depression caused by thyroid disorder or symptoms caused by depression?

Gopherhead

Sleepy, those are classic hypot symptoms - you said you tested 'negative' for thyroid disease. This is not really possible, you don't test 'positive' or 'negative'; you have a result and where that result fits w/in a lab range determines if you're 'normal' or not. The lab ranges are often too wide and simply being w/in one doesn't mean you're OK - where you fall in that range is important.

Do you know what test for thyroid you were given and what your results are? Can you post them with your lab's reference ranges as well?

Nat

__________________
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Gopherhead

I see that you HAVE posted them in another thread:

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=263464

Can you please give me the ranges for the TSH, T4 and T3 tests? Those are the thyroid tests - the ASAT, ALAT GT and HB are not, thyroid btw.

Re the lyme "no antibodies found" means it's negative; antibodies exist when there is a reason for them - it's the same w/ thyroid disease, the antibodies are present when they are attacking the thyroid, if they are not present then you are negative for autoimmune thyroid disease.

Nat

__________________
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

sleepygonzales

thanks for your answer, i didnt get the ranges of the tests with me.. i will ask for them today though.. what about the ASAT ALAT GT HB? what tests are those? when i think about this it cant be depression because i feel sick.. like the flu but different.. even feels worse now than ever before, every day seems worse in fact =/

sleepygonzales

here are the ranges for the thyroid tests i took:

T3 free: 3,5-7,8 --- my result: 5,1
T4 free: 9-21 --- my result: 16
TSH: 0,4-4,0 --- my result: 1,0

when i met with my doctor today i remembered one thing from when i was 12 years old.. i first had these exact same symptoms then, a few days after a trip to denmark in the summer. that time it only lasted for about six months then to return when i was 16 years old.. had it since then..

Gopherhead

I'm stumped, Sleepy. Your FTs look OK. Have you ever had your adrenals checked? IT would have involved cortisol, probably a 24hr urine test or a four point saliva test.

__________________
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

VAGirl

Hi Sleepy,

have you been tested for chronic fatigue? I have had many of the same symptoms and my dr did a complete CBC, thinking I had chronic fatigue. Turns out I was hypo. It seems like fatigue, depression, lethargy, etc. are the symptoms for most chronic conditions. If have not had a complete CBC with chronic fatigue/mono spat I would highly suggest you do. Good luck!

sleepygonzales

so should i skip getting more tests for thyroid disorder?

what is "adrenals"? im from sweden.. and never learned medical terms in shool =P
if you could explain what it is i might know what it is and ask to get that checked too, thank you

VA_Girl, i will read up on Chronic fatigue as well thanks

Cazzie

Sleepy,
Jeg bor i Norge. Kanskje jeg kan hjelp. 'Adrenals' er kjertelen ved siden av nyrene. De produsere adrenalin. 'Cortisol' er Kortisol

Beklager om dårlige norske mitt. Jeg flyttet har nesten tre år siden. Håper dette hjelper!!

Mediators- I hope you can allow the odd foreign language post here so we, who do not live in the US, can help each other too.

turt_the_turtle

Looks like the same story i went through. I got tested for lyme and it turned out negitive as well. The syptoms of lyme are like exactly the same as throid problems.

I remember driving was the first thing I found difficult. One time I got stuck in a half hour of traffic on the way to work and it was one of the hardist things Ive been through.
The brainfog is what I have found to be like derealization. This was one of my worst symtoms. It causes nervous, anxiety symptoms including for me nausea.
I found myself off balance alot!
The mental effects are horrible!
depersonalization....the mental effects are rough!!!
depression is a symptom of thyroid related issues. Alot of the symtoms you have can just be depression related. I wouldnt rule out thyroid problems though.

I think you should try out a small, trial dosage of thyroid hormone for a few weeks to see if you feel better. The tough part is going to be trying to find a doctor that will give you the amount you should try and follow up on your symptoms. Maybe 12.5 to 25mcg of levothyroxine??? Lab results might not be the best indicator for a problem.
Good Luck. Try to stay positive.... Find out about derealization and depersonalaztion. They are symptoms of anxiety and depression.

sleepygonzales

i found a site with symptoms for first, second and third stage of lyme disease and it just blew me away. i have every single symptom on that page, and i have gotten from stage one to stage three over the coarse of ten years.. the third stage symptoms just happend last year. i first thought it was because of smoking pot wich really got me worried and starting to consider some of the rumours i had heard about pot was right (like it causing permenent brain damage)
i thought these symptoms was the cause of pot:
memory loss
confusion
disorientation
having difficulty to speek
depression
depersonalization
fevers
insomnia
i found ALL of these on the site plus a bunch of others wich i also have.
well having read the symptoms i now feel much better and could now smoke a spliff if i had one..

can you think of a time you could have caught lyme disease? i read on a site that denmark has a lot of lyme disease type ticks (called ixotis or something) and that tourists should protect them self and use insect repellant. well i was in denmark when i was 12 years old. and a few days after i got back the symptoms started. small at first and only lasting for six months, to then return at age 16.

at wich time i went to doctors and psychologists and after no sucess i just forgot about it and tried to live my life. at that time i was under the assumption that if you visit a doctor and tell them your symptoms, you then take a couple of tests and accept the results. all my tests were normal and my psychologist thought my condition was because of my parents seperating..

hope you get to become healthy again and don't give up and don't listen too much to your doctors when they say "lyme disease, thyroid disorder? i don't think so your just depressed" i hate doctors, i hate every person ever telling me to exercise so im not so tired all the time and i specially hate my parents for not listening to me when i described my symptoms to them, even today they still don't listen..