Transcription
[Music] Your thyroid, the reason you are experiencing mental health problems like anxiety and depression? Well, if you struggle with brain fog, mood changes, memory problems, depression, or anxiety, postpartum depression, panic disorder, or some other mental health disorder, please, before you go on any kind of anti-depressant, anti-anxiety medication, you should get your thyroid gland properly checked.
You see, thyroid disorders are one of the leading causes of undiagnosed mental health issues worldwide. Very often, it's overlooked. And hypothyroidism occurs when the cells in the thyroid gland can't make enough thyroid hormone necessary to keep the body energized and running properly. Thyroid disorders can affect how hot or cold you feel. They can cause weight gain and changes and fluctuations in weight. They can cause digestive problems, motility issues. Thyroid problems can cause you to lose hair. They cause heart problems. And for the purpose of this video, thyroid problems can cause a variety of mood and mental health problems.
Let's face it, when people don't feel good, they go to their doctors, and most doctors are really good at prescribing different medications, but they're not really good at figuring out what's causing the problem. And so, what winds up happening is you have a general practitioner who often just puts you on the path of anti-depressants and sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medications. And this is not the answer when a thyroid disorder may be at the root cause. Many people who go on sleeping pills, anxiety medications, and anti-depressants never get the relief or improvement that they were hoping for. And that's why I wanted to shed some light on another important piece of the mental health puzzle that I feel you really need to know about.
Well, hey there, I'm Dr. Hagm. And today's video, I'm going to talk about thyroid disease and how it can cause mood and mental health problems. I'm also going to go over some of the symptoms that really you should be on the lookout for or be suspicious of, uh, that your thyroid might be causing your thyroid mental health problems. I'm going to go over one of the biggest, uh, mistakes that I see many, many doctors make when it comes to properly testing the thyroid gland. And because this alone is such a huge problem, it's a very, very big problem in healthcare today. I also want to review with you the thyroid blood test, like a checklist, if you will, of blood markers that are so important to have when you suffer with mood and mental health problems. Because if you went to your doctor and your doctor tested your thyroid, nine out of 10 times, they didn't properly test your thyroid. They did a screening. And so that's very important, and I want you to be aware of that. Stay tuned and make sure that you watch today's video all the way to the end because you're not going to want to miss what I've got to say in this video.
All right, so when it comes to mental health, your thyroid gland is a key player. And the three most common thyroid problems related to to mood and mental health problems that is often missed by your doctor is number one is autoimmune Hashimoto thyroiditis. That's number one. Number two is subclinical hypothyroidism. And number three is something known as low T3. And let me briefly explain each of these. And if you want more information on any of these, again, I'll leave a link in the description box. It'll take you to my website and you can learn as much as your heart desires, uh, you know, on on that video. So let's get into number one, autoimmune Hashimoto's thyroiditis and its relationship to mental health.
Okay, so when it comes to thyroid disease, thyroid problems, the number one reason for hypothyroidism is actually Hashimoto's disease, right? And now, tell me if this has ever happened to you, right? Imagine having symptoms like depression, anxiety, maybe heart palpitations, maybe manic depression, maybe paranoia, maybe schizophrenia, maybe psychotic depression, or even a bipolar disorder. One day you wake up and without reason, you're anxious, you're on edge, uh, you're irritable, you feel an inward trembling in your body, you feel like your heart is racing, uh, you have more energy than you usually have, and you feel as though you're really just on the brink of having a panic attack. You just don't feel right. You feel uneasy, right? Then by nighttime, or a few days later, it's almost like a switch just went off or a switch was flipped, and now you're exhausted and run down. And the little bit you do around the house is now just causing major, severe fatigue. You're a bit constipated, you're bloated, you're having additional brain fog, and almost out of nowhere, you just gain three to five pounds and you haven't done anything different, right? You're feeling almost the exact opposite of how you felt just a few days or even a few weeks ago, maybe even sometimes a few months ago. Um, so again, if you're experiencing those symptoms and those symptoms are returning again, those old symptoms are returning, and you're back to feeling anxious and depressed and irritated, on edge, sweaty, panicky, and this cycle repeats over and over. You're on a roller coaster of being up and down with your emotions and energy and mental health. If you can relate to all of those things I just described, welcome to Hashimoto's disease, right? Because that's the typical experience most people with Hashimoto's will encounter.
Now, these simple, these symptoms obviously resemble one might experience during a panic attack or a bipolar disorder or during manic depression. But again, they're also signs you may have Hashimoto thyroiditis, which again, is only one cause of hypothyroidism. I'll talk about the others, meaning low T3 and subclinical hypothyroidism, in just a minute. But with Hashimoto's disease, your immune system sees your thyroid gland as a foreign body, a foreign invader. And so it begins to attack and destroy your thyroid gland, those thyroid cells. And as your thyroid cells are damaged or destroyed, they release their stored thyroid hormones, causing those classic hyperthyroid symptoms, meaning you have too much thyroid hormone, uh, hormones in your blood. Now, the symptoms of Hashimoto's may be hyperthyroid, such as anxiety and panic attacks and and sweating and trouble sleeping and restlessness and a racing, pounding heart. Or you may experience hypothyroid symptoms. But here's the thing, each and every autoimmune attack or flare-up that you have, more and more damage is occurring in the thyroid gland, and ultimately, the thyroid gland is no longer able to produce enough thyroid hormones, and you eventually become permanently hypothyroid. Keep in mind that the damage is cumulative. So with such a dramatic shift in your symptoms, I hope you can see how Hashimoto's disease could be missed as a mental health disorder like depression or bipolar or in some cases, anxiety. And this is again, why you need a comprehensive thyroid panel. The one thing I would want you to know is that this misdiagnosis and this mismanagement, this happens more than you can imagine. My sister almost went 20 years without getting properly diagnosed with Hashimoto's.
There's another type of thyroid problem, however, that may mistakenly be misdiagnosed for anxiety and depression. And so I want you to know a little bit about this as well. And this is subclinical hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism, you may come across this on the internet. This is also called mild thyroid failure. And this is diagnosed typically when thyroid hormone levels, uh, like T3 or T4, are within the normal reference range, but your TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, that's slightly elevated. And again, I'll talk more about this in just a moment. But consider this, one of the studies I was recently reading found that almost 64% of the participants who had subclinical thyroid problems or had symptoms of an underactive thyroid also had symptoms of depression. In other words, when these people were tested for thyroid disease, and I'm going to use that term tested very loosely here, but when they were tested, their TSH was slightly elevated, but the thyroid hormone levels, T3 and T4 levels, was normal. Yet 65% of those people had depression, anxiety symptoms.
But I want to throw something else in here that I think is super important. What if the TSH range that the doctors are using is not accurate? What if doctors never test the actual thyroid hormone levels and they only run a TSH test or a free T4? What if doctors never run a complete thyroid panel on the patient suffering with mental health problems? How might this affect or influence a diagnosis and management of a thyroid problem? Maybe it gets missed, and your doctor is just quick to dismiss that a thyroid problem actually doesn't even exist, and that you're just depressed and you have bipolar, and they just prescribe you medications. I tell you all this because you need to self-advocate for yourself. There is a lot of controversy within the medical community, within the profession, endocrinology, about TSH and thyroid hormone ranges and where those thyroid level ranges should be and what constitutes as being normal. And again, the biggest problem I want you to be aware of is how this relates to anxiety, depression, mental health problems.
With that, low T3. Again, low T3 is another very common finding like Hashimoto's disease and subclinical hypothyroidism. Low T3 again is often missed by the vast majority of doctors. Uh, and if you stay with me, I'll explain to you what you need to do in order to prevent this from happening again. So make sure that you watch this video to the end. But T3 is one of the main hormones that your thyroid gland releases into your bloodstream, right? Your thyroid also produces T4. T4 and T3 work together and are commonly referred to as thyroid hormones. Now, sometimes patients think when they have a TSH test or they see that on their blood work that their doctor tested their thyroid hormone levels, but again, this isn't the case. TSH is a hormone, but its job is to instruct the thyroid gland to make thyroid hormones like T3 and T4. But TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone, is not your thyroid hormone. I know it's a bit confusing. Just remember that TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone, stimulates the thyroid to make T3 and T4, which are the actual thyroid hormones.
Now, when it comes to T3, and this is very, very important, most T3, approximately 80%, in your blood is actually from your body's conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver, in the brain, in the kidneys, and the gut. So your body takes inactive thyroid hormone and in the liver, brain, kidneys, and gut, it changes it into the active form, which is known as T3. And that's so important because that's what impacts the cells in your body. Whereas T4 is the inactive form, it doesn't really do anything. Ironically, most doctors never test the active T3 thyroid hormone. And so while they test your TSH, most never get their T3 levels tested. But T4 and T3 really play vital roles in regulating your body's metabolic rate, and that's the rate at which your body transforms food into energy, regulates your heart rate, your digestive function, muscle control, brain function. Function. T3 is involved in numerous biological functions. And studies found that T3 increases serotonergic activity. So when someone has low T3 levels, we can have a decrease in serotonin activity. And if you have symptoms of low serotonin, you have depression, you may have anxiety, you may have sleep problems, you may have digestive problems, you may have suicidal behavior, you may have OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, you must have, may have post-traumatic stress disorder or panic disorders.
So again, the connection between thyroid problems and depression, anxiety, and most mental health problems, for that matter, is so strong that the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists suggests that all people diagnosed with depression and mental health should be evaluated for subclinical hypothyroidism, as well as clinical hypothyroidism. Notice that the recommendation isn't for some people to get tested, it's for all people with mood and mental health problems to be tested. And that's again, part of the problem. People who struggle with mental health problems are not getting properly tested. So it's getting missed in the majority of cases.
Now, let's talk a little bit about blood testing and proper thyroid testing, uh, when you've been diagnosed with a mood disorder or a mental health problem, right? So let's go over this because I think this is really, really important. There are eight thyroid test markers that you need to have done, uh, in order to properly and thoroughly evaluate the thyroid gland. And this is what we call a comprehensive thyroid panel. Very, very, very important. So those markers that you want to, uh, get tested is going to be TSH, free T3, free T4, total T3, total T4, reverse T3. And then you want to have your thyroid antibodies, including both thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroglobulin antibodies. Very important.
So as I wrap up this video, I want to leave you with a few quick reminders, right? Thyroid problems are overlooked in the majority of cases where a mental health disorder exists. Even if you have mild depression or mild anxiety, please get yourself a comprehensive thyroid panel because for many people, not identifying a thyroid problem may lead you down this path of sleeping pills and anti-depressants and anti-anxiety, anti-depressants, and other mind-altering medications. In other words, you may not have a mental health disorder, but an undiagnosed or maybe even a poorly managed thyroid problem. You see, ranges for thyroid levels are also an important point of contention within endocrinology and various thyroid associations. Many associations feel that the TSH test has problems, as well as the reference range for thyroid hormone levels. You see, the TSH test is not a very accurate test when done by itself. What if the TSH range is not accurate? How might that lead to a misdiagnosis? Many organizations believe that the TSH range, which goes from 0.5 all the way up to 5.0, it's too big. It misses too many people who actually have thyroid problems.
Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed today's video. I hope it gave you some things to think about. Uh, if you have questions, drop those in the comment section below. If you learned something new, uh, be sure to subscribe to my channel. Hit that notification button so, uh, when I upload new videos, uh, you'll be notified of those. If you have questions about working with my clinic or getting a comprehensive thyroid panel, you can visit my website. And lastly, if you're wondering if you have a thyroid problem causing your depression and anxiety or brain fog, visit my website, take the thyroid quiz, and it can help assess your risk for thyroid disease. If you score above 15, then it's highly likely that you have a thyroid problem and you really should get a comprehensive thyroid panel done. Now, here's another video that I think you might find interesting if you're struggling with thyroid problems or mental health issues.