identical in every way to your own is, unfortunately, your own. This is one reason why some people need to change brands after proving, by slowly maxxing out, if one brand works or not.

Some people can have decent looking labs on one med but not feel well,. Then they might change meds, and feel better with similar labs. Why? Their cells are, apparently using it. But there is no lab test that can show this yet. In this case its about symptom relief - how you feel.

[FTB4]

It will start improving  along with the rest of the symptoms, I had the same reaction to Levo when I first started medication, it seemed as though I became worse after taking the meds, I don't know why, but many thyroid sufferers say the same thing, and MD's claim that the meds do not cause the symptoms, it is the disease that does, maybe it is both and just your system getting regulated to the change in hormone levels. Like toni2251 said, you need to have your Free T3 tested evry time you have your labs done. this will determine if you are converting T4 to T3, which is the actual hormone you need to feel well. Everyone is different, I took Levo for the first six months, and my Labs never budged, I changed to Synthroid and progressed a little better, but never made it to optimal, then thanks to members here, I was informed I had a conversion issue, then switched to a combo T4/T3 Armour, now my levels are on the money. Don't get discouraged, you will make it, the road is just a little bumpy.  Good Luck FTB4

[toni2251]

Hello have you checked your free t3 levels. My levels were very low and when I started cytomel it really helped. You need to post your labs and ranges.  I take 15mg of cytomel and 50mcg of levothyroxine. I am not balanced yet but cytomel has helped tremendously.