Post by ninaboo on Jan 30, 2009 1:50:58 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm new to all this and just joined the board.
I am currently on 1.25 grains of armour and 25mg Cortef dosed (10/7.5/5/1.5). Over the past 3 years my health has been seriously declining until a year ago I just collapsed. Things initially pointed to thyroid and I did a couple of trials with thyroid and would initially feel a little better and then would get severe headaches and severe edema and ultimately would crash and have to go off the thyroid. Then in April of last year I had my adrenals tested - salivary. Came up with very low cortisol and high DHEAS. I finally found a doctor who would prescribe Cortef and started on that in June. Slowly I started adding in Armour and was able to tolerate it better. In October I had elevated liver enzymes and had and ultrasound of liver and gallbladder done and full gamut of blood work that ruled out hepatitis, liver failure, autoimmune problems, etc. and the liver enzymes had gone back to normal. The doctor came to the conclusion that because I had just gotten over a virus that that had caused the problem.
My most recent bloodwork (again during a three week long cold/ virus) the liver enzymes were elevated again. I also had renin/aldosterone tested because I had read on STTM that its a good idea if adrenals seem to be struggling.
I have had very low ferritin ranging from 14-20 that I have been trying to increase, but every time I load up on iron the severe edema (like the edema I had when I was on thyroid without Cortef in January of last year) comes back. I keep wondering if raising ferritin makes thyroid more available and my adrenals can't handle it.
Here are some of my most recent labs:
taken on 1/16/09.
TSH: .18 (0.40-4.50)
RT3: 30 (11-32)
Free t3: 344 (230-420)
T4: 1.0 (.8-1.8)
Sodium: 140 (135-146)
Potassium: 3.6 (3.5-5.3)
Ferritin: 18
Aldosterone: 8 (<=28)
renin .8 (.65-5/non hypertensive)
On this test I was fasting for 12 hours, but not salt fasting for 24. I did not add extra salt to my food or take salt water, but I did have a slice of bacon that day and there was probably salt in the foods I ate. Do I need to retest aldosterone and renin then? Would the results be a lot higher if I had salt fasted? I am curious because the ranges are non salt fasting ranges. Why is it recommended to salt fast?
What I do see even though I had some salt is that both numbers are low, not just aldosterone. Does this point to secondary AI? I had head injury in 2002 so hypo pituitary is feasible. Prior to Armour my TSH ranged from 2.2-4.79(once I started adrenal support).
I also appear to have a reverse t3 issue. Ratio: 11.47 Could this be happening because my adrenals are struggling? And why my t4 keeps staying low? Because I am converting it to RT3?
Every doctor I have seen is mystified by the edema I get when I am on thyroid without Cortef or now while I am trying to get my ferritin levels up. It is severe and they have no idea why. The doctor I see now tells me that edema is usually related to adrenals in some way and this is why she finally agreed to run renin/aldosterone. I don't know yet whether she will agree to a trial of Florinef, because she is out of town. Her colleague told me everything was fine and within range.
Of course aside from the edema I still don't feel well - but better than I did on nothing! I still have a lot of low cortisol symptoms, but when I raise it I start to put on even more weight in my stomach. I have gained a lot of weight through this ordeal and am not eating any more than before. And, I still have a lot of hypo symptoms.
Also, if anyone knows of any great doctors in the San Francisco area, I would appreciate hearing about them.
Thank you for any ideas and help and for reading this!
Wendy
I'm new to all this and just joined the board.
I am currently on 1.25 grains of armour and 25mg Cortef dosed (10/7.5/5/1.5). Over the past 3 years my health has been seriously declining until a year ago I just collapsed. Things initially pointed to thyroid and I did a couple of trials with thyroid and would initially feel a little better and then would get severe headaches and severe edema and ultimately would crash and have to go off the thyroid. Then in April of last year I had my adrenals tested - salivary. Came up with very low cortisol and high DHEAS. I finally found a doctor who would prescribe Cortef and started on that in June. Slowly I started adding in Armour and was able to tolerate it better. In October I had elevated liver enzymes and had and ultrasound of liver and gallbladder done and full gamut of blood work that ruled out hepatitis, liver failure, autoimmune problems, etc. and the liver enzymes had gone back to normal. The doctor came to the conclusion that because I had just gotten over a virus that that had caused the problem.
My most recent bloodwork (again during a three week long cold/ virus) the liver enzymes were elevated again. I also had renin/aldosterone tested because I had read on STTM that its a good idea if adrenals seem to be struggling.
I have had very low ferritin ranging from 14-20 that I have been trying to increase, but every time I load up on iron the severe edema (like the edema I had when I was on thyroid without Cortef in January of last year) comes back. I keep wondering if raising ferritin makes thyroid more available and my adrenals can't handle it.
Here are some of my most recent labs:
taken on 1/16/09.
TSH: .18 (0.40-4.50)
RT3: 30 (11-32)
Free t3: 344 (230-420)
T4: 1.0 (.8-1.8)
Sodium: 140 (135-146)
Potassium: 3.6 (3.5-5.3)
Ferritin: 18
Aldosterone: 8 (<=28)
renin .8 (.65-5/non hypertensive)
On this test I was fasting for 12 hours, but not salt fasting for 24. I did not add extra salt to my food or take salt water, but I did have a slice of bacon that day and there was probably salt in the foods I ate. Do I need to retest aldosterone and renin then? Would the results be a lot higher if I had salt fasted? I am curious because the ranges are non salt fasting ranges. Why is it recommended to salt fast?
What I do see even though I had some salt is that both numbers are low, not just aldosterone. Does this point to secondary AI? I had head injury in 2002 so hypo pituitary is feasible. Prior to Armour my TSH ranged from 2.2-4.79(once I started adrenal support).
I also appear to have a reverse t3 issue. Ratio: 11.47 Could this be happening because my adrenals are struggling? And why my t4 keeps staying low? Because I am converting it to RT3?
Every doctor I have seen is mystified by the edema I get when I am on thyroid without Cortef or now while I am trying to get my ferritin levels up. It is severe and they have no idea why. The doctor I see now tells me that edema is usually related to adrenals in some way and this is why she finally agreed to run renin/aldosterone. I don't know yet whether she will agree to a trial of Florinef, because she is out of town. Her colleague told me everything was fine and within range.
Of course aside from the edema I still don't feel well - but better than I did on nothing! I still have a lot of low cortisol symptoms, but when I raise it I start to put on even more weight in my stomach. I have gained a lot of weight through this ordeal and am not eating any more than before. And, I still have a lot of hypo symptoms.
Also, if anyone knows of any great doctors in the San Francisco area, I would appreciate hearing about them.
Thank you for any ideas and help and for reading this!
Wendy