Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hi Serenty,

You will have many questions and you should research Hashi's. I am not a doctor, but I was diagnosed with hypo, then hashi's, then cancer. I can tell you that there is a lot of good information on the web to help you, but first I'll go through a few tips.

Hashi's is an autoimmune disease where your body tries to attack and kill your thyroid. Even when you get put on meds, your thyroid will sometimes try to work and sometimes not, so you can go between hypo and hyper. This is important to know because they both affect your mentality. Hypo causes more depression and anxiety and hyper causes more anxiety and depression also. Hypo slows the body down and causes muscle and joint pain, blurred vision, mental fatigue, body fatigue, brain fog, weight gain and yes problems with anxiety or depression. Hyper speeds the body up and causes chest palpitations, hunger, increased metabolism, anxiety, some depression and tiredness. You will learn to listen to your body as they get your medicine correct.
It usually took about 3 weeks for me to notice a difference in my mental capicity after they started my medicine. Many doctors only treat with T4 which is Synthroid, Levoxyl, Armour Thyroid. I needed extra T3 because of the emotional and mental side effects I had. The T3 was noticable. Some doctors won't do this and if your doctor doesn't, you should get another doctor.
Try not to go on psych meds until they get your thyroid straightened out. Many of your mental symptoms are because of the thyroid. Once they get you regulated, and if you still need to go on something, don't go on Paxil. They call it Paxhell for a reason. Make sure you research any meds they want you on.
Many doctors really do not know how to effectively treat thyroid problems. I see an endocronologist because of my thyroid cancer. They are very knowledgeable on thyroid and how much it screws up your system.

With all this said, you will find relief once they get the meds right, but listen to your body and if symptoms reappear, its time to get your blood levels checked.

On a last note, exercise does your body well with thyroid issues. Sometimes it's hard to exercise because the pain it causes afterwords for me, but I found the treadmill a great device for dealing with anxiety and depression because of my thyroid. It does help. Remember to take your medicine at night on an empty stomach and withuot hot drinks. This will cause the medicine to work its best. Good luck!
Maria

I also was diagnosed with Hashi's in the last year. I take Levoxyl and Cytomel. Very strange when I noticed that the anxiety that had plagued me since the onset of menopause has almost totally disappeared once I started my thyroid rx. I had no visions of this happening and I was not versed in the abilities of my new medications. A pleasant surprise that this has happened to me!
All of this time I thought that it had to do with my other hormone functions and menopause....
Good luck to you,
JK

I forgot to mention! I personally think that you should do one thing at a time, as in try the thyroid meds before they try to slip you into an anti-anxiety program.

thanks for your responses. The trouble is the doctors wont put me on thyroid meds yet as my thyroid levels are ok at the moment - it is only my very high antibodies that shows that there is some evidence of hashimoto's (it also runs in my family) - the only real symptoms i have of hashimotos at this stage is anxiety & depression (and i have other auto immune diseases). I have had bad panic attacks for 9 years now and it is greatly affecting my life and I need to do something, but I guess I don't know what to do as I don't know the cause of my anxiety - if it is my thyroid causing it - I can demand to go on thyroid meds, but I just hope they do fix my anxiety because the meds will kill my thyroid in the process. what do you guys think i should do? :)

p.s jk54cat - can i ask how bad your anxiety was before you took the meds.

My anxiety was not to the critical stage, as in I could still function and unless I told you that I had it (didn't tell anyone really) you wouldn't know. Not full blown panic attacks. For me it was a feeling of desperation, clostrophobia (I can never remember how to spell this word!) hopelessness, all rolled in to one moment. I am under extreme stress right now (my mom is dying) and I am not getting the feeling that I did prior to thyroid meds. I got put on thyroid meds by an endocrinologist because of a slightly high tsh level. My regular gyno totally dismissed this point in my blood work.
Ask me anything!
Jan

Maria06 is pretty correct except for one thing. Armour Thyroid does contain T3 and you said it didn't. I am on it and it is a million times better than the synthetic stuff. I have been down both roads. It is so amazing though that the symptoms is actually what I keep in tune with. My TSH is having a hard time coming down...but I am under alot of stress too. My mother just died too.....sorry for you JK54cat---when I get stressed my numbers go crazy too. I just finished the flu and also a sinus infection, I am sure from the stress and the Hashimotos lowering my immune system.

YOu are so right the Drs. do not know how to treat thyroid problems and it is because they DON'T listen or read up on it themselves like we have. You need to take your health in your own hands these days, it will be worse if US gets the national health care too.....yikes! TAke care all.....Barb

Yes, my anxiety was quite severe with significant paranoia and I also experienced depression. I don't know if those symptoms were totally or only partially due to the hypothyroidism, although I was on antidepressants for years without improvement prior to being put on levothyroxine. I am currently on Wellbutrin and over the past two years have experienced improvements gradually to the point that I haven't had mood symptoms for the past year. I tell people that its like waking from a ten year nightmare.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell who will respond to which antidepressants the best. It is sometimes a frustrating trial and error process until you find a good balance between symptom improvement and side-effects. The good thing is that anti-depressants are typically well tolerated and some have been on them for decades without problems. I have been on Wellbutrin for probably 4 years now and have taken it before for about 2 years. I don't have any side effects with it. I may have initially but don't remember.

Hope that helps!

I too have hashi's and have depression and anxiety. It's totally possible for you to have both too.

I am so glad you asked about this. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto in my early 20's, and recently (within the last 2 years), started having anxiety issues. I thought it was extremely odd to develop something such as anxiety out of the blue, when it was not an issue in the past. This is definitely something I will mention to my pcp at my next visit.

Thank you again for your post :)