You've tried 10, 12, even 14 or more medications for your bipolar depression and they just haven't worked well enough. Well, maybe your doctor should consider adding another type of treatment altogether. The thyroid hormone triiodothyronine - better known as T3 - has been shown to be effective for treatment-resistant depression in patients with bipolar disorder.
A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders was a chart review of about 160 patients, mostly with bipolar II disorder, who had tried an average of 14 different drugs for their depression, who were given T3 from 2002 to 2006. The results were impressive: a whopping 84% of the patients experienced improvement, and 33% full remission. Not one experienced a switch into mania. Although the doses were higher than normal for many patients, the researchers report that the medication was well-tolerated, although 16 patients (10%) dropped out because of side effects.
The authors do point out that a chart review study has its limitations, but this is still exceedingly hopeful news for those of us whose depression stubbornly hangs on. ~Marcia
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I’ve taken thyroid hormone for a long time, but I didn’t get my depression controlled until I started taking two antidepressants at once: Effexor and Abilify.
The most stable year of my time living with bipolar was the year a psychiatrist prescribed me T3. I worked full time, exercised and lost 70 pounds in just over a year. Since then, other doctors won’t prescribe thyroid medicine to me since my tests are normal. They say it can increase your risk of cancer. I’m going to look into it because I did so well then. Thank you for this information!!
I’ve been taking synthroid for low thyroid for three years, and my pdoc added Cytomel/T3 [for mood] in January 2009. My family doc reduced my synthroid accordingly, after THS came back on the low side. Turns out the body has to convert synthroid [which is actually T4] into T3 in order to use it. After adding the Cytomel I started feeling more energetic than I had in a long time. This was still not enough energy to function normally, but noticeably better than before.
I’ve also just added hormone creams for post-menopausal symptoms – terrible hot flashes and excessive sweating [like pouring down my face, chest, back, etc] which I’ve been putting up with for years. I had stopped oral hrt when it hit the fan about the cancer risk… It’s been less than a week, and I notice improvement already.
I finally feel like a human being, just in time for my 61st birthday tomorrow! I hope the energy and “normal” feeling will continue, and I’ll have the motivation to feel productive in my life finally.
To anyone who has tried everything and can’t get their energy back, especially around menopause and post-menopause, I recommend trying bio-identical hormone creams. The don’t stress the liver like the oral synthetic hormones, and can be fine tuned for the exact dose your blood work and symptoms suggest you need.
Forgot to mention I was diagnosed BPII 14 years ago, and have been around the block with lots of meds. Finally settled on Effexor XL, and have reduced that to 75 mg. Also trying to improve lifestyle, eating more raw and less fatty and sugary foods.
The combination of the right meds and whatever you can do re lifestyle changes will come together eventually. You have the power!
I have been on most every medication out there. I was just put on cytomel and want to have hope that it will help. I also take Lamictal 300mg. I had been on 500mg but had to decrease it due to memory loss, extreme shakiness and forgetfulness. Decreasing it helped relieve those side effects. esmeew, I am exactly in the same boat as far as being put on hormonal cream. I’m hoping that between that and the cytomel that my life may become stable. The next step is ECT and I really don’t want to go there.