Study Suggests Link between Mental Health and Your Thyroid

Feeling depressed? Anxious? Stressed out to the max? Sure, it might be your surroundings, your financial situation, or your relationships. Or, it could be something else . . . something that might be easily addressed.

It’s no surprise that depression runs rampant in our society – what, with the economy the way it is, financial hardship, divorce rates skyrocketing, the war . . . the list goes on and on. But what if there was something you could do that would – in a short period of time would have you feeling back to “normal” again?

Your Thyroid Might be the Key

Doctors have been suspicious of a link between abnormal blood levels of thyroid hormone and psychiatric problems that include depression, anxiety and more.  Recently, however, researchers took these suspicions a step further by conducting several studies.  The results suggest that treating these abnormal thyroid levels can help reduce the development of psychiatric problems and lead to improvements in memory, mood and cognition.

The possible link between minor, or subclinical, thyroid problems and a patient's mental health has been a controversial subject among doctors.  Dr. Russell Joffe, a psychiatrist at the North Shore, Long Island Jewish Health System, and several colleagues reviewed literature on subclinical hyperthyroidism and mood.  The team found that around two percent of all Americans are affected by hyperthyroidism, and that treating the condition early enough could help alleviate some patient's symptoms and might even prevent any further mental deterioration.

Your Thyroid

A gland that wraps around the trachea, the thyroid plays a very important role in the human body. It affects a wide range of physical processes, ranging from the regulation of body temperature and heartbeat to cognitive functioning.  Hyperthyroidism is caused by too much thyroid hormone and speeds the metabolism, which results in symptoms like palpitations, excessive sweating, anxiety and weight loss.  On the opposite end of the spectrum is hypothyroidism, which occurs when there is too little of the hormone.  Symptoms of hypothyroidism include physical fatigue, weight gain, sluggishness, depression, the inability to concentrate and memory problems.

One thing that doctors cannot agree on is whether thyroid problems cause psychiatric problems, or if it's the other way around.  This could lead to people getting their thyroid problems misdiagnosed, as in the case of Leah Christian.  Christian was prescribed antidepressants over ten years ago at the age of 19 in an effort to treat her depression and anxiety.  After a decade of taking ineffective drugs, she finally turned to a hormone therapist.  The therapist ran a thyroid panel and found out that she had hyperthyroidism.  Almost immediately after being treated with synthetic thyroid hormone replacement, her depression and anxiety disappeared.

Doctors should not always attempt to treat initial psychiatric health decline with thyroid hormone therapy, however.   The idea of treating subclinical hypothyroidism is controversial, because many argue that hormone therapy can strain the heart, and may worsen osteoporosis. 

While the early treatment of these problems can extinguish most symptoms entirely, the fact that it can be easy to confuse the two problems complicates matters.  Deciding whether a patient is suffering from subclinical hyperthyroidism or psychiatric problems can be tricky. But with the latest study you can see that there is indeed a link between the two ailments.