Posted by Cece on March 6, 2001, at 14:03:23
In reply to Re: Depression without ADD, stims, thyroidism? » Noa, posted by Leonardo on March 5, 2001, at 12:57:23
For years, I was told that my thyroid was "on the lower end of within normal limits". Then last month my pdoc ordered very specific tests :
T4, T Uptake, FTI, and TSH. Because I take Cytomel (T3) as an AD augmenter, I had to have the blood drawn before took my daily dose of that.
Two of the tests, T4 and FTI, came back "borderline low", below normal limits.
Since then I have been taking T4 supplement (Levothroid, 50mg/day), and have experienced significant improvement in energy level.
Whether my levels had changed over the years, or I had just not had complete enough testing done is impossible to know.
T4 makes T3 in the body (an oversimplification I'm sure!), so simply supplementing T3 does not fix the problem if T4 is low to begin with.
There is also a very respected pdoc, Peter Whybrow, who advocates treating depression with thyroid supplement even if the tests appear normal, which apparently helps some people.I also recently began taking Adderall- it is unclear whether I have "full-blown" ADD, although some of my problems, being very distractable, daydreaming, and focussing, fit the profile. I can't handle much Adderall without becoming unpleasantly wired, but just 7.5mg/ morning, and 2.5mg/afternoon, has helped me focus much better on the task at hand and has reduced my tendency to wander off into daydreaming.
Good luck,
Cece
> How can you tell if you have hyperthyroidism? I have the cognitive fuzziness and fatigue which made me suspect thyroid at one point. I got my very-unconvinced GP to do a blood test for thyroid activity which came back 'within normal range'.
>
> I also heard that these blood tests are not very reliable... How can I rule it out for sure? I am responding quite well to dex, so you've got me thinking about this again!
>
> Leonardo
poster:Cece
thread:55460
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010302/msgs/55729.html