Posted by Bill L on December 13, 2000, at 9:34:47
In reply to thyroid augmentation, posted by Bob on December 12, 2000, at 22:51:55
Bob- I have done a lot of reading on this subject over the years. Are you clinically hypothyroid? In other words, is your TSH over 4.0? If the answer is yes, then you need to supplement and that will give people more energy.
If your TSH is naturally below 4.0, then supplementing with thyroid hormone may give a little more energy, but an antidepressent effect is generally mild.
Some docs will supplement AD's with T3 (cytomel) only.
Most docs will not supplement with thyroid at all if the TSH is under 4. The ones that do, will monitor the blood levels. The goal is to get the free T3 and the free T4 in the upper quartile of the reference range while not allowing the TSH to drop below 0.5. So the amounts of T3 and or T4 that are given are whatever is necessary to reach those goals. But from my readings of the doctor discussions on this psychobabble site, oftentimes even when this goal is reached, the additional antidepressent result is only mild.
The body has a negative feedback mechanism. So if you supplement with throid hormones, the body makes less TSH and therefore produces less of it's own thyroid hormone. Maybe that's whats going on with you, particularly if you are not hypothyroid to begin with.
Another populat augmentation is with lithium. Ask your doctor about that. My pdoc claims to have a lot of success with that.
The first thing to try however is probably to increase the dose of Celexa. Many people take 40 mg and some take up to 140 mg with very good results.
I personally take 20 mg of Celexa along with SAM-e with very good results. Good luck!
> I have been augmenting my AD (Celexa - 20mg daily) with both T3 - 12.5mcg, and T4 - 12.5mcg daily for quite some time. Originally I started augmentation about 3 to 4 months ago with just T3 and got a fantastic response for about a week with just 25mcg. Then it started to wane, and I upped it to 50. I was good again, until that started to wane, and I started to also exhibit hyperthyroid symptoms - sweating, tachycardia, etc. I reduced my dose back down to 12.5mcg, and then began adding T4 at 12.5mcg. I felt better again for about 3 to 4 days. After yet another waning, I increased both T3 and T4 to 25mcg levels. I felt better again, then it waned again. The pattern was incessant, so I finally brought both meds down to 12.5mcg. I have been at this level for a about 2 months now, and in general don't feel that well anymore. Ever since that first experiment with thyroid augmentation, I've been searchng for those original feelings. I hadn't felt that good in years - confident, strong, relaxed, and refreshed. It seems to have all gone away now, and the original response I had is completely elusive. I'm contemplating getting off the augmentation strategy altogether.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this course of events, where the thyroid augmentation helps for awhile, but then bogs down into symptoms of hyperthyroidism? It was so good at first!
poster:Bill L
thread:50460
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001130/msgs/50490.html