Q. I have a friend (I use this term loosely since we have never physically met) who is near textbook BPD. We have been corresponding in IRC, then in e-mail, and more recently in snail mail for three years. He has been diagnosed BPD and is currently on medication. He considers me his sort of “guardian angel” at present. I’ve talked him out of suicide and other abuses of his person several times and talked him into getting treatment. I would certainly like to help him find the answers. Unfortunately, he is also currently in prison, i.e.: I cannot simply refer him to your website.
Would sending him the text from your website be of benefit (your books to follow when he has a more permanent address as he is currently awaiting transfer to correctional facility for specialized treatment)? or could my interest be interpreted as interference? In other words, can I help him?
A. Knowledge is power. Only by knowing what’s going on, and how to fix it can a person recover and use whatever time and talents he/she has to improve and be a success.
You can only do your best. Judge yourself on this, not on the outcome. That’s between your friend and his maker.
Q. Related to this: I wondering about myself in relation to BPD. I have hypothyroidism and have been on medication for it most of my near fifty years of life. I certainly know that I react with all the symptoms of BPD when I am deprived of medication or when I am getting the wrong medication. (I seem to respond only to bovine extract rather than synthroid). Could you please allow additional information concerning hypothyroid and BPD?
A. The only correlation between the BPD and hypothyroidism (low thyroid) is that many borderlines have low thyroid with a normal or low TSH.
Regarding the bovine vs synthetic thyroid, when I hear this remark I first think of the following: 1) someone with the generalized anxiety disorder or medication phobia 2) someone who may be intolerant to the dyes in Synthroid. 3) someone who doesn’t convert T4 to T3 very well in the body
It would be of benefit to you for a 12 week “blinded” medical trial. Have someone you know and trust administer a comparable therapeutic dose of Synthroid with a blood level 6 weeks later and the chopped up cattle thyroid gland (bovine extract) for 6 weeks more with a follow up blood test. A “blinded” test like this should prove interesting. If you can tell a significant difference you may have additional things wrong with your thyroid system and may benefit from treatment with Cytomel – which has both T3 and T4 inside the pill. The animal extracts are no longer considered to be good care.
All stressors make all problems worse. If you have the BPD, it will get worse when your thyroid is inadequately treated. Lack of thyroid can make people irritable, depressed and tired, but if those symptoms go away with good thyroid treatment.
Q. The thing is that I am pretty sure I don’t have thet BPD as I have no abandonment issues and no self-destructive tendencies not directly related to problems with my medication. For the most part, I like who I am, value myself, and enjoy my own company. There were/are persons in my family who I suspect were/are BPD. I realized long ago that their rages were their problem and had nothing to do with me. Also, they are now either deceased or live so far away from me that I no longer need to worry about “walking on eggshells” with them.
A. Whether you have the BPD or not is something you need to address. Review the criteria carefully (5 of 9), and whether inappropriate moodiness, emptiness, chronic anger, and stress intolerance are present.
When under stress we revert to habit. You may have been trained how to think and behave by people suffering from the BPD, and they will be your automatic responses, particularly when experiencing hypothyroidism.