CASE HISTORIES
Some names have been changed
Don
I am 66 years old. I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid disease
at the age of 64. I think I may have had thyroid disease for 20
years because I felt cold, tired, anxious and depressed throughout
that time. My anxiety and depression were treated with a total of
8 ECT treatments beginning in my 40s.
Now I take 50mcg of thyroxine a day together with an anti-depressant.
I feel considerably better since I have been taking thyroxine. I
have no doubt that thyroxine has helped me with my depression and
anxiety. “It has made a big difference”.
I eat regularly and avoid sugar and find that this stops me feeling wobbly.
My social worker has told me that “70% of people with mental health problems
have thyroid problems.”
November 2002
Chayley
In 1979 I returned to live in England after spending 22 years overseas.
It was a difficult time for me and my family adjusting to the culture
and climate of the U.K.
My daughters and I had to make new friends and adjust to a very
different way of life from the one we had been used to. We missed
our life in the Far East and arriving in England during one of the
coldest winters for several years, we felt miserable, unhappy and
very cold.
My feelings of coldness and tiredness did not lift even when spring
came. I began to get severe joint pains and I was putting on a lot
of weight. I decided that a visit to the doctor was necessary. I
was given blood tests for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and anaemia
all of which showed as negative. During that time I had to give
up work and was offered anti-depressants, which I declined so often
that the surgery I attended refused to treat me.
I moved to a different surgery and was offered more antidepressants
and an appointment with a psychiatrist which again I refused. This
was in spite of my pleas that I was not depressed but ill.
I feared being removed from that surgery so I stopped giving my
symptoms and agreed with the doctor that I was sad and decided not
to visit the doctor again.
I became terribly physically ill, from which the effects remain
with me now. I did eventually see another doctor who took one look
at me and asked if I had been tested for an underactive thyroid.
He started me on thyroxine immediately and slowly I recovered and
my symptoms diminished.
I was able to take up my life again, although it had taken four
years to be diagnosed and I would never regain total good health.
26.07.02
Amy
I experienced tiredness and coldness throughout my twenties beginning
after a bout of glandular fever at 21. I was exhausted, felt heavy
and had “floppy arms” and aching muscles. I often slept
in the afternoon but put it down to being unfit and earned the name
“dormouse”. By the age of 29 I was frequently tired
and often went to sleep at 7pm. I just thought I had a demanding
job. After a big shock I experienced terrible insomnia, anxiety
and hallucinations. I was treated in ways which added to my anxiety
and terror and given a sleeping tablet and an injection both of
which worsened the hallucinations. After more than two weeks of
insomnia, fear, severe confusion, hallucinations and very strong,
peculiar sensations in my nervous system I went on a long train
journey to meet some friends who I asked to take me to hospital.
I was put on 36 tablets a day in an acute psychiatric ward and was
diagnosed by a psychiatrist as “seems to be suffering from
schizophrenia”. This was despite the fact that he had only
asked me two questions and had not heard anything from me about
the way I had been treated (which was well intentioned but traumatic.)
After more than two weeks in hospital I returned to my home country
and after some time saw a psychiatrist who seemed not to want to
hear my account of what had happened to me “you don’t
need to tell me all the symptoms”. He had insufficient time
but even so the interview was derisory with a list of irrelevant
questions including one asking me who the prime minister was. I
was severely traumatised by my experience and “drugged up
to the eyeballs” with psychiatric medication which made it
very hard to speak or think at normal speed. A review of my experience
and diagnosis did not take place. I knew I wasn’t physically
well and asked the psychiatrist for a check up. He told me to ask
my GP which I did. She took my blood pressure – no blood test
was done. I felt terrible on the psychiatric medication and soon
came off it. I experienced more hallucinations while coming off
medication.
For over a year I struggled on with exhaustion and very strange
sensations in my nervous system which would make me insomniac particularly
after stress. I tried to make the best of things and didn’t
talk about my experiences very much. Nobody who really knew me thought
I was schizophrenic despite my insomnia, hallucinations and “currents”
down my back and my desperate theories as to what on earth was happening
to me.
Then, after an emotional visit from friends abroad, I went into
another patch of severe insomnia, odd nervous sensations and anxiety.
I had three periods in six weeks. I felt speeded up and energetic
and later wondered if the vitamin tablets I had been given by the
friends one morning at breakfast had contained something odd or
even illegal. Now I think they probably contained a high dose of
caffeine to which I was and still am very sensitive. There is also
the possibility that I was going through the hyperthyroid phase
of Hashimoto’s disease or was having a “thyroid storm”
possibly brought on by previous psychiatric medication.
A doctor (not my own GP) prescribed procyclidine by itself which
made me even more anxious. Hours later I saw the same psychiatrist
as before and was diagnosed as schizoaffective. Medication made
me feel half dead but at least I could sleep again. The medication
caused severe side effects, I dragged my feet, experienced slowed
digestion to the point where food felt as though it had got stuck
in my chest, a lot of my hair fell out and my periods stopped. The
skin rashes on my shins got very itchy, red and lumpy and I felt
very very cold.
I got engaged, came off medication, got married, struggled on,
worked, slept a lot and sometimes cried for no apparent reason.
My nervous system still didn’t feel right. Then I became pregnant
and felt healthier and warmer and my resilient optimism did much
to counteract the ongoing feeling that physically I wasn’t
100%. Again I felt that that was because of the ongoing side effects
remaining after I had stopped taking the psychiatric medication
or due to my general lack of fitness.
I started to feel very tired and achy soon after my baby was born
but I was very happy. When a patch of insomnia began after a shock
three months later I knew I was “going out there” and
informed my husband and parents. With anti-histamine tablets taken
as prescribed and “mind over matter” self hypnosis I
managed to make myself sleep despite some very strong and bizarre
mind and nervous system experiences. It was extremely difficult
but I was determined to make myself well and avoid psychiatrists
and psychiatric medication.
Five months later I asked for a thyroid test after my husband read
something about thyroid disease in a nappy club leaflet. I had thyroid
disease (TSH 36.4) and thyroxine felt wonderful. From the first
tablet I felt different – as if the core of my body was being
restored to warmth and balance. The weird symptoms in my nervous
system went. I knew that I would not be vulnerable to shock and
stress anymore, that my mind’s health would be resilient and
easy to maintain, that I would never “go out there”
again.
I read a thyroid book and cried with amazement and disbelief when
I learnt that thyroid disease can cause insomnia, depression, anxiety
and hallucinations.
A short time later my GP said “severe thyroid disease can
cause psychiatric problems” almost lost for words my reply
was “that’s what I had!!” She then said “these
tests are done as routine” to which I replied that I had not
been given such a test. Shortly after that I changed GP, hurt that
a simple oversight seemed to have resulted in over 4 years of avoidable
and severe suffering at a time when life should and could have been
easier. Why had no medical person thought of a thyroid test before?
Why had I not been tested even though I had told the psychiatrist
and GP that I was sure I needed a physical check up?
My mother died from the complications of a rare autoimmune disease,
CREST syndrome, one month after my blood level showed normal thyroxine
levels and one year after my thyroid diagnosis. If I had been diagnosed
at the outset she could have been spared years of confusion and
worry. Mum had been a great support and inspiration to me and helped
me as much as was humanly possible. I will always feel very lucky
to have had such an amazing person in my life and her cheerfulness,
strength and wisdom still inspire me.
Through the “psychiatric years” I had complained to
my GP doctor, psychiatrist and community psychiatric nurse of a
variety of symptoms including severe cold, hair loss, cessation
of periods, lumpy red patches on my shins (pretibial myxoedema),
blackouts, exhaustion, aching limbs, muscle stiffness, slow digestion
and a dry mouth. Because of weakness and exhaustion I had once asked
for a test for anaemia which came back negative. All my symptoms
were dismissed as “in the mind” or as side effects from
psychiatric medication. In fact they were manifestations of
autoimmune hypothyroid disorder, namely Hashimoto’s disease.
Now I know that in good psychiatric care a thyroid test is
done for any person presenting with the symptoms I had or as a routine
procedure.
There is a history of thyroid disease and other autoimmune diseases
in my mother’s family. I have found out that one male second
cousin suffered confusion and paranoia before being totally restored
to mental health by thyroxine for his hypothyroidism.
I feel good on 175mcg of thyroxine a day. It has “restored me to myself”
and I am very grateful to it because I love my brain and want to get on with my life.
Brains need oxygen and thyroxine helped with that! I have often felt angry but feel
that blame is not helpful. My experience was physically, emotionally, mentally and
spiritually challenging and it made me rethink my ideas about everything. Trying to
stop this oversight from happening to other people is my healing process, my way of
making something good from something very painful and difficult.
Ed
Ed had had symptoms including sluggishness, weight gain, anxiety,
paranoia and forgetfulness for about six months when, by some great
twist of fate, he met someone on a golf course who suggested a blood
test. Thyroid disease was diagnosed and thyroxine soon restored
Ed to good mental and physical health, a new man! Ed’s wife
had had to put up with his bouts of bad temper and mild paranoia
and had thought he was developing Alzheimer’s. Thyroxine was
a wonderful, simple treatment and they were both relieved to see
Ed return to his old self.
Mary
Mary lived to the great age of 99. She shared a flat with her daughter
and had not left her home for many many years due to the great number
of steps to the ground floor. She was articulate and able with great
determination and spirit. For the last few years of her life she
suffered terrible nocturnal hallucinations which appear to have
been dismissed by those around her. To the best of family knowledge
she was not given a thyroid test and may never have seen a doctor
about her mental health problem. Mary’s neck was very swollen
and she complained about her weight saying that she did not overeat.
***
|