Thyroid issues and ADD/ADHD?

[Hopeful_in_Ontario]

Anyone had to overcome thyroid issues before getting tested for ADD/ADHD?

Recent info I’ve found says that thyroid conditions are greatly under diagnosed and under treated

[see Stop the Thyroid Madness website and Thyroid on About (dot) com].

I think this places a double burden on someone who may have both ADHD and thyroid issues (a triple or quadruple burden if you are also a woman who possibly or definitely has ADHD).

For example, this means someone could be suffering with hypothyroidism so they have very low energy, anemia, weight gain and poor sleep that could mask some of their ADHD symptoms or affect their concentration. These symptoms can also be mistaken for depression as someone without any energy is not able to do much. If treated only for depression, the real physical causes may not be treated.

Someone with HYPERthyroidism may have some symptoms that could be similar to ADHD. People with hyperthyroidism may also self-medicate and become addicted to drugs and alcohol in an attempt to slow themselves down.

If these conditions are properly diagnosed and treated, then wouldn’t people who have both thyroid conditions combined with ADHD will be more accurately diagnosed and helped?

I really feel that this issue needs to be addressed, that a “whole person” approach is needed.

I feel stressed out and disappointed that I might have to educate my doctor not only about ADHD in women, but about other thyroid tests and more effective treatment of these things.

I seriously don’t have the energy to do the things I NEED to do, never mind the things I want to do. I don’t think I should have to fight so hard for correct diagnoses and treatment, but my life has been halted for several years, so what’s a few more months, I guess.

It sounds like my doctor is unwilling to entertain any thoughts of a possible ADHD diagnosis until after the thyroid issues are figured out.

No doubt it would have been better to learn about this stuff and have done something sooner.

I will try to stay hopeful and try the ADHD strategies recommended.

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[Carrie]

Hmmmmm….. Smells like spam… *sings Monty Pythons ‘Spam’*

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[allan wallace]

😆 You smell like spam! *unloads a fire extinguisher on Carrie*

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[Amy]

In case this isn’t spam, then I would go the route of diagnosing and fixing the thyroid issues first before going the ADHD route as well. IMO it’s probably best to rule out everything before considering ADHD since so many symptoms can mimic ADHD.

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[Anonymous]

Interesting I’ve just been researching this. Half my family have (what I suspect is) ADHD and the other half have thyroid disorders. One aunt (paternal) actually has hashimotos an other (maternal) a goiter.

One thing I’ve come upon several times is the linnk between ADHD, thyroid disorders (hyper and hypo), insulin/glucose disorders, and food (mostly gluten) intolerence/celiac disease.

So have your dr. do the whole batch of tests (keep in mind blood tests for food intolerance antibodies often come back negative with an autoimune disorder like hashimotos so an elimination diet may be more helpful) to rule out any other concerns.

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[kc5jck]

My daughter has hashimotos, my son and I have ADHD. It makes sense to treat thyroid issues and get that under control before trying to treat ADHD. In the determination of ADHD, I would look back to your childhood, when presumably you did not have thyroid issues, and see if ADHD is still a fit for your behavior.

At times I think that my ADHD diagnosis might be wrong. I have been fairly successful, there was not a big history or evaluation made on me, basically a TOVA test which I think was given way too early in the morning, and an offspring who obviously has it. But then I look at how I was as a child, a teen, etc., up to today and I see how perfectly ADHD explains everything. Must be true. (My son’s first grade teacher once said, “I didn’t understand why James was the way he was until I met his dad.” 😆 )

I don’t believe there is a correlation between ADHD and thyroid issues, but some of the symptoms are common to both.

What was the question? Am I rambling? Squirrel!!!

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[Carrie]

I have hypothyroidism. Just started on meds a week ago and FEEL GREAT AGAIN! I knew I wasnt depressed. Everyone said I was. I was just flipping tired and didnt have any motivation.

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[allan wallace]

Ah, you’re a copycat! I have that too, or what they think is Graves Disease… 😆 It was diagnosed about 4 years ago, and I was supposed to have had seen a specialist a few times for either thyroid removal or something else, can’t remember…I missed apointments, and I was sporadic with the meds, so I still have it. Thanks for reminding me, I have to ring a specialist to see when my appointment is!!!!

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[Anonymous]

Did just read an article about thyroid’s (autoimune) connection with gluten. Aparently gluten’s structure closely resembles that of the thyroid. So if you’re gluten intolerant the gluten antibodies mistake the thyroid for gluten and attack it.

Its simple enough to give up gluten for a few months and see how you feel (then eat a whole bunch after you haven’t and see what that does).

And its less invasive/permanent than having your thyroid removed/destroyed.

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[Duffie]

I believe there may be a connection between adhd and thyroid disorders. I have add and hypothyroidism and so does my son.sad to say that a confirmed diagnosis  of these didn`t happen  until years of struggling had passed.  Duffie

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[Patte Rosebank]

Rick Green has personal experience of this.  He has both a thyroid condition, and ADHD, and he takes meds for both conditions. 

He’s mentioned this a few times, elsewhere on this site.

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[Robbo]

I think this is an important issue for us. Maybe?. I’m hypOthyroid, I take 50 mcg in the mornin. I’ve got some lab work orders to check my thyroid that’s been sitting next to my door for months. Literally 6 months, and now I’m afraid the lab won’t do it because it was ordered last year. I can’t remember what they said about thyroid and how that effects our ADHD. I hope Dr. Jain is still with us.

Maybe Rick will stop by n let us know what’s up. I hope so.

What’s up?, what’s down? what’s all around? Your pants are falling down!!! 

PS, your singing cat still cracks me up Larynxa, and not just cuz I’m in a goofie mood tonight. It’s been tickling my funnybone for months. Dang, that looks… nebber mind.

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[Patte Rosebank]

@Robbo, that singing cat is a graphic from a 1927 newspaper ad, promoting a typing competition at a big theatre, with the grand prize of a bag of gold coins.  (Evidently, this is one of the ways that people amused themselves in the days before TV.)

I found the ad when I was at the reference library, going through microfilmed copies of old newspapers, to research something in my family’s history.  I found the information I was looking for…and I found my little caterwauling friend.

Years later, when I decided to do something I’d always sworn I’d never, ever do—that singing cat became my first tattoo.

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[Robbo]

Cool cat indeed. I bet that tattoo looks cool on you. It’s fun to find cool graphics, right click, left click on “save as”, then they get lost in our endless directories full of endless directories. (A directory  is just a a folder, in the 90’s last century nerds use to fold them “directories” to keep the rest of us feeling lost and hopelessly confused trying to figure out windows 3.1)

Do you like to watch Jeopardy?. Sometimes your posts remind me a lil bit of Alex Trebek (sp?) but in a good way, not in a teacher to the student kinda way. Some folks don’t like him but I think he’s cool.

Totally! That’s my favorite word lately.

 

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[Patte Rosebank]

I don’t often watch “Jeopardy”, but when I do, I always amaze myself (and anyone else who happens to be there, with me) by blazing through most of the questions correctly.

When I was in Las Vegas, I won $100 in a Quickie Deal, on “Let’s Make a Deal”, because I was the only one in the audience who knew the proper name for the device that a doctor uses to check your blood pressure.  (It’s a “sphygmomanometer”.)  Wayne Brady was very impressed.

As the human brain has a *finite* capacity for information, I fully expect that some morning, I’ll wake up and discover I’ve forgotten how to tie my shoelaces…

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