Guest Author - Jim Lowrance

I was one of these patients who, was suspected of having emotional problems, not being caused by an underlying medical problem. I ended up requesting my own thyroid blood tests because I suspected thyroid disease, even saying so, to that very first Doctor I went to with my symptom complaints. The combination of antidepressant, anti-anxiety medication and beta-blocker, that the first Doctor prescribed me in spite of my suggestion, did not help me, in fact I became worse until my thyroid disease was diagnosed and treated. Doctors are human and capable of mistakes like everyone else but it is situations like these that point out the need for more education by the general public on thyroid diseases and blood testing for them and in Doctors being updated as well.

It is mistakenly believed by many, including some Doctors, that only hyperthyroid patients experience the anxiety symptoms, while depression is experienced by patients with hypothyroidism. While it may be true that anxiety may be more common in hyperthyroid patients, it is also commonly experienced in those with hypothyroidism.

I have consulted with and corresponded with many Doctors, while researching these past several years and they state having found hypothyroid patients experiencing anxiety symptoms, commonly. One of these Doctors is a Board Certified Endocrinologist and he also confirmed seeing anxiety as a common manifestation of autoimmune hypothyroidism. It is also true that hyperthyroid patients commonly experience depression, in addition to anxiety.

Many times anxiety and/or depression does not have a medical cause but if a patient has other physical symptoms that may indicate thyroid disease, they should have blood testing to determine if that is the cause, or to rule it out. Treating symptoms alone, without treating the medical condition that is causing them, will only do so much good or possibly no good at all. In a worse case scenario, medications for anxiety and depression alone, while leaving thyroid disease untreated may actually cause the patient to become worse. Thyroid blood testing is not that expensive, so should be done, so that if a thyroid disorder does exist, it can be treated and the resulting effect will be improvement of the symptoms, including the emotional ones. If a patient needs addition of medications to help with emotional symptoms, this can also be considered between the Doctor and patient, at the appropriate time during the treatment process.