Re: Help please - Need journal references for treatment of depression wi

[Guest guest]

Hi, my son was on anti-depressants and i did not no that the thyroxine he was trialing made him worse. it makes the dose of depressants more potent and you have to reduce the dose first.now he is clean from these dangerous drugs.(they can make you commit suicide.) the reasoning about adding T3 is to make the antidepressants work better as they don`t really work by them selves.my thoughts are not to take them in the first place as depression is caused by the lack of T3= or

being hypo / and maybe adrenal as well as they work closely together. Angel.

[Guest guest]

Hi Angel

I agree the anti-d's can be very dangerous; there are some really horrific

stories about what people have done whilst on them, and people in drug trials

have committed suicide after being on them, then taken off them (they were fine

before hand).

>> my thoughts are not to take them in the first place as depression is caused

by the lack of T3= or being hypo / and maybe adrenal as well as they work

closely together.

bit late for that now, my mother's been on them for years, inc anti

psychotic/mood stabilisers. she was no where near as bad as this before she

started them.

>

> my thoughts are not to take them in the first place as depression is caused by

the lack of T3=   or being hypo / and maybe adrenal as well as they work closely

together.    Angel.

>

[Guest guest]

ps - i don't want to sound unsympathetic to people with depression, i have had

problems with this for years, been on most of the meds (apart from the MAOIs),

saw several psychiatrists. my teens were crap and depression filled, and 20s

were too, mostly i struggled to exist and function, let alone cope, so i do have

experience of this. i just disagree with the causes - be it hormonal,

nutritional, or something else. the psych drugs are not good - they mess so many

things up. i've had a lot more benefit /relief from hormones/vitamins. i've

read a fair bit about orthomollecular psychiatry, too - thats' pretty

interesting, they got results. not many people seem to know about this.

i'm pretty sure i'm on a hiding to nothing emailing this doctor, but i do it

anyway. pity my mother can't look at things like b12, candida, thyroid etc.

but she is not interested. i can understand her being worn out, not being able

to, but how hard is it if someone will do most of the thinking for her? she just

needs the results and i can help, doesn't want to, yet is happy to take very

strong meds. ah well. i try not to think about it.

chris

[Guest guest]

Hi

- the following from Dr Peatfield:

" Having just read the

tragic news item from India about the depressed thyroid lady who committed

suicide, and preparing as I am at present a lecture about thyroid and

depression which I shall shortly give to London's Institute of Optimum

Nutrition's Mind Conference, I felt it might be appropriate to remind people of

the strong link and frequency of depression and hypothyroidism.

Depression

causes untold misery and destroys lives. Perhaps one in five people will suffer

from it sometime in their lives. A huge industry has arisen around the

treatment of depressive illness and psychiatrists are gainfully employed in

their thousands. Whether it is more widespread than it was is perhaps difficult

to answer. There are more of us to be depressed; we have more to be depressed

about, and we are more likely to seek help. But there certainly seems to be

more people troubled by depression and the great panoply of antidepressant

medication tells its own story.

Before

having a look at thyroid deficiency and its link to depression, we should learn

a bit about it, and how it is caused and why. People who are depressed are sad,

unmotivated most of the day and are usually worse in the morning. They sleep

poorly, and wake up tired; they feel worthless, they have a poor self-image.

They may eat more or less and put on or lose weight. Sir Winston Churchill used

to call it his Black Dog. In his case, as with many, it was self-limiting:

probably an extra cigar and brandy banished it!

There

are two sorts of depression fundamentally: the exogenous kind, which is the

result of circumstance, and the endogenous form, an illness from within

ourselves. It is the second form we are to deal with. Maintenance of mood

resides in part of the brain called the hippocampus. Here brain cells release

neurotransmitter hormones, which are taken up by receptors; the amount released

and the number of receptors responding, governs whether we are depressed or

not.

Probably

the most important of these mood neuro transmitter substances are serotonin and

noradrenalin, and treatment is directed at preventing the decay of these

substances at the receiving nerve endings. This is what Monoamine Oxidase

Inhibitors (MAOIs) antidepressants, Tricyclic antidepressants and Selective

Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) do. However, thyroid hormone deficiency

acts on the receptor sites and hastens the recycling of these neurotransmitters

at the nerve endings or reduces the amount being secreted. The result is that

the neurotransmitters that are responsible for maintaining mood do not work at

optimum efficiency. Depression then takes over.

It

has been estimated that more than one third of people suffering from depression

are hypothyroid. Some are in hospital. They receive, over long periods,

antidepressants of one sort or another when actually the problem is deficiency

of thyroid hormones. It is simply that no one thought of thyroid deficiency as

a cause when their illness began; or the simplistic tests failed to reveal it.

Any

patient suffering from depression should be routinely assessed for

hypothyroidism. There should be no exceptions; half to one third will be found

to be hypothyroid, and as a result of treatment, their depression will begin to

lift in weeks. Conventional medicine will turn with little thought to

psychotropic antidepressants. The problem with these is that they are sometimes

difficult to stop taking. Of the SSRIs, Seroxat in particular has a poor

reputation in this respect; Prozac has attracted unfavourable reports and

moreover contains a fluoride compound. Tricyclic antidepressants (eg Tryptizol,

Imipramime) often have unpleasant sedating side effects, and the MAOIs (eg

Parnate, Nardil) clash with a number of drugs and foodstuffs. St 's Wort is

an altogether simpler and safer alternative.

Hypothyroidism

should not be considered in isolation. It is more than likely that there are

other deficiencies at work and cortisol, testosterone, oestrogen, DHEA and

progesterone deficiencies should be looked for and corrected. It is now clear

that nutrition plays a much greater role in mental illness than conventional

medicine would have us believe.

The

brain and its neurotransmitters simply don't work properly without the proper

raw materials. An obvious one is that there should be a constant, even supply,

of its fuel glucose. Hypoglycaemia is certainly associated with depression. The

essential amino acids must be provided for the manufacture of the protein

neurotransmitters; so must essential fatty acids, especially the omega 3 group,

which make up the structure of the brain and the neurones releasing the

neurotransmitters. The vitamin B complex, folic acid, vitamin C are needed to

allow the amino acids to form complex proteins and the other mineral

micronutrients have to be there.

Get

the nutrients right (also ensuring thyroid manufacture and uptake), provide

thyroid supplementation if required, perhaps as naturally as possible from

glandular extracts, and we can fight the black tide of mind altering drugs that

threatens to overwhelm so many of us.

Hope

that this helps.

Luv

- Sheila

ps - i don't want to sound unsympathetic to

people with depression, i have had problems with this for years, been on most

of the meds (apart from the MAOIs), saw several psychiatrists. my teens were

crap and depression filled, and 20s were too, mostly i struggled to exist and

function, let alone cope, so i do have experience of this. i just disagree with

the causes - be it hormonal, nutritional, or something else. the psych drugs

are not good - they mess so many things up. i've had a lot more benefit /relief

from hormones/vitamins. i've read a fair bit about orthomollecular psychiatry,

too - thats' pretty interesting, they got results. not many people seem to know

about this.

i'm pretty sure i'm on a hiding to nothing emailing this doctor, but i do it

anyway. pity my mother can't look at things like b12, candida, thyroid etc. but

she is not interested. i can understand her being worn out, not being able to,

but how hard is it if someone will do most of the thinking for her? she just

needs the results and i can help, doesn't want to, yet is happy to take very

strong meds. ah well. i try not to think about it.

chris

[Guest guest]

Thanks Sheila, I've read that link before.

That's what's frustrating- anyone who has any knowledge knows lack of thyroid

can cause depression. but my mother won't take any notice. i am now trying to

become very detatched from the situation, to cope. it is very frustrating.

unforunately, some psyhciatrists may not know the thyroid connection, and the

pharmaceutical industry has vested interests doesn't it.

chris

[Guest guest]

My mum was, as far as I could see, hypothyroid. I nagged her for a couple of

years to go to the doc but she just kept telling me I was obsessed with it.....

So I wrote a letter for her to hand to her doc, It listed her symptoms and

listed the other family members who have had problems and requested TSH, Free T4

and Free T3 tests. I gave her the letter some time ago and decided to say

nothing more about it.

I was very surprised recently when I spoke to her, seems she'd had time (about

a year) to think about it and finally got fed up enough to give the letter to

her doc. The doc did the tsh test (only)... it came back at 3. something.

Doc said she would watch it, mum said she wasn't hanging around for the doc and

is now on NT and doing great!! She had no messing around with half baked

meds and prescriptions, she just asked me what to do, then got hold of her

own meds and got on with it!!!!!

Give your mum the info she needs in written form, and stand back, is my

experience of what works!!!!

xx

>

> Thanks Sheila, I've read that link before.

>

> That's what's frustrating- anyone who has any knowledge knows lack of thyroid

can cause depression. but my mother won't take any notice.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the reply

Well i've mentioned it to her so many times, not wasting my breath anymore.

she is quite content to make me spin my wheels, let me get upset while she tells

me all her ills but won't do anything about it. i am not getting involved

anymore.

i did however email her psychiatrist yesterday. i put it factually and politely

and put in a few links to articles on pubmed and said untreated thyroid issues

can cause her exact symptoms, and not only that, he can use T3 in euthyroid

patients. he won't like what i've wrote, i don't think. " They don't like it

you know, they don't like it up 'em! " .

i left off the bit that i thought it was highly irresponsible of him to change

her meds - and every time he does this, she's in a mess - and then go on holiday

for 3 weeks.

chris

>

>

>

> My mum was, as far as I could see, hypothyroid. I nagged her for a couple of

years to go to the doc but she just kept telling me I was obsessed with it.....

>

[Guest guest]

Let us know if you get a response from him this will be

very interesting. Boy, how you've grown since you started TPA! I'm reet proud

of thee Lad!

Luv - Sheila

Thanks for the reply

Well i've mentioned it to her so many times, not wasting my breath anymore. she

is quite content to make me spin my wheels, let me get upset while she tells me

all her ills but won't do anything about it. i am not getting involved anymore.

i did however email her psychiatrist yesterday. i put it factually and politely

and put in a few links to articles on pubmed and said untreated thyroid issues

can cause her exact symptoms, and not only that, he can use T3 in euthyroid

patients. he won't like what i've wrote, i don't think. " They don't like

it you know, they don't like it up 'em! " .

i left off the bit that i thought it was highly irresponsible of him to change

her meds - and every time he does this, she's in a mess - and then go on

holiday for 3 weeks.

chris

.._,___

[Guest guest]

yeah i did, he just said thanks for my well written letter and he will seriously

consider my suggestions or something like that - i don't think he'll take any

notice of them whatsoever, but that's just my cynicism.

this is not my problem, thankfully.

glad i'm feeling better that is all and am able to try and think about these

things.

>

> Let us know if you get a response from him this will be very

> interesting. Boy, how you've grown since you started TPA! I'm reet proud of

> thee Lad!

>

> Luv - Sheila

>

[Guest guest]

i spoke to my mother just now....she said the psych had enjoyed reading my

letter and said it was well written...and that she shouldn't be cross with me (I

didn't tell her i'd written to him - i didn't want her to think i was

interfering - i left it up to the psych to tell her if he wanted). He has

changed her meds; i hope she improves....

[Guest guest]

It looks like the psych did take notice of what i wrote - from a further chat to

my mother, she advised me that he offered her some thyroxine yesterday (i now

wonder what her results were)....i don't think he's ever offered her that

before...my mother refused it, but i did suggest to her that she research this

and work with him.....

>

> i spoke to my mother just now....she said the psych had enjoyed reading my

letter and said it was well written...and that she shouldn't be cross with me (I

didn't tell her i'd written to him - i didn't want her to think i was

interfering - i left it up to the psych to tell her if he wanted). He has

changed her meds; i hope she improves....

>