Posted by psyclist on February 24, 2009, at 14:23:58
In reply to Re: Thanks bleauberry and larry, but.... » psyclist, posted by Larry Hoover on February 20, 2009, at 20:58:39
> My understanding is that chronic lithium use causes a gradual and irreversible decline in thyroid function in some individuals. After 30 years exposure, I don't think discontinuation is going to help you much. And what of the loss of mood stabilization that withdrawing from lithium would cause?
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> Your thyroid tests were about the minimum to get any sense of how that's all working. Usually, free and total T4 together give a sense of how much thyroid binding globulin you have, and at least a free T3 to check for liver conversion. Your borderline low T4 could be augmented towards the upper bound of normal. If your doctor agrees with that assessment, that's a fairly commonplace first intervention. Do you have any symptoms, apart from depression, that might be correlated with hypothyroidism?
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> LarWell it looks like there is probably no hope for my thyroid given the length of time I have spent on continuous Lithium treatment. If this is the case then I have a few choice things I would like to say to the psychiatrists who have treated me for the last two decades.
My understanding is that hypothyroidism in itself causes mental health problems. Thus Lithium treatment which leads to hypothyroidism is paradoxical. It recreates the very problems that it sets out to solve.
I believe that I suffer from sluggish cognitive tempo. I cannot concentrate sufficiently to read a book or to watch a TV program longer than 30 minutes. This I put down to hypothyroidism. I am tapering off my Lithium at a rate of 100 mg every 10 or 14 days. So far I am down from an initial 900 mg to 800 mg but I cannot say I have noticed any improvement yet. As I am on the British NHS I don't know how many blood tests I will have access to. My GP, who is a recent change due to travel problems, is not very promising. He described my Serum free T4 level of 11 pmol/L within an allowable range of 10 to 22 pmol/L as quote "perfect". My own view is that one does not need to be an endocrinologist to see that it is rather low. One only needs to be numerate.
Larry your prognosis for any future T4 or T3 tests does not seem to be very optimistic. How comfortable and easy is it to take an augmentation? I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has experience of this.
poster:psyclist
thread:879453
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