Depressie kan veroorzaakt worden door schildklier problematiek. Het voorschrijven van medicatie zoals Lithium maakt de zaak nog erger, want dit kan Hashimoto triggeren. Hieronder een stuk uit de nieuwsbrief van
Izabella Wentz:
A couple of months ago, my friend Sean Croxton from Underground Wellness let me know that he was going to be hosting the Depression Sessions to bring awareness about root causes of depression and treatments that actually get to the root cause of the condition, not just mask the symptoms.
Although I don't often talk about depression, I really wanted to be a part of this important summit, as I have personally and professionally seen the impact that the thyroid can have on mood as well as how depression can destroy a person's life.
I battled with depression before my Hashimoto's diagnosis, and have lost friends and loved ones to depression and mental illness in my early twenties.
How I wish I knew then what I know now. It breaks my heart that some of the kindest and most amazing people I used to know are no longer around to enjoy the beauty of this world, and that others are not living their lives due to the dark cloud of depression hovering over their heads.
So many people are suffering needlessly, when feeling better could be so easily achieved... so I told Sean I wanted to be part of the change. Please read this entire email. It can really make a difference in your life.
Psychological Symptoms in Thyroid Disorders
After fatigue and weight, mood alterations such as depression, agitation and anxiety are the most common symptoms in people with Hashimoto's. These symptoms could be due to alterations in thyroid hormone, as well as due to the autoimmune process itself.
Hashimoto's causes a breakdown of the thyroid gland, which can rush thyroid hormones into the bloodstream causing a transient hyperthyroidism.
Symptoms of agitation, anxiety and even psychosis can occur ...anyone who has experienced symptoms of hyperthyroidism can describe how terrible this feels.
Once the thyroid hormone is cleared out, the person may be functionally hypothyroid, and they may have symptoms of depression, apathy, poor mood and brain fog. One person wrote " I feel like I'm sitting on the sidelines of life, watching everyone else enjoy their journey, wondering if I'll ever have my zest for life back."
Additionally, people with bipolar disorder as well as depressive and anxiety disorders were found to have a higher prevalence of anti-thyroid antibodies. To further complicate the issue, lithium, a medication used for bipolar disorder can trigger Hashimoto’s.
Doctors in the know will take a deeper look at the role of thyroid medications- uninformed doctors will disregard these symptoms as being related to thyroid function, and will offer people antidepressants or a referral to a psychiatrist!
Progressive psychiatrists will test all of their patients with new onset depression, anxiety and mental health symptoms for thyroid disorders, and will often be open minded about prescribing thyroid medication.
Unfortunately, despite all of the research that’s out there, these types of psychiatrists are a minority, and some patients have been misdiagnosed (even hospitalized) with “bipolar disorder” or “schizophrenia” when in fact they were suffering from thyroid imbalances.
While some of my colleagues in the natural medical world have shunned all types of medications, especially mood altering medications, as a pharmacist I am an advocate of appropriate medication use.
I can tell you first hand that appropriate medication can save lives and return severely sick people to good health. Sometimes antidepressants can turn a person's life around! However, using an antipsychotic, antidepressant or anxiolytic medication for someone who needs to have their thyroid hormones balanced is not appropriate use of medication and can be dangerous.
While I've seen many people who were really helped by mood altering medications, antipsychotic medications, such as Seroquel, Zyprexa and in particular are the “dirtiest” drugs out there.
They've traditionally been used for schizophrenia, but are now being used for depression as well. I’ve seen people gain hundreds of pounds in a course of a year, become diabetic, lethargic and withdrawn; develop irreversible involuntary movements and painful muscle contractions from using these types of medications. From 2008-2011, the majority of my recommendations as a consultant pharmacist were to reduce or taper antipsychotic medications for clients due to the horrible side effects and lack of perceived benefit. From 2012 on, one of my job descriptions was to help reduce the use of antipsychotic medications in the elderly.
When the root cause of depression or a mood disorder is due to the thyroid, people with lifelong psychiatric diagnoses have been able to recover after receiving proper thyroid care.
A note from a reader:
“One year ago I was feeling anxious, depressed and like I was going crazy! I was sent to a psychiatrist and prescribed Seroquel [an antipsychotic medication] and clonazepam [an anxiety medication]. 5 months later I read your blog and went to my primary care doctor and demanded testing for Hashimoto’s. I wasn't going crazy, I had TPO Antibodies well into the 600 range. I am being weaned off of the psychiatric meds and I immediately changed doctors. Thank you Dr. Wentz or I would still be spending thousands on a psychiatrist. And my TPO is slowly coming down.”
However, often times, people continue to have these symptoms despite taking medications like Synthroid, Levothyroxine or Levoxyl.
Chances are that people may have these symptoms because they are not optimized on medications. A survey of over 2000 Root Cause readers found that as far as medications and mood, getting the TSH between 1 and 2, and in some cases under 1 helped a person improve their mood symptoms.
However, not everyone can be optimized on a T4 medication alone. One of the biggest signs that a person with thyroid disease is not converting T4 to the active T3 properly is depression. Additionally, medical studies have shown that up to one-third of people who fail antidepressants report feeling better once started on Cytomel® (a T3, thyroid hormone).
If you are still having symptoms of depression while on your thyroid medications, consider talking to your doctor about switching your medications. Around 60% of the Root Cause Readers surveyed reported improved mood after switching medications... to a T3 containing medication like Nature-Throid, WP thyroid, Armour or compounded T4/T3.
While doctors in the know have long known about the impact of thyroid hormones on mood, new research is showing that the presence of thyroid antibodies, even in euthyroid Hashimoto’s, can be associated with symptoms! Some people continue to have mood alterations even with "perfect" thyroid medications and thyroid hormone levels. New studies have connected depression, distress, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and anxiety with an high titer of TPO antibodies. Higher antibody levels are associated with a lower quality of life, even in those taking the thyroid medication levothyroxine.
If you have any family members or friends who have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression or other mood disorders, please encourage them to have their thyroid function checked, especially TSH, TPO Antibodies, Thyroglobulin Antibodies and TSH receptor antibodies.
Help is on the way
If you're struggling with depression, please know that while it may seem hopeless and like there's nothing you can do to get better, these thoughts and feelings are the furthest from the truth- hopelessness is a side effect of the disease process. Mood is temporary. Depression can get better, and in fact I've seen hundreds of people recover from "hopeless" depression, anxiety, panic attacks, etc. by addressing their underlying root causes. You can get better too! Help is on the way!!
Ik voel aan wat je bedoelt. Ik ben zelf mijn grootste sta-in-de-weg, al neemt dit behoorlijk af. Ik zit dicht bij de juiste frequentie , de juiste houding, de juiste gedachten, etc. Er zijn dagen dat het wat minder makkelijk gaat, maar dat zijn juist de momenten om me weer eens te bezinnen en te bekijken waar de blokkade/stoorzender zit.
