This shouldn’t be news. Everyone should know to check thyroid when dealing with excessive emotional symptoms. Alas, it’s not the case.
Thyroid can be tricky to treat and the most common medicine used, Synthroid, is often problematic for a fair share of people who need to supplement thyroid. Some people do far better with compounded natural thyroid hormones. I don’t actually know enough about this, but if you suspect your thyroid is giving you problems it’s worth finding a doctor who thinks outside the proverbial conventional medicine box.
In some instances lifestyle and diet can clear up some marginal thyroid problems too. Again, it’s worth doing research and talking to more than one “expert.” There are lots of differing opinions about how to treat thyroid problems.
From the New York Times today:
In patients with depression, anxiety and other psychiatric problems, doctors often find abnormal blood levels of thyroid hormone. Treating the problem, they have found, can lead to improvements in mood, memory and cognition.
Now researchers are exploring a somewhat controversial link between minor, or subclinical, thyroid problems and some patients’ psychiatric difficulties. After reviewing the literature on subclinical hypothyroidism and mood, Dr. Russell Joffe, a psychiatrist at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, and colleagues recently concluded that treating the condition, which affects about 2 percent of Americans, could alleviate some patients’ psychiatric symptoms and might even prevent future cognitive decline.
Patients with psychiatric symptoms, Dr. Joffe said, “tell us that given thyroid hormones, they get better.” (read the rest)