# Prozac!



## hashimotocoaster (Mar 22, 2013)

So, I saw my regular doctor the other day, and told him my hypo symptoms had started to come back (my Synthroid was reduced to 25mcg in March). I also told him about my raging, weepy, PMS/hormonal hurricanes.

I have an appointment with an endo, but it's not until July. My doctor ran some labs (no results yet) and prescribed me Prozac. He basically said my hormones were screwed up and until I can get in to see the endo, the Prozac might alleviate some of the symptoms and give me a bit more energy.

I've been on SSRIs in the past for depression (which I'm now wondering if it was thyroid-related), but I've been off them for some years, and I'm really reluctant to take them again. My biochemistry is a lot weirder now than it used to be, and I'm not sure how it'll affect me. I also have a couple glasses of wine once or twice a week, and I've heard horror stories about people blacking out, having seizures, etc. Yikes!

I'm not sure whether I should start taking it or just wait it out and hope it gets better. Thoughts? Experiences?


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## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

NO one except a board certified psychiatrist of neurobiologist should prescribe Prozac or any other neurotropic drugs.

If you have not yet been seen by a board certified psychologist or psychiatrist, you should. They are best qualified to make an appropriate diagnosis [re depression or other mental disorder] and determine the cause.


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## hashimotocoaster (Mar 22, 2013)

CA-Lynn said:


> NO one except a board certified psychiatrist of neurobiologist should prescribe Prozac or any other neurotropic drugs.
> 
> If you have not yet been seen by a board certified psychologist or psychiatrist, you should. They are best qualified to make an appropriate diagnosis [re depression or other mental disorder] and determine the cause.


I totally agree that these drugs are overprescribed by doctors who don't necessarily understand them and aren't trained to diagnose mental illness. My doctor, like me, thinks my problems are hormonal, and he thinks this might help me feel better until I see the endo and can get some better answers about how to handle the thyroid nightmare. I'm reluctant, but I also feel like crap, and my mood is... well, I wouldn't want to be around me if I didn't have to be, so I understand where he's coming from. And I trust this doctor--he's the one who finally diagnosed me with Hashimoto's after a bunch of others insisting I was just being hysterical. I was just wondering if anyone's had a good/bad experience taking SSRIs for thyroid-related, er, mood dysregulation.


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

In the 18-24 months before I decided to have my thyroid removed, I was seeing an internist (my primary care doctor), an ear, nose & throat specialist, an orthopedic specialist, a cardiologist, a gastro-intestinal specialist AND a psychiatrist...all for symptoms I would later come to highly suspect were related to my thyroid problems. I think, in retrospect, my cardiologist was the first one to say he thought if I could get my thyroid "under control" my heart symptoms would take care of themselves. It has basically taken three years for the other specialists to conclude that at least some of the symptoms I was having that drove me to see them were thyroid.

Months after my surgery I read one sentence somewhere that I wished I'd seen when I was first diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and it said no medications will ever work as they're designed to work if a person's thyroid is out of whack. I think there is a lot of truth there!

In the year before my surgery and for much of the first year afterwards I saw a psychiatrist who actually is a close friend of my endocrinologist. Early on, everyone (including myself) thought a lot of what I was going through was depression. Again, in retrospect, I think it was more frustration than depression but all doctors want to concentrate on the symptoms we share with them and this psychiatrist prescribed at least 3-4 different antidepressants and a couple of drugs that were supposed to make the antidepressants work better. None helped - all, except Wellbutrin, made things dramatically worse and the Wellbutrin didn't really do anything.

I'm finding, as I finally believe I'm getting close to the right dosage of Synthroid, I feel better physically, mentally and emotionally. I recently started taking Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega +CoQ10 and for some reason the improvement in all my symptoms (particularly the achy-ness of my arm and leg muscles and an almost debilitating fatigue) has been almost unbelievable.

Thyroid disease in and of itself can cause mental symptoms - I believe there are more receptors for thyroid hormone in the brain than any other part of our bodies. I had the most frightening symptoms on Armour, namely anxiety. That was a biggie and it stopped overnight when I went back to Synthroid.

As I look back on my own personal experiences, I don't know but what things might have ultimately never become so complicated had I not been prescribed drugs for all the symptoms I now believe were manifestations of my thyroid imbalance. I, personally, am of the opinion that some of the different drugs I was prescribed only compounded what were probably thyroid imbalance symptoms - but - when all those symptoms that are possibly caused by thyroid disease are specific illnesses in and of themselves, it just gets really hard to figure out what's going on.

I've never taken Prozac but I believe sometimes very low doses of antidepressants do help. My mother is currently taking a low, low dose of an antidepressant that her doctor prescribed to help her sleep, and it's working beautifully.

Treating thyroid disease almost seems as much art as science in a lot of ways. I think some doctors know things that have helped other patients and they want to help us, too...then whatever it was makes things worse. When I went back on Synthroid last February, I stopped everything else I was taking except a low dose blood pressure drug simply because I felt like I couldn't tell what was going on taking multiple drugs and none of them were significant enough that I couldn't try my little experiment.

Good luck!! I can honestly say that I feel really good right now. I feel calm, content, my mood is stable, I have no anxiety, no depression, etc., but how much of that is directly related to the Synthroid/Ultimate Omega and how much is related to the fact that feeling well again has been such a blessing that I just naturally feel a sense of joy, I don't know.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

My GP for several years offered me anti depressants - this was the time I was going to the doctor constantly for this and that and it all went away once my thyroid issues were treated.

Do you have any recent labs you could share? It sounds like you need to get back on the dose you were on previous to your dose reduction.


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## fotobird (May 11, 2013)

I was given some for about 3 weeks-1 month. It made things worse! I wasn't depressed, I was having a ridiculous amount of symptoms that had no cause (later we found out it was hashi's). Wouldn't it be easier to evaluate someones labs and symptoms than to throw pills at someone? Oh wait...the latter is easier.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

There are alot of doctors who graduated at the bottom of the class - all they know how to do is prescribe.

I personally think the chapter on how to prescribe was much larger and longer than how to diagnose thyroid disease.


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## I DClaire (Jul 31, 2011)

Lovlkn said:


> There are alot of doctors who graduated at the bottom of the class - all they know how to do is prescribe.
> 
> I personally think the chapter on how to prescribe was much larger and longer than how to diagnose thyroid disease.


Amen! And, I'll add a segment of our society that I believe is really suffering unjustly from over-prescribing doctors and they're our elderly. I don't believe most doctors are really comfortable dealing with elderly patients, they obviously have myriad health problems and they're generally slower and take more time to explain their concerns. It's quicker to hand them more prescriptions...more often than not without any discussion whatsoever about anything else they've been prescribed.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

I DClaire said:


> In the 18-24 months before I decided to have my thyroid removed, I was seeing an internist (my primary care doctor), an ear, nose & throat specialist, an orthopedic specialist, a cardiologist, a gastro-intestinal specialist AND a psychiatrist...all for symptoms I would later come to highly suspect were related to my thyroid problems. I think, in retrospect, my cardiologist was the first one to say he thought if I could get my thyroid "under control" my heart symptoms would take care of themselves. It has basically taken three years for the other specialists to conclude that at least some of the symptoms I was having that drove me to see them were thyroid.
> 
> Months after my surgery I read one sentence somewhere that I wished I'd seen when I was first diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and it said no medications will ever work as they're designed to work if a person's thyroid is out of whack. I think there is a lot of truth there!
> 
> ...


Praise the Lord and do the Snoopy!









http://www.nhlcyberfamily.org/special/happydance.htm


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## hashimotocoaster (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I_DClaire, I'm glad you're feeling better!

I still haven't started the Prozac, and don't know if I will. It's a low dose, but I'm concerned about how my body, which is pretty weird right now, will react to it. I've made it clear that I don't want to be on any medications I don't have to be on--I'm only on Synthroid, a migraine medication as needed, and I have some beta blockers to take as needed but I've only used them a few times, months ago, when I was hyper.

I really believe that my "mental" symptoms (horrible PMS, intermittent depression/anxiety, just generally being moody) are actually hormone-related and so does my doctor, and I realize that prescribing me Prozac is a Band-Aid and the only thing he knows to do to help me be less-miserable until I can see the endo, but...


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