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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by ST on April 18, 2002, at 2:49:07
Hi gang,
I have to stop Effexor. I sleep 12 hours a night, I'm exhausted all day...I have no sex drive. It was great for helping to take off the weight that Celexa helped put on, but I can't stand the other side effects.
My pdoc is thinking about putting me on a low dose of hypo-thyroid med instead of the Effexor. I would still stay on the Wellbutrin and of course the Depakote. Anyone hear of this? He says thyroid meds are being used to treat depression in combination with other meds. He's a little worried it might trigger a hypomanic episode (I'm bipolar II), so he's stil just considering it.
In the meantime, I begin the dreaded task of tapering off Effexor!Anytime I've added an SSRI or an SSRNI to my Wellbutrin/Depakote cocktail, I've lost my sex drive and gotten lethargic. Could this thyroid med really be an option?
Thanks,
Sarah
Posted by noa on April 19, 2002, at 16:02:52
In reply to Stopping Effexr-Instead: thyroid med! Anyone else?, posted by ST on April 18, 2002, at 2:49:07
Yes, there are other discussions of thyroid and depression from last week, and in the archives. Also, see the links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psycho-babble-tips/links/Noa_s_thyroid_links_000963272558/
Posted by ST on April 21, 2002, at 16:58:03
In reply to Re: Stopping Effexr-Instead: thyroid med! Anyone else?, posted by noa on April 19, 2002, at 16:02:52
Hi noa,
Thank you so much. I looked through the archives...
However, I am not experiencing thyroid problems. (I had a test a few months ago before my pdoc and I realized a weight gain of mine was caused by Celexa) My pdoc wants to prescribe a medication for those with hypothyroidism as an AD. I've never heard of that.
Sarah
> Yes, there are other discussions of thyroid and depression from last week, and in the archives. Also, see the links at:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psycho-babble-tips/links/Noa_s_thyroid_links_000963272558/
Posted by jane d on April 22, 2002, at 23:58:59
In reply to Actually......Thyroid med as an AD.....????, posted by ST on April 21, 2002, at 16:58:03
> My pdoc wants to prescribe a medication for those with hypothyroidism as an AD. I've never heard of that.
It's done and sometimes it seems to work.
I found many of the thyroid sites a bit confusing. They seem to assume that if depression gets better with with thyroid hormones then you had to have been hypothyroid no matter what the test showed. This may be true but it may also be that adding thyroid hormone to create higher than normal levels is what has the AD effect for some people. Prozac doesn't help depression by normalizing your levels of fluoxetine and it may be that T3 and T4 don't either.
The following link focuses on thyroid and bipolar. I think that's at about the same state of knowledge right now. http://www.psycheducation.org/thyroid/introduction.htm
Posted by BLPBart on April 24, 2002, at 0:39:11
In reply to Actually......Thyroid med as an AD.....????, posted by ST on April 21, 2002, at 16:58:03
> Hi noa,
>
> Thank you so much. I looked through the archives...
> However, I am not experiencing thyroid problems. (I had a test a few months ago before my pdoc and I realized a weight gain of mine was caused by Celexa) My pdoc wants to prescribe a medication for those with hypothyroidism as an AD. I've never heard of that.
> Sarah
>
>
>
>
> > Yes, there are other discussions of thyroid and depression from last week, and in the archives. Also, see the links at:
> >
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psycho-babble-tips/links/Noa_s_thyroid_links_000963272558/I'll add my 2 cents worth here because I spent a considerable amount of time researching thyroid issues several months ago thinking that I was experiencing symptoms of hypothyroidism (in my case it turned out to most likely be prozac). You mention that you don't have any indications of hypothyroidism. I don't know if that means you are not having any of the symptoms or if your doctor did a blood test and told you that the results were normal.
What I have learned is that there are a large number of people out there living with an underactive thyroid. This is tested usually by simply measuring the level of TSH in the blood. TSH is secreted by your pituitary in response to your blood levels of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. If they're too low, then your TSH levels go up, if they're high, then TSH is low. Often when a doctor is looking for signs of hypothyroidism, they simply measure TSH. The labs will say what is considered a normal range, something like 0.5 to 5.0 and if you fall within this range then the doc says everything's fine. What people are finding now is that the test is not really meaningful unless you also measure free T3 and free T4 levels. This is because you can have what's considered a normal TSH and your hormone levels could actually be low. The current thinking is that the ideal range for TSH is actually probably narrower (like 1-2) and that people feel best when their TSH levels are in this range. The explanation I've seen is that because so many people are suffering from subclinical hypothyroidism but have not been diagnosed, then these people were factored in when they averaged out TSH levels and decided what "normal" was. This may have skewed the range towards the high end.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is I'm not sure if you should completely rule out thyroid if it was based simply on a blood TSH test.
On the other hand, I've done a lot of reading that indicates that augmenting ADs with T3 (Cytomel) to ADs has been found to be effective for some people. At one point my doc almost put me on it because I was so tired all of the time even though my thyroid tests came back normal. I ended up going on dexedrine instead because we determined that I might have ADD.
Anyway, if you do an internet search on T3 and antidepressants, or T3 augmentation you'll find some interesting information about this.
Posted by ST on April 30, 2002, at 3:59:31
In reply to Re: Actually......Thyroid med as an AD.....????, posted by BLPBart on April 24, 2002, at 0:39:11
I've been away from the board for a while and it took me awhile to find my post again...
I did have my TSH levels taken and they were in the "normal" range. I think around 3.0 (I took the test because I had gained thirty pounds in three months and thought it could be my thyroid. In the end, my pdoc and I figured it was the Celexa. Since being off of Celexa for three months, I've lost more than half the weight) But that's really interesting about the T3 and T4 levels...I will ask my pdoc about getting those tests done as well.
Thanks so much!
Sarah
Posted by Leighwit on May 1, 2002, at 16:52:12
In reply to Thank you BLPBart and janed!, posted by ST on April 30, 2002, at 3:59:31
(I took the test because I had gained thirty pounds in three months and thought it could be my thyroid. In the end, my pdoc and I figured it was the Celexa. Since being off of Celexa for three months, I've lost more than half the weight) > Sarah
I had the same experience, Sarah ~ a 30 pound weight gain while on Celexa. My endocrinologist realized before I did that the Celexa was the culprit. I was gaining about 2 pounds/week regardless of diet or activity level. It just showed up like clockwork week in and week out for four months. As soon as I stopped it, I immediately stopped gaining. Some of it came off quite fast, but now I'm having to work hard to loose the rest of it. My Pdoc said it's not known if metabolic changes (caused by various ADs) are reversed once the drugs are discontinued. I find that pretty disconcerting.
This is the end of the thread.
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