[TiaBear]

I am taking Lamictal and Lexapro in combo for my Bipolar disorder and my doc perscribed Zyprexa to battle a manic episode and so far it has worked and i don't feel like i've noticed an increase in appetite. He has given me the go ahead to stop the Zyprexa in a week. I am also taking a thyroid hormone...I guess I can't tell what's making me gain weight--I'm almost desperate enough to stop taking everything and start exercising compulsively, JUST so i KNOW what the problem is...of course, i wouldn't really do that cause i'd go crazy and eat myself out of house and home....any other people with this experience? Advice on how to stay on top of and even conquer the weight gain demon that Bipolar and Hypothyroid disorders bring? I feel like I have everything going against me and I'm hoping someone out there has succeeded from where I'm at.
Also, any truly functional program recommendations would be great--currently I do cardio 4x a week at the gym and try to work in some strength stuff....I'M STILL GAINING WEIGHT and NOT losing INCHES !!!!!!!!!!

I feel like i'm gonna go CRAZY!!! grrrr....
...sorry, that's the bipolar talking!

[cathyxxx]

Hey TiaBear, I just noticed your post - sorry I'm way too busy I do believe, but I just wanted to mention that I have had several friends that were diagnosed as bipolar and once the correct thyroid tests were done, they found that they actually had a thyroid problem (which you already know about yourself). Once their thyroid was properly treated - they no longer had bipolar symptoms. There seems to be a huge connection between thryoid problems and mental problems.

You might want to check out the info at stopthethyroidmadness.com on their mental health page at:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com...mental-health/

at the bottom of that page is a link to list of articles and several concerning thyroid and bipolar. one in particular you might find interesting on bipolar is:

http://www.psycheducation.org/thyroid/introduction.htm

Also, we have found that T3 is very important in treating the mental symptoms that go along with a thyroid problem. You can get direct T3 by adding Cytomel to your synthetic thyroid med or by taking Armour Thyroid which contains BOTH T4 and T3.

There is also a mental forum at realthyroidhelp.com and a thread on "thyroid and bipolar disorder" at:

http://forums.realthyroidhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=22

Please check it out and let me know if I can help with any of the info.

take care,
Cathy

[TiaBear]

amazing, I read thru those and I am very curious to see how my quest pans out--thanks for your help

[cathyxxx]

hey TiaBear,

I had that last link posted wrong but I just fixed it in case you want to read the thread on bipolar on the forums at realthyroidhelp.com

there are certain thyroid tests that should be run. Usually they are not run by docs unless you request them.

Whenever you are having your thyroid check please request that they run these tests and get copies of your results:

FREE T3
FREE T4
TSH
THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES
and THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES