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Depression and Hypothyroidism
Are you depressed?
Depression and hypothyroidism are two peas in a pod. Unfortunately, the depression goes non-diagnosed along with the malfunctioning thyroid. Hypo people experience a gradual decrease in energy and start having other symptoms like:
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Panic attacks
- Brain Fog
- Lack of ability to concentrate
A smart doctor will test for abnormal readings in a TSH test indicating hypothyroidism. A brilliant doctor will test for T4, T3, TPO, Reverse T4, D3 levels, B12, Iron, Ferritin. (Post continues after the coupons.)
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Usually after a 3 months course of a thyroid hormone replacement therapy, a patient will experience more energy and ability to resume their work and social lives like they once used to.
Example of some thyroid prescriptions:
- Synthroid
- Tirosint
- Armour Thyroid
Unfortunately for many, the thyroid prescription isn’t sufficient to clear away depression. What are the signs of depression?
- Lethargy
- Insomnia
- A disconnect from social interactions
- Thoughts of suicide
- Persistent gloomy thoughts
- Changes in appetite
- Inability to focus on things
- Forgetfulness
- Rage
- Uncontrolled outbursts
- Lack of sex drive
Lack of thyroid hormone in the brain will cause this. T3 is the power hormone that has been shown to regulate the levels of serotonin in the brain. In particular, T3 is found in the limbic system, a part of the brain that regulates emotions. The limbic system is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the cerebrum.
Limbic System
Not enough T3 in your brain, your serotonin levels drop, leading to depression.
Psychiatrists will test for TSH to see if a treatment plan for depression should include a prescription for a synthetic or desiccated thyroid hormone. Many times, a patient will have better results from depression if they are prescribed a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) for six months to one year. After which they may be taken off the SSRI unless the depression comes back, then a longer course will be prescribed.
If you experiencing depression, lack of energy, and anxiety, speak to your health care provider and ask them to perform a physical test; feeling the thyroid for abnormality, and lab work to see what your thyroid levels are.
Don’t put up with the medical runaround. Ask specifically for thyroid tests to see if you are hypothyroid if your main complaints are fatigue, anti-social, brain fog, etc. Might as well rule out or confirm hypothyroidism.
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What happens if my thyroid levels are in “range?”
This is where it get sticky. You have all the symptoms for hypothyroidism and your lab tests come back as normal. So frustrating! I was complaining about symptoms for years before I was diagnosed. If you find yourself in the pre-diagnosed hypothyroid phase, you can consult with a functional doctor that believes in the Wilson Temperature Syndrome philosophy. That doctor will treat symptoms and not just lab tests by prescribing T3 hormone replacement only; not with T4.
You can learn more about the Wilson Syndrome and how to find a physician who has trained with Dr Wilson by going here. HERE
You deserve to feel your very best and you have to feel your best to properly navigate through this hectic life. Be your own best advocate. Demand to feel normal.
Thanks for reading,
Terry Ryan
Health Blogger
Terry Ryan
You Are Not Crazy…It’s Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis by Terry Ryan
I have Hashimoto’s thyroditis
Been there and will always be there. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It is an autoimmune disease. Plain and simple. AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE! An autoimmune disease is a syndrome where the body senses an invader and goes on immune attack. In my case, it attacked my thyroid. My autoimmune disease is named after the doctor who discovered the disease. Hashimoto’s is diagnosed by a high TSH (thyroid thyroid-stimulating) lab test and high TPO, thyroid peroxidase . Hence, I am hypothyroid. My thyroid is not producing enough of the thyroid hormone, T4. When that happened, I felt extremely fatigued, suffered with hair loss, aches and pains, DEPRESSION, just to name a few. And what do your doctors, friends and family think after your complaints about symptoms month after month and year after year? That you are crazy. You are not crazy…it’s Hashimoto’s!
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It takes years to develop
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis disease. This happened slowly. My symptoms started showing up one by one. First, I noticed my energy reducing, I started dragging myself through the day. I went to the doctor. He ran lab tests, but everything looked “fine” including my TSH. If it is high…usually over 3, it means you are hypothyroid. The TSH lab test is the standard test that endocrinologists use to determine if you are either hyperthyroid (too much thyroid hormone) or hypothyroid (not enough thyroid). Sort of goes against reasoning. If you have a high TSH reading, this means you are HYPO (I have been as high as), and if you have a zero reading, it means you have too much thyroid hormone and you are HYPER. Why is this?
How it works
The pituitary gland itself is regulated by another gland, known as the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is part of the brain and produces TSH Releasing Hormone (TRH) which tells the pituitary gland to stimulate the thyroid gland (release TSH). The pituitary gland located in the back of your head regulates when the body needs thyroid hormone. When it needs more, it sends a message out to the thyroid that it needs more hormone. When this happens, your TSH goes up, When there is too much hormone, it will do the opposite. By the way, in the beginning I swung back and forth between hyper to hypo. I miss the hyperthyroid times when I had more energy and could lose weight easily. This happens as my thyroid gland was sputtering to a dead stop at producing hormones.
What happened next to me? I said this happened slowly; my decline in health did not happen overnight. It wasn’t one day I woke up and I had all the Hashimoto’s symptoms. No, it crept up on me like a monster stealing my life force. Horrible and insidious.
I lost count of the doctor visits where I plead my case of I DON’T FEEL WELL, only to be dismissed as, I would guess. a hypochondriac, or a overworked and stress out middle-aged woman.
As the days, months and years went on, I felt worse and worse until I was not able to do normal activities, and I even became antisocial. Sound familiar? You are not crazy…it’s Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
You Can Finally Say Goodbye To Your Chronic Fatigue, Depression, & Extra Flab Using This Totally Natural Thyroid Solution Click Here! 
Here are some symptoms associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis:
- Anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Weight gain
- Extreme fatigue
- Dry skin
- Headaches
- Sore throat
- Muscle aches and pains
- Temperature sensitivity
- Hair loss
The lost years…
I suffered for many years. I call them the lost years. No doctors helped me. They didn’t have the knowledge or if they couldn’t throw a pill at it, they didn’t know how to treat me. By the time I was diagnosed, my thyroid was a shriveled up gland with nodules. No worries, they weren’t cancerous. I have a ultrasound every year and they are getting smaller.
Yes, I will be on thyroid prescription for the rest of my life and I have tried them all. My greatest results are with the prescription Tirosint. It is expensive but I switched years ago when I learned that Synthroid used gluten as a filler, and I am anti-gluten. Gluten is a no-no if you have an autoimmune disease.
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The good news
The good news is that I no longer suffer with symptoms even though I still and always will have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I have figured out how to put my Hashimoto’s into remission. Some people call it that, but all I know is that I now have energy and no pain. How did I achieve that? By taking a lot of junk out of my diet. Clean living and eating. My entire life changed…and for the better.
Now I exercise for 3 hours per day, and then come home and run errands, clean house, make dinner, blog, write, read and all the things that go into a normal day. And I am so happy. So happy. I have my life back.
I have written one book on Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and it has a lot of medical information, and maybe too much medical mumbo jumbo. A lot of people have purchased it on Amazon, which surprises me because I do very little promoting. Right now, I am in the process of writing another book which will be available soon.
If you want to be on my mailing list, I send out healthful tips, recipes and updates on when my books will be available, you can sign up here.
I want you to know, that having a normal life is possible when you have Hashimoto’s. I am the proof.
Thanks for reading!
Terry Ryan, Health Blogger, Pickleball Competitor, Mom of 2 adorable chihuahuas, wife, good friend to many people, and Hashimoto’s recover-er.
Terry Ryan
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Hashimoto’s thyroiditits is a fancy name for an autoimmune disease that primarily attacks your thyroid. But while it is attacking your thyroid as if it was a foreign object in your body, it also causes a multitude of symptoms as in the following:
- Extreme fatigue
- Weight gain
- Hair Loss
- Dry skin
- Sensitivity to heat or cold
- Sore throat
- Headaches
- Aches and pains
Just to name a few.
When people ask me what having Hashimoto’s is like I tell them it is like having strep throat. It sucks!
What causes Hashimoto’s thyroiditis? No one knows for sure but fingers point at a toxic environment, genetics, viruses, or the cheap and chemical laden food we have been consuming for years.
My symptoms came on gradually. I became more tired year after year. I would describe it as being tired to the bone. My hair was falling out and it became harder to keep weight off. I went to my doctor for blood tests (all came out normal), and I exercised more, but I continued to become more ill.
As the years went on, a blood test finally presented a high TSH level. TSH means thyroid-stimulating hormone. Higher the level the more hypothyroid you are. You want to be between 0.1-3.5 (I was 45 when diagnosed) however that can differ from doctor to doctor.
A conventional doctor will not prescribe a hormone replacement drug like Synthroid until your TSH is high. Otherwise, they believe they will exacerbate the disease.
The dangers of too much hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is that it will cause heart damage. That’s the last thing a doctor wants to cause, therefore, they dispense HRT with trepidation and extreme caution.
Patients are desperate for relief from their symptoms and beg their doctors to do something. They are convinced if they either take a HRT or UP their current dosage, they will be well again. Sadly, this is not the case and many people do not feel any difference in their symptoms even with drug therapy. It is a mistake to count on your HRT as the miracle cure, because there is no miracle cure.
How to reduce your symptoms with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?
- Take your thyroid prescription as prescribed and be tested every three months to make your levels are optimal.
- Eliminate gluten, sugar, dairy, soy, and fluoride from your diet.
- Take 5k of D3 per day. Make sure it is not a gel cap that has soy as a filler.
- Take selenium per day.
- Do mild exercise like yoga, tai chi, walking.
- Eat a lot of organic veggies and fruit per day.
- Get into juicing veggies and fruit to up your intake.
- Use coconut oil to moisturize your skin. Think of your skin as a giant sponge that soaks up anything you put on it so watch the scary chemicals.
- Get your hormones tested to see if you are imbalanced in female or male hormones.
- Write down everyday in a journal what you ate, exercised or did during the day and how you feel.
- Good grief….don’t smoke or drink alcohol.
- Get enough good quality sleep. Prepare for sleep at night. Have a routine where you wind-down for the night. Take a shower, read a little, or meditate just before bed. Keep your sheets fresh and your bedroom decluttered.
As you make these changes do not expect immediate results. It will take months of gradual improvements. You are master of your body and it is YOU who is in charge of getting yourself back to optimal health. It took me years to figure this out and I am back to feeling like my old self. You can feel good again, too.
Thank you for reading.
Terry Ryan, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patient
Here is suggested reading.
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis by Terry Ryan
Why Do I Still Have Hashimoto’s Symptoms When My Labs Are Normal by Dr. Datis Kharrazian
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Yes, that’s a mouthful. I told someone I had that once and they burst out loud laughing. I guess they found the name funny. It wasn’t funny to me or to anyone who has been diagnosed with HT but unfortunately that is what I have. What is it? It is an autoimmune disease that is attacking my thyroid and making me hypothyroid. You have heard of that, I am sure, and of all the symptoms such as :
- Fatigue
- Brain fog
- Hair loss
- Infertility
- Dry skin
- Sore throat
- Aches and pains
- Panic attacks
- Depression
- Insomnia
It was discovered by a Japanese physician named Dr. Hakaru Hoshimoto in 1912. It occurs between eight and fifteen times more often in women than in men. Though it may occur at any age, including in children, it is most often observed in women between 30 and 60 years of age.
Terry Ryan
For years I suffered with the symptoms but went undiagnosed as having an under-active thyroid until it finally showed up on a lab test about 10 years ago. I thought now that my doctor knows what I have they can cure me. No! Sorry. That, unfortunately, is not the way it has played out.
After taking hormone replacement therapy as in the form of Armour, Synthroid and then adding Cytomel, I still wasn’t seeing any relief from my symptoms. What the heck? I remember one day after I had taken more blood work done for a checkup with my endocrinologist, my doctor called with the results. He said I was so hypothyroid that I was close to going into a coma. “You must have felt horrible. Why didn’t you call me? he said.
“Because I always feel terrible,” I replied. And I did no matter if I was on Synthroid or not on Synthroid. It may be changing the numbers on my lab tests but it wasn’t changing my fatigue or constant weight gain. I knew I needed more answers so I started to research the Internet and that is where I found most of my answers.
HT is caused by an autoimmune disease and until you take care of the cause you will not find the cure. How do you know you have HT and not just hypothyroidism? You have high antibodies. That’s right have your doctor run a test called an TPO test. If the test comes back high…you have HT.
- Now, what to do about HT.
- Take D3 as much as 10K a day.
- Take selenium and magnesium
- Do not eat gluten (It’s protein mimics the thyroid protein further causing inflammation.)
- Avoid dairy.
- Eat 10 to 15 servings of veggies and fruit per day.
- Drink lots of water.
- Eat organic as much as you can.
- Skip sugar.
To learn more about Hashimoto’s thyroiditis please read my ebook which you can order here. Hashimoto’s Thryoiditis: What is it! What causes it! How to manage it!
Thanks for reading!
Terry Ryan is a health blogger and lives in Sarasota, FL with her husband, Kenan.
My Personal Session With Mary Shomon by Terry Ryan
Hello fellow Hashimoto Thyroiditis patients,
I had the great pleasure to have a one on one session with, Mary Shomon,a thyroid patient advocate. I visited her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thyroidsupport on Monday and saw that for $100.00 you may signup for a personal telephone session with Mary. Impressed with Mary’s knowledge, I signed right up and the next opening was Friday at 3:30. I was booked.
Terry Ryan
Mary promptly called at the arrange time and she introduced herself and got right down to business. I paid by credit card. Then she went over my note I had sent her. “I see here that you want to discuss weight loss.” I have put on about 50 pounds in the ten years since being diagnosed with Hashimoto, and they were 50 pounds that no matter what I did to lose weight, they would not budge. Ack!
Mary speaks in a rapid fire way which is great because that way you get a ton of useful info in the 30 mins. It is also good that I have researched Hashimoto Thyroiditis so I could keep up with her. I had my recent labs done and had previously reviewed them 2x over the phone with my endocrinologist’s assistant, but I had the feeling she missed some things. I was looking at the actually paperwork that was sent to me by the lab, but the assistant was looking at a computer screen and kept on saying, “Wait a minute and let me find that.” Anyway, she had missed a lot and I am glad I spoke to Mary who straightened everything out for me.
Mary asked me for the lab results and then asked me for the range which is on the right side of my lab paperwork. Example below.
TSH 0.102 0.358-3.740 (I was over medicated on T4)
Free T3 2.83 2.18-3.99 (Mary said that was too low)
“Free T3 should to be closer to the 3.99 for optimal health and weight loss,” Mary stated. I had been taking Cytomel (T3) before but in the last few months I had stopped when my prescription was changed to Tirosint (150mcg) from Synthroid and my doctor had eliminated the T3 (Cytomel).
Then going over my lab report she noticed another red flag. My ferritin level was very low. 39
Ferritin (iron) 39 range 0-252 (I was low.)
Mary explained that I could cut all the calories I wanted to and join 10 workout classes a week and with my T3 low and my ferritin so low that I was never going to lose weight. (I should point out that my other lab results were fine according to Mary.)
Her advise was:
- Call my endocrinologist and ask for a prescription of Cytomel. If he prescribes 5mg ask for him to prescribe it as 2.5mg tablets and take one in the morning and the other after lunch.
- Start taking a iron supplement. This is tricky because most will be hard on the stomach and will cause constipation. She recommended a liquid iron supplement called Floradix and said that my local health food store should carry it. I could also call my doctor if I wanted to get a prescription for iron.
- Mary said to go to www.drrosedale.com and on that website there is a tiny heart that if you click on you can download a diet PDF. She said to follow that diet. I did download it (Ron-Rosedale-Health-Plan) and basically no fruit, no sugar, no gluten, no dairy.
I told her about my juicing and she is not too impressed with juicing. She said it was introducing too much glucose/sugar into the body at once. It was okay to juice celery and cucumber but to stay away from spinach and kale because they slow down the thyroid because they are goitrous foods. Goitrous is a substance that slows down the thyroid. It is found in bok choy, broccoli, Brussels’ sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens, radishes, soy, soy milk, soy lecithin (often used as a filler in vegetarian food) and tofu and now apparently spinach is on the list. I was using a lot of raw spinach and kale in my juices. Ugh! But I was feeling so much better with juicing and my skin is glowing from all the veggies, but no, I haven’t lost a single pound. (sigh)
Mary also said that some of her clients have had great results on fasting for two days a week. Let’s say you practice a Paleo diet 5 days a week but on Monday and Thursday you only eat 500 calories. Mary said that you don’t have to eat the 500 calories of the fast day and it may be easier to just drink water. She recommended a couple of books. See below.
Other tips were to check out T-Tapp for light exercise on Youtube. Mary said she has lost many inches by practicing the T-Tapp exercises. I checked it out and they look pretty easy so I will give that a try. Also:
- Limit snacking.
- No alcohol!
- Eat only three times a day.
- Don’t eat after 8:00pm
Okay, so that’s why I haven’t lost any weight. I just went out and bought a steak which shocked the heck out of my husband since I have been mostly vegetarian (the dog is thrilled), and I will make a spring salad with lemon juice as the dressing.
Yesterday I drove over to the health food store to purchase the Floradix but they did not have it. The young girl at the counter told me to take a couple of tablespoons of Plantation Blackstrap Molasses ($4.95/15 fl 
oz.) per day. Okay, that certainly was cheaper than the Floradix which runs around $20.00 for 8.5 ounces so I am giving that a try. It tastes okay, not too bad. What is Blackstrap Molasses? Click here.
So, I would honestly say that I am very happy with my 30 minute session with Mary Shomon and I would recommend it for anyone who is having problems with their Hashimoto symptoms. I will try all the things she suggested:
- Take Cytomel (If my doctor will not prescribe it Mary has already given me a name of a local holistic doctor who will but will not take insurance.)
- Try eating more foods that contain iron like steak.
- Take my iron supplement.
- Stop juicing spinach and kale.
- No fruit, dairy, gluten, sugar.
- Try T-Tapp for excercise.
- Try the 2 day fasting diet.
I’ll let you know how it works out.
Thanks for reading,
Terry Ryan, Health Blogger
Read The Thyroid Diet Revolution by Mary The Thyroid Diet Revolution: Manage Your Master Gland of Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss
Here’s a great article by Mary Shomon titled
Help, I’m Hypothyroid and I Still Don’t Feel Well
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hypothyroidism/a/notwell.htm
Recommended reading by Mary Shomon
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