![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Paige K on March 10, 2003, at 14:35:49
I've been taking 150 micrograms of synthyroid for many years for hypothyroidism...my bipolar depressive symptoms have never abated with any antidepressants. Currently my doctor has conservatively changed my dosage to 100micrograms of synthroid and 10 micrograms Cytomel...My TSH has never been under 2.5. I'm thinking improvements won't happen until the Cytomel is increased to at least 25 micrograms along with the 100micrograms of synthroid. Any personal experience on this? (I've seen Dr. Phelp's ongoing results)
Posted by noa on March 10, 2003, at 17:27:11
In reply to Hypothyroidism / bipolar -Personal Success Stories, posted by Paige K on March 10, 2003, at 14:35:49
I have depression, not bipolar. But I did not start feeling better and really responding to my antidepressants until I was getting "aggressive" treatment of the hypothyroidism. I had already been taking both synthroid and cytomel, but not enough of the synthroid. He had me increase the dose gradually according to whether the increase produced improvement, and then level off where the last improvement occurred. For me, this was at a TSH of less than one.
The cytomel might help. your TSH might not change much with the cytomel, because I think pituitary guages how much TSH to produce based on how much T4 is floating around. But as you know, T3 is the active form of the thyroid hormone, and some people can have a lot of T4 and still not feel well, and even with same TSH, some people who take the T3 do feel better.
BTW, my endo recommended I split the cytomel into two doses, because it has shorter life.
I recommend the about.com site on hypothryoidism, moderated by Mary Shomon, and her own web site, thyroid-info.com for more info. Also, some archives at the thyroid and depression folder, linked in intro at top of babble main page.
Good luck, keep us posted.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.