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Post by birrdyy on Nov 21, 2008 20:23:56 GMT -5
Lee, can you comment especially on the potassium.
I'm on 3/4 pill of florinef. Doing at least 1 teaspoon of salt a day sometimes more. I don't know how much more I can take without going insane with all this salt. Obvioulsy I need more sodium. I take 1500 a day of potassium. I know it should be 5 but I also know it shouldn't go above 5. It seems the florinef isn't bringing down my potassium. I wonder if I should lower my dosage??? Of course, idiot doctor has no idea.
Remind me.....do we need more or less salt when upping Florinef.
On 3/4 pill Sodium 138 (135-145) Potassium 4.8 (3.5-5)
My last sod/pot was while on 1/2 pill. sodium 137 Potassium 4.4
I'm ready to go up on the florinef to 1 pill but I know doctor won't prescribe above that. He only did it because I begged and was in dire need (in my mind and in yours but probably not in his).
Both tests were done around 8am before Florinef or thyroid but after HC.
I'm kind of worried about the potassium going to high.
Thanks much.
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Post by Lethal Lee on Nov 21, 2008 22:10:10 GMT -5
Hi Birrdyy,
I think your Potassium is great. I would leave the supping for that where it is. When you go up another 1/4 tab Florinef it will likely drop a bit. It certainly shouldnt go any higher. Are you taking Potassium in divided dose or single dose?
As far as Sodium goes that will likely go higher as you increase the Florinef too. How much Sea Salt are you taking? Is it 1 teaspoon daily in divided dose? I would stick with that & see how the Florinef increase goes.
Are you taking Florinef in divided dose or single dose? How are your low Aldo symptoms? Gone or still some lingering symptoms? Is BP rising on standing?
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Post by birrdyy on Nov 21, 2008 22:51:39 GMT -5
Sorry should've given more details. I was doing sodium 1/4 tea 4 times a day but sometime I forget. I guess it would be okay to do 1/2 tea twice a day right? I was getting leg cramping and would do another 1/4 and that would help a bit.
Yes, potassium in divided doses (twice a day). I'm doing the 3/4 Florinef once a day at 7am with HC and T3. Wonder if I shouldn't try dosing twice with the whole pill. I understand the florinef is supposed to last 24 hours? So, wouldn't that make multi dosing be a bad thing. I'm willing to try it because I have this very weird thing that happens in the late afternoon. Don't know if you saw it on Val's adrenal list. There are several of us who have this and I can't put my finger on it. It's a weird woozy, fog like, other worldly kind of a feeling. Not dizzy or off balance. Very hard to describe. It happens to most of us between 3-7pm. We are calling it the afternoon crash and I haven't been able to figure out what it is.
Yesterday BP dropped on standing. 137/87 sitting 111/82 standing. I don't do BP everyday but need to get used to it. Just the idea of taking BP freaks me out. It's a totally unrational fear but I'm so afraid of high BP that I try and ignore it. Stupid I know. When I see a BP of 142/96 I freak so I keep my distance from the BP machine. My BP as you can see is all over the place which makes things confusing.
The only obvious low aldosterone symptoms I have is heat intolerance. I get hot everywhere. Haven't really been anywhere to test it but will see next time if it happens when it usually does. I know my doctor will not give more than 1 pill a day so don't know what I would do if I needed more. Oh, I am able to NOT pee out all the salt I'm using. Other times just raising salt to 1/2 for the day put me in the bathroom constantly. So, in that respect the florinef is working.
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Post by Lethal Lee on Nov 21, 2008 23:17:03 GMT -5
Sorry should've given more details. I was doing sodium 1/4 tea 4 times a day but sometime I forget. I guess it would be okay to do 1/2 tea twice a day right? I was getting leg cramping and would do another 1/4 and that would help a bit. Yes, potassium in divided doses (twice a day). I'm doing the 3/4 Florinef once a day at 7am with HC and T3. Wonder if I shouldn't try dosing twice with the whole pill. I understand the florinef is supposed to last 24 hours? So, wouldn't that make multi dosing be a bad thing. I'm willing to try it because I have this very weird thing that happens in the late afternoon. Don't know if you saw it on Val's adrenal list. There are several of us who have this and I can't put my finger on it. It's a weird woozy, fog like, other worldly kind of a feeling. Not dizzy or off balance. Very hard to describe. It happens to most of us between 3-7pm. We are calling it the afternoon crash and I haven't been able to figure out what it is. Yesterday BP dropped on standing. 137/87 sitting 111/82 standing. I don't do BP everyday but need to get used to it. Just the idea of taking BP freaks me out. It's a totally unrational fear but I'm so afraid of high BP that I try and ignore it. Stupid I know. When I see a BP of 142/96 I freak so I keep my distance from the BP machine. My BP as you can see is all over the place which makes things confusing. The only obvious low aldosterone symptoms I have is heat intolerance. I get hot everywhere. Haven't really been anywhere to test it but will see next time if it happens when it usually does. I know my doctor will not give more than 1 pill a day so don't know what I would do if I needed more. Oh, I am able to NOT pee out all the salt I'm using. Other times just raising salt to 1/2 for the day put me in the bathroom constantly. So, in that respect the florinef is working. I know they say Florinef can be taken once daily. They say the same for Prednisolone & Medrol etc. Truth is its very individual. When I first started Prednisolone I had to dose THREE times a day. I now do OK on twice daily dosing but NO WAY I could do once daily dosing. Similarly for Florinef. I got up to 1 tab all in am & was OK symptom wise during the day. But in evening & night time symptoms returned. So I added evening dose. I am now on 1 tab am & 1/2 tab pm. If you can only get 1 tab total (which may or may not be enough for you) I would try splitting the dose 1/2 & 1/2 and see if it helps those afternoon symptoms. With respect to Sea Salt dosing twice daily dosing is usually fine most of the time. Unless its hot or you are doing something physical in which case a bit more Salt & more doses should help. Try the 1/2 teaspoon twice a day see how that works. It does sound like the Florinef is helping you hold on to the Sodium more now which is good. Your BP obviously is still dropping so you havent found the right Florinef Sodium/Potassium balance yet. I hated doing BP initially too. I found if I took it routinely like temps it was easier & easier as time went on. Once my BP rose consisitently I dropped back to 1-2 times a week rather than daily. My bP is always lower at home to than at Docs office. When you get muscle cramps try a little Salt & Potassium too. You may be having a few ups & downs during the day. Is it OTC or RX Potassium? If OTC dosing Potassium more frequently 3-4 times a day may help (1500 in 3-4 doses rather than 2 doses). If RX Potassium is usually slow release & twice daily dosing is fine.
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Post by birrdyy on Nov 22, 2008 0:04:51 GMT -5
Thanks Lee. Will try the Florinef twice a day. Do you think it should be 12 hours apart? Wouldn't taking it at 7am and then at say at 3pm which is when I have this weird afternoon thing, to close together?
Yes, it's RX potassium. I split the pill in half and do 1/2 at 11am and 1/2 at 7pm.
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Post by Lethal Lee on Nov 22, 2008 1:08:09 GMT -5
Thanks Lee. Will try the Florinef twice a day. Do you think it should be 12 hours apart? Wouldn't taking it at 7am and then at say at 3pm which is when I have this weird afternoon thing, to close together? Yes, it's RX potassium. I split the pill in half and do 1/2 at 11am and 1/2 at 7pm. Re Florinef I take mine 12-15hours apart but you do what suits you. Try the 3 pm time & see if that helps. Experiment a bit. Re RX Potassium why are you taking it these times? I take mine in am & pm same time as Florinef. Mine says to take with food as well. I wonder if 3pm symptoms have to do with Potassium timing? might want to try altering time to same time as Florinef see if that works better.
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Post by birrdyy on Nov 22, 2008 1:12:28 GMT -5
Good thought on the potassium but I've had this afternoon wooziness etc before the potassium and before T3 or HC. I will try Florinef at 3pm to see what happens.
On the timing of potassium. Because I take my first dose of HC at 7am with just a bit of food. I can't get up at that time and have a terrible time with potassium if I don't eat it with a decent amount of food and if I lay down once I've taken it. It even says that you shouldn't lay down 1/2 after taking it. So, about 10-11am is when I'm finally able to get up and eat breakfast (1st dose of potassium) and then 7pm dinner (2nd dose of potassium).
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Post by Lethal Lee on Nov 23, 2008 21:31:29 GMT -5
Good thought on the potassium but I've had this afternoon wooziness etc before the potassium and before T3 or HC. I will try Florinef at 3pm to see what happens. On the timing of potassium. Because I take my first dose of HC at 7am with just a bit of food. I can't get up at that time and have a terrible time with potassium if I don't eat it with a decent amount of food and if I lay down once I've taken it. It even says that you shouldn't lay down 1/2 after taking it. So, about 10-11am is when I'm finally able to get up and eat breakfast (1st dose of potassium) and then 7pm dinner (2nd dose of potassium). Thinking on this I think the problem may well be the ups & downs having Florinef Potassium at different times. Why not try having Florinef & Potassium at same time? So rather than 7am for Florinef & 10-11 am for Potassium have BOTH at 10-11am when you eat. Then have second dose Florinef & Potassium at 7pm when you eat? Let me know what you try & if it helps.
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