Hypothyroidism and Depression History

[pldowney51]

Well I am a 52 Year old male who has had a variety of diagnosis's since 1976 always to include depression and Antidepressant meds. I got clean and sober in 1982 Through AA and NA. I am 28 years sober about to go on 29.
I currently have Double Depression : alternations between and Major Depression. Also have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. About 5 years ago I started telling my docs that I suspect I had Hypothyroid disorder due to the continuous and over whelming amount of fatigue.

Also Since age 13 I have had a on and off problem of seeing spots in front of my eyes as well as floating hairs and the also at times bright light hairs in my lower vision, particularly when waking up in the morning. Happens also though at various other times of day, and at times when very tired or stressed.

They never checked my t3 until this last winter 2011, as far as I know. It was 8.47 Just below Severe. Anything above 3.0 (sub clinical) indicate some problems, over 4.0 and there will be problems, etc.
I have many other conditions that relate to the Hypothyroid Disorder. Depression is one of them, Obesity started in 1994 after I quit smoking about 4 packs a day, now 400 pounds, was 196. Heart attack with scarring on right side with wall damaged but Healed/repaired with slight dysfunction, Heart Disease Healed/repaired, around the year 2000 and is when the heart attack occurred, I believe.

Low testosterone 200 mg/dl, High VLDL 175 mg/dl, High Cholesterol 222 H mg/dl, Pre-Hyper tension, Very low vitamin D which now is 41 taking 5000 iu daily for 1 1/2 years, Gerds, Barrett Esophagus, Sleep Apnea, Hypersomina, and a few Doctors in the previous year seem to think there is nothing wrong with me that I should be okay to continue working. Now that they found the past heart problems and hypothyroidism they currently Agree that I am disabled. Filed for Social Security about 1 year ago.

The Short of this story is IF YOU HAVE DEPRESSION, have you Doctors Check for a Thyroid disorder. Make sure you ask for a copy of the lab results. Often times doctors told me that everything looked fine, when they did not test the full thyroid T's that follow, if even any. This way you can confront them. You have to ask them to do it. It should be required. Have them check T1, T2, T3, T4 . Of course not all Depression is caused by Hypothyroidism (also Hyperthyroidism) , or cured by thyroid treatments, but a very large percentage are I just started Levoxyl for my Hypothyroid disorder about 2 months ago.

[Obayan]

Hello again. I replied to your other post that was identical to this one. We do have a chat room here associated with the site as well if you'd like to check it out. But to be honest, I believe there are as many causes for depression as there are people who suffer from it.

[CitM]

Isn't it inferiating when doctors miss something that simple? And look at how much you have suffered to boot. Missing a thyroid test like that should be grounds for medical malpractice. Seriously.

If I was a doctor and had a female patient, the first thing I'd do is check for thyroid when she's had changes in her hormonal status, like puberty, menopause,pregnancy etc. Anyone over 50 pounds in a year, I'd check for thyroid. And some meds, worsen the function of the thyroid and make it much worse.

At least you have help now, although small victory so it is. Good luck to you.