A: Often depression can be resolved when an underlying thyroid issue is addressed. I know your labs appear to be good, but according to Dr. Wentz’s research the optimal reference range in functional medicine is not the same as the standard reference range often utilized in conventional medicine. I see in your history that you had postpartum anxiety/depression about 8 years ago. When you started taking thyroid medication 4 years ago, this all went away, but then depression came back the last couple of months. So, resolving it at the thyroid level did work for you 4 years ago. What could have caused it to come back a couple of months ago? Could it be that your thyroid levels are no longer optimal (not just “in range”) and perhaps you may potentially need to discuss with your practitioner about medication adjustment? You may want to check out Dr. Wentz’s article on thyroid labs and their interpretation.
I also see that you’re taking an antidepressant. Perhaps you could discuss it with your practitioner to see if there is something going on with that medication. Sometimes we could take something for months or even years, but then due to changes and shifts in our own body or our environment we need to make some changes. So, there are also reasons for depression beyond thyroid health. So, trying to connect the dots to see if something other than your thyroid levels may have triggered depression this time around is also important. You may also want to check out Dr. Wentz’s article on depression.
Please keep in mind that healing is a process, so it might take more than a few weeks to see results, but determining the root cause of a symptom is most of the work. Hopefully, this information will help you troubleshoot the recurrence of this symptom.