Jul
13
Depression and T4
I’ll write more on this another time, but for today I simply wanted to get the news out that chemical depression can often be easily diagnosed with more thorough testing of thyroid hormones.
When clinicians test thyroid function, they usually omit to ask for a measure of T4, since that hormone isn’t actually produced by the thyroid gland. The thyroid produces T3, which is “converted” to T4 in the body. So you can have plenty of T3, and yet be deficient in T4.
A deficiency in T4 often indicates “sick euthyroid syndrome” which is the result of sustained high cortisol (stress) hormone. The person can have all the symptoms of severe clinical depression, with no psychological factors at play.
There is no treatment for SES except perhaps a magnesium supplement, and doctors agree that the condition should not be treated with medication.
The “treatment” in fact is a proper convalescence period in which the person is allowed a completely stress-free existence, without work or other duties. With correct rest, the endocrine system (which produces hormones and which is “out of balance” in SES) quickly returns to normal function.