My mother had serious long-term depression. Can you guess why?
When IÂ was ten years old, my mother had electric shock treatment.
The memory stands out in my mind like a beacon. And when my Dad brought her home, he took me aside and explained that my mama was not going to remember where things are for awhile, and we’d have to help her. That was especially true with the 4-legged sewing basket.
She eventually regained her memory. But she was never again the same bright and quick witted mother I used to have when I was younger.
Why was shock treatment done? To counter her mysterious ongoing and disabling depression. And this was her last option.
It didn’t work.
She lived on anti-depressants, specifically a high dose of Elavil, the rest of her compromised life.
And more than 40 years later, about a year after her death, a change in my own life with Armour helped me realize why she had to be dependent on an anti-depressant for so many years: Synthroid. My mother was on Synthroid almost her entire adult life—a medication, along with Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, Unithroid, Eltroxin, Levaxin, Norton, Eutrosig and Oroxine, which leaves nearly all patients with lingering hypothyroid symptoms, including one of the most common one: chronic on-going depression.
And a large body of doctors all around the world just don’t get it.
What brought this memory of my mother up in my mind? Because two days ago, I chatted with a gal on Synthroid.  By all appearances, she seemed to be doing well, as some will make you think. She said she had enough energy, wasn’t losing her hair, and felt okay. But when I probed deeper, she admitted that her blood pressure was going too high (as happened to my mother on a T4-only med) and she had a problem with depression and was on Wellbutrin. Bingo.
See http://biopsychiatry.com/hypothyroidism.htm which is also here: http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/10/1142
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