Depression or Underactive Thyroid

Hormones
1

For the past god knows how long, I've felt sluggish. Getting out of bed every morning is a struggle, and I seem to need about 9 hours sleep every night.

I've recently been charting my temperature as I've come off the pill and wanted to keep track of my menstrual cycles. My pre-ovulation temp was about 35.8 degrees celcius and post-ovulation seems to be max out at 36.5 degrees.

My mother has had thyroid problems for 25+ years.

I had a blood test to see if I had thyroid issues a few years ago - all results completely normal. When the doctor asked me if it was stress/depression, I burst into tears. I was having a really tough time at work at that point so in the end I put it down to that....

Fast forward 3 years and I don't feel any more spritely. The thought of a cold dark winter coming up prompted me to go back to the docs, so off I went this morning.

I told him I'd like to have another blood test to see if I have an underactive thyroid and then explained the temps, the fatigue etc and when he asked how long I've felt like this I said \"a few years\" and again, burst into tears. He said that he's not just asking because I'm crying, but did I think I was depressed and I said that I honestly don't think I am - work, love and home life is all fab at the mo, and I'd say I'm really very happy. He agreed to put me up for more blood tests (it says TF1 and xTFT on the form) and but also asked \"what are we going to do with you if the results are normal as at 29 you should be enjoying life, not just 'coping'\" and mentioned 8 weeks worth of St John's Wort or Prozac.

So I got home and called my OH and just blubbed like a baby :cry: I feel like I'm being pushed into a corner and that the doc is convinced I'm depressed. The thought of anti-depressants scares the bejeebers out of me and I kind of feel that if I go down this route now, it'll be the first step on a lifelong path of having to take anti'd's on and off.... Plus I don't feel depressed - despite the tears - I'm just really fed up with feeling so bloody tired the whole time. The doc was really nice, very friendly and approachable, but said the temps aren't an issue and seemed very quick to talk about depression.

I need to book my blood test, but I am pretty sure that the results will come back \"normal\" and am scared that I'm going to be encouraged to go down the prozac route.......

What else can I do? It may well be that I don't have an underactive thyroid at all, but for my own sanity, I'd like to cross it off the list before I get my head around anti-d's....

(Sorry, this was much longer than I thought it would be)

2

Hi,

How familiar that all sounds!! I`m 57 and have felt like that since the birth of my son 27 yrs ago! Had all sorts of tests about 20yrs ago all ok, so went down the depression route, was stressed and have been ever since due to hubby`s ill health, but have been on and off anti-depressants ever since. Have to admit they do help a lot and I now am aware of when I`m going downhill again and need to see GP. All that said about 7yrs was eventually diagnosed with under active thryoid and been on thyroxine ever since and blood tests are now normal. However I still don`t feel well, still tired etc and have not suddenly felt a difference with the thyroxine. Have read several different lines of thought on this but still not got things sorted out for me. Don`t know if this helps you at all

Linda

3

Thank you, it does help a little to know that it seems to be fairly common that depression and underactive thyroids get mistaken for each other.

I don't know whether to just ignore my visit to the docs this morning and just get on with things. I can't bear the thought of normal results and getting pushed down the anti-d route.....

4

Hi

You need to find out what your results are TSH T4 and T3. Just because your results come back within the normal range it does not mean you aren't hypo. Unfortunately many docs go by the numbers and not how you feel, depression is most definatley a sympton of being hypo.

Paddy

For Hypo people to feel well ideally TSH needs to be around 1 or below and T4 at the top of the range so you need to find out your levels and the ranges if they are out of that range then meds need to be adjusted.

For detailed info,advice and support go to a thyroid forum.

5

I have had underactive thyroid for 5 years. Keep going bak to Dr and telling them I'm still tired, body aches, need about 9.5 hrs sleep and couple of hours rest in the day. They put me on fit d that helped but still don't feel 100 percent. They say my levels are fine