dunno. so i’m on HRT for perimenopause symptoms and also taking levo for my thyroid. i’ve been noticing these insane mood swings - like i’ll be fine one minute and then just completely lose it the next. my doc says it’s normal, but i’m not so sure.
has anyone else experienced this? i’m 8 weeks into HRT and my night sweats have basically disappeared, which is huge, but these mood swings are killing me. i’ve tried tracking them in careclinic, and it’s weird because they don’t seem to correlate with my cortisol levels or anything else i’m tracking. i just log every flare + what set it off, so maybe i’m missing something.
anyway, i was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and found anything that helps. i’ve been taking 50mcg of levo, split into two doses, and my TSH is finally in range, but my free T4 is still a bit low. i’m also on estradiol and progesterone for HRT. i mentioned this before, but i’ve been experimenting with BPC-157 for tendon repair, and i’ve noticed that my mood swings seem to be worse on days when i take it.
not sure if that’s related, but thought it was worth mentioning. fwiw, i’ve been doing some research and it seems like there might be a link between thyroid hormones and mood regulation. like, some studies have shown that hypothyroidism can increase the risk of depression and anxiety, and i’m wondering if that’s what’s going on with me. has anyone else looked into this?
i’d love to hear about your experiences. imo, it’s really important to talk about the emotional side of all this, not just the physical symptoms. so, if you’ve dealt with mood swings on HRT or levo, please share your story. what worked for you?
the part about your “mood swings seem to be worse on days when i take it” is worth noting, but I’d push on the estradiol delivery first. “estradiol and progesterone” isn’t a single profile. if you’re on a transdermal gel, the daily peak-and-trough could be a bigger
mood swings when your free t4 is still low, even if the tsh is “in range,” that’s been my experience too. it’s frustrating when you’re told it’s “normal” but you feel like you
Attributing mood swings to bpc when you’re on HRT and levo with TSH and free T4 still settling is a tough attribution to make. Your ‘every flare + what set it off’ log is useful for tracking, but it doesn’t isolate the bpc from the other hormonal shifts. Too many variables moving at once for a clean read.
that feeling of being fine one minute and then completely losing it the next sounds brutal, especially when a doc just waves it off. are you seeing any patterns with specific foods or times of day when that happens?
that your free T4 is still low while TSH is in range can be significant for mood regulation, even though the TSH looks “normal” on paper. the BPC-157 observation is also a really interesting variable here, bc altered neuro-endocrine signaling from the peptide could be interacting with suboptimal thyroid function.
your point about the thyroid-mood link is sound, and a low free T4 when your TSH is ‘in range’ isn’t always the full picture when it comes to mood regulation. the broader framing you’ve got about thyroid hormones impacting emotional state is definitely right. it’s not uncommon for sub-optimal thyroid function to manifest as
hearing about the mood swings is rough, it’s not just the physical stuff that gets you, is it. the bpc mention caught my eye, only because i’ve been tracking my own headaches and how sleep shifts the floor, not just the ceiling.
like, my bad sleep weeks still feel bad, but are they as bad as before you started any of this, or just equally bad in a different way, compared to your old baseline? that’s usually the real question, not just if the good weeks are better.
could be worth looking at how bad those mood swings are on poor sleep days compared to your pre-protocol bad sleep days, rather than just what set them off.
your free t4 being low, even if tsh is in range, often isn’t ‘normal’ for mood stability. that’s a common disconnect where docs look at one number but symptoms persist. have you asked if adjusting levo or maybe trying some t3 could specifically help lift that free t4 number and see if moods follow?
mood swings when your free t4 is low, even with TSH in range, rings a bell. i always felt off and my mood would swing hard when my free t4 was dragging, even if everything else looked okay on paper
on the BPC angle, “mood swings seem to be worse on days when i take it” is an interesting read, but I’d put an asterisk on that one. fwiw, across multiple local subq cycles for my shoulder and wrist, I’ve logged zero systemic effects - no mood shifts or gut issues I’d have missed tracking daily. My read is that route/dose isn’t reaching the proposed systemic mechanism, so I’d look hard at the HRT or levo first.