Mental status symptoms and thyroid

Illustration - low thyroid/hypothyroid/myxedema

If you look like the lady in this image and feel terrible -
but your doctor says you are endocrinologically "stable",
ask your doctor whether s/he treats lab tests - or people.

If your thryoid is not functioning well and your physician fails to recognize the source of your symptoms, you may be set for years of bad health and altered mental status.

Many psychiatric disorders and symptoms are related to thyroid hormones. Both underactive (hypothyroidism) and overactive (hyperthyroidism) thyroid hormone blood levels can trigger panic attacks. In approximately 1/3 of patients with depression, borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, bulimia, alcoholism in remission, and anorexia nervosa the pituitary gland does not properly increase blood levels of TSH when signaled to do so by the hypothalamus. This can cause "hypothyroidism" with "normal" blood values. "Normal" is a statistic referring to the middle 96% of the population - it does not mean that "normal" is normal or healthy for you. "Normal" cholesterol by the middle 96% technique includes cholesterol levels of 300, whereas the middle statistically is 220, and the goal is less than 200.

From Low thyroid and mental illness
Also see Thyroid and Schizophrenia
Hypothyroidism and Psychiatric Illness
Treatment of hypothyroidism
Myxedema Madness
Myxedema Madness PDF
Anxiety and Thyroid Disease
Anxiety and endocrine disease
Efficacy of T3
T3/T4 Combination in Bipolar
29 Medical Causes of Schizophrenia


Getting locked into a position due to outdated information can be fatal for doctor and patient.

More on this issue to come...