BDD and it's connection to thyroid

[bddandthyroid]

I was wondering if it would be ok to share "our story" with my son's BDD diagnosis and it's connection to a thyroid problem.

http://www.myspace.com/bddandthyroid

Our Story

Do you remember where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001? I do! We were at the doctors office and my son had just been given a diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). I had never heard of BDD before, and I went back to my computer and started researching it and sat and cried over the things I read – "BDD tends to be chronic and can lead to social isolation, school dropout, major depression, unnecessary surgery and even suicide" etc. The info was horrific and while our country was dealing with a terrible tragedy our family was also facing the most difficult road we had ever walked.

But let me go back to the beginning…....

Around age 6 some white spots surfaced on my son's face along with a few gray patches of hair. He was diagnosed with Vitiligo and blood work was done to check his thyroid and we were told "his thyroid was fine". The only tests they ran were the TSH and T3 Uptake.

From that time until his teenage years, he was a normal little boy with some OCDish tendencies and perfectionist type thinking, but nothing unbearable. He was an overachiever and felt he had to be "the best" at whatever he did. We thought it was "just his personality".

At age 15, he had his Hep B shots and shortly after that he started having a lot of anxiety and OCD self image problems which eventually turned into depression. He went from a 4.0 overachieving student to a guy that would not get out of bed to go to school. He also began brushing his teeth in the dark and removed the mirror from his room. Realizing that this was something much more than we could just work thru, we got him to a small town doc because he could see him right away and the doc said "chemical imbalance" and prescribed antidepressants. He seemed a little better at first and then got much worse, so we got him to the best doc in our area for "chemical imbalances" and he adjusted his psych meds by increasing the dosage and adding more of the them. By a fluke of circumstances he had some blood work done and I was told that his "thyroid looked a little low" and Armour Thyroid was added to his meds. A few days later he was actually diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder and started counseling.

At the time we did not realize that his low thyroid problem could be causing his "mental problems". He was having terrible panic attacks and had to be homeschooled. There were many days when he did not leave the house and would question me excessively for reassurance which was impossible. I would say that his BDD symptoms were severe.

Nothing seemed to work or help until he was up to 4 grains (240 mgs) daily of Armour Thyroid, which was over a year later, and then he finally started doing better. After connecting with another BDDer who was taking Armour Thyroid and MUCH research we finally realized that his thyroid problem could be causing everything that he was dealing with.

The moment when I think we understood this best, was on January 15, 2005, a day I will never forget. He called me at 2 pm and said that he could not leave the house because of the way he looked. He said he looked different from the day before and could not leave the house because he looked UGLY. It had been over a year since that happened, so I started questioning him as to what was different on that day. Eventually, we realized he had not taken his Armour Thyroid that morning. Two hours later, after taking his Armour Thyroid dosage, he said he was ok and left the house as he had planned to do earlier. That's when it really clicked with me that his BDD symptoms could all be due to a thyroid problem.

We talked with both his doctor and counselor and they both agreed that a thyroid problem could definitely be a part of everything he was dealing with, but they both stated that they had never seen anyone with such "severe" symptoms that was able to only take thyroid meds, and cautioned that we would probably find that some of the psych meds would still be needed. If nothing else, because his anxiety attacks had been so bad, they suggested he would at least need to continue to take the clonazepam.

We spent the year of 2006 slowly reducing and removing each one of the psych meds that he was taking with his doctor's and counselor's approval and watchful eyes, but basically followed the recommendations of Dr. Peter Breggin as set forth in his book called "Your Drug May Be Your Problem, How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications".

The first one to reduce and remove was Geodon. Once it was totally out of his system and he was feeling "stable" again, we moved next to the 80 mgs of Prozac that he had been taking for 5 years. We were concerned about the Prozac, besides wondering if he ever really needed it, since what he really had was an untreated thyroid problem, we also learned that Prozac is a fluorinated drug which may affect your thyroid and can also raise cortisol levels (which would increase anxiety). I am thrilled to report that he has not had one anxiety attack since he got the Prozac out of his system almost 2 years ago. This is a major improvement for him! Once the Prozac was out of his system and he was feeling "stable", we moved on to the next psych drug, one by one, until they were all out of his system. We went very slowly and did the 10% water filtration method, which is basically a 10% reduction in the dosage about every 2 weeks or so. There were times that the withdrawals were so difficult for him that we had to wait longer than 2 weeks before moving on to the next reduction. At times it was absolute "hell" getting these psych drugs out of his system, but he was determined to find out what he really did or did not need.

He currently takes 5 grains (300 mgs) of Armour Thyroid daily. The dosage we have found best for him is to take 3 grains (180 mgs) upon waking, and 2 grains (120 mgs) an hour after lunch. That is it! That is all he needed!

Most of the white spots are gone from his face now, along with all of the gray hair spots - gone! If he grows out his beard, there are a few gray spots of hair in it, but that is all that remains of the Vitiligo.

So we feel sure that a low thyroid problem probably brought on his Vitiligo at age 6, but that his thyroid problem went untreated, and perhaps having the Hep B Series of shots caused his low thyroid problem to surface around age 15, causing his distorted body image (BDD), anxiety, OCD, and depression. He really didn't have any physical symptoms of a thyroid problem in the beginning, but he had these "mental" symptoms.

I wish wish wish that I could go back in time and get my son the thyroid treatment he needed at age 6 and save him the HELL that he went thru as a teenager because of his untreated low thyroid problems, but I cannot….all I can do is share our experiences with others and pray that they will not go thru the same hell that we have been thru.

For the past year my son has been living a "normal" life. He works 5 or 6 days a week in a physical job. It is not socially stressful and works well for him. He is busy with friends most nights of the week, and basically does whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants. He goes swimming with friends and only wears his trunks (no shirt) which is a major indication of how far he has come. He has come a long way with correct thyroid treatment - from not leaving his room and not even wanting to live when his BDD symptoms were at their worst to now living a "normal" and full life.

When he was diagnosed with BDD he obsessed about his looks almost 100% of the day. He says he now thinks about his looks "maybe 5%" of the day. Anyone familiar with BDD knows that is a miracle! He has come a VERY LONG WAY!

I hope that sharing our story will help others!

[ladybugpicnic]

I was wondering if it would be ok to share "our story" with my son's BDD diagnosis and it's connection to a thyroid problem.
....I hope that sharing our story will help others!

Bddandthyroid,
It's definitely okay and I *very* much appreciate your sharing the story of what your son has been through. It certainly had an impact on your whole family. I'm going to make this thread a sticky so it remains at the top of the forum. Thank you for sharing your story as the first post in our new MH forum!

[ladybugpicnic]

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/co ... c.php?t=48

[bddandthyroid]

hey ladybugpicnic!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

and I really do hope that what we have been thru will help other people!

He dealt with anxiety attacks, terrible mood swings, OCD, depression, suicidal thoughts, and even had visual disturbances (he saw different things at different times in the mirror) and all he needed to live a totally normal life was the correct dosage of Armour Thyroid. He no longer deals with any of that! And since that was all he needed to treat his severe symptoms then I truly believe that everyone presenting with a mental problem should at least thoroughly investigate (with the correct thyroid tests) whether or not they have a thyroid problem, and then if they find one, should do all that they can in order to receive proper treatment. From our own experiences, I think that direct T3 (either from Armour or Cytomel) is very important in treating mental problems!!!

again thank you for the warm reception!

[ladybugpicnic]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!....
I truly believe that everyone presenting with a mental problem should at least thoroughly investigate (with the correct thyroid tests) whether or not they have a thyroid problem, and then if they find one, should do all that they can in order to receive proper treatment. From our own experiences, I think that direct T3 (either from Armour or Cytomel) is very important in treating mental problems!!!

I whole-heartedly agree!
You're most welcome.

[WyWy]

Wow. This sounds like me to the T. I am going to look into this and give my Doctor a copy of your post. This is an incredible find. I've been doing very well, but I think if we increase the Armour thyroid this will be MUCH help. Thank you for this, I really needed this.

[bddandthyroid]

I'm so glad that this info can help you in some way WyWy!
please let us know how you are doing.

[sarah1364]

This is very interesting.. I never knew there was a connection b/t bdd and thyroid. I have suffered for MANY years due to self-hatred, bad body image, etc. I was home schooled bc I felt too ugly, very insecure with my looks. when I turned 18, I began getting plastic surgery and have had something done almost every yr. because of my problems my mom put me on anti-depressants but I have not been on any since I was 16. I still cannot leave the house much, very insecure, wake up early to work out so no one sees me in the gym. I do not have mirrors around bc I cannot look at myself yet. everyone tells me to go back on anti-dept but I now know my ft3 is low and I am not optimized. I hope one day it gets better but I am losing hope. totally hate myself.

[bcopi]

What are you on for meds? You seem to have major hormonal deficiencies from your signature line.

Bree

[sarah1364]

oh god, well in september i started on bhrt (test, progesterone, dhea, estrogen) and all hell broke loose. I have never felt so horribly in my life; drove 800 miles in the middle of the nite, suicidal, throwing vases, breaking mirrors, paranoid, psychotic, gained TONS of wt. these were my dosage instructions:

Test: .6 strength, 1 mL in the AM. Cream. 6 days out of 7 per week.
Estrogen: Biest, cream. the tube says ".1(1:1) MG/ML" I was to use 1mL in the AM 6 days out of 7.
Dhea: bhrt, 5 mg every day in the AM pill
Progesterone: pill form, 100 mg each. Directions: 1 hr before bed take 1 pill on days 5-11 of cycle; 1 hr before bed take 2 pills days 12-26 of cycle.

I am on nothing now, starting over.

[bcopi]

I don't see thyroid or cortisol in there, but your siggy says panhypo and secondary AI. I would highly recommend you start there before the sex hormones. Poor thing. And you're so young.

Bree

[sarah1364]

i just give up entirely and plan on waiting to slowly die. not trying to be melodramatic but no one has helped me medically, family have deserted me, siblings will not talk to me because they think all i want is attention and need to have a lobotomy. i am thinking of self-medicating but am probably too dumb to figure it out however no dr has helped me anyways. i cant see through this.

[louiesgirl2]

sarah

Where are u located? Perhaps the moderators can help you with a good doctor in your area.

[bcopi]

Don't give up. You need help. Where do you live?

Bree

[sarah1364]

im in ohio. i have seen mds, dos, natural drs in ohio, mi, and dc. i just spent 2000 on a bhrt/thyroid dr and it was the same thing as going to cleveland clinic, no results. he just gave me vitamins and an adaptogen and told me my morning cortisol was low bc i do not sleep well and my night cortisol is .1 away from being high but that is of no concern hah.. when i told him i went insane from the hormones he said he's never heard of those reactions before. i dont know who else to see! i should have self-medicated and saved myself the money. i am in debt 19,000. have been going to drs since i was 17-18, but suffered my entire life from allergies, colds, strep throat, menstrual issues, etc.