Posted by SLS on July 1, 2000, at 14:57:28
In reply to Re: atypical depression treatment? - jzp and noa, posted by Noa on July 1, 2000, at 14:00:16
> Scott, I really don't know if it is more common in one type of depression or the other, but I do know that some of the symptoms of hypothyroid overlap with those of atypical depresseion:
> fatique
> sluggishness
> sleepiness
> weight gain
> lack of motivation
> feeling of heaviness in the limbs> So, especially with women, who are more prone to hypothyroid (though not exculsively a women's problem), I believe that with atypical depresion, hypothyroidism should be looked into.
> I would guess that quite often, both an endocrine approach and a psychopharm approach might be needed, but for many people with difficult to treat chronic depression, who also have subclinical hypothyroid, treating the hypothyroid aggressively is key to getting a good response to the antidepressants.
Noa - thanks for helping out here.I forgot to mention that thyroid hormone is also used to augment antidepressants in the absence of abnormally low levels in the body. Blood levels of 150% of normal are often needed to produce a response. I found something today that indicated that this strategy is also effective for treating bipolar depression. In the studies cited, T4 was used.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:38809
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000630/msgs/38958.html