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Post by moomav on Mar 10, 2009 15:40:47 GMT -5
Below are my INSULIN-INDUCED HYPOGLYCEMIC STRESS test results. They seem to be strange because ACTH actually decreased instead of increasing. Does anybody has any idea what my be the case ? Otherwise I have low level of most pituitary hormones: testosteron, ACTH, DHEA-S Test results:
Growth hormone 0.0-1.0ng/ml <0.1 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 Glucose Low: .mg/dl 86 24 92 72 72 67 ACTH 10-46 pg/ml 28 21 26 22 17 16 Cortisol Low: . Ug/dl 12 8 13 10 8 7
Other tests results: Testosterone, Free 27.0-180.0 pg/ml 93.2 Free+weakly bound 110.0 - 535.0 ng/dl 255 Testosterone, Total 241-827 ng/dl 560 Sex hormone Bind Glob 8-66 nmol/l 31 Albumin 3.5-5.5 gm/dl 4.3 DHEA-S 1.1-4.6 ug/ml 1.2 FREE T4 0.8-1.7ng/dl 1 FSH Low: .miu/ml 1.2 Luteinizing Hormone Low: .miu/ml 3.5 Prolactin 2-18 ng/ml 10 Somatomedin-c Low: .ng/ml 133 TSH 0.4-4.4uu/ml 1.86 Mark
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Post by justaustin on Mar 10, 2009 17:17:05 GMT -5
Mark,
This is why you can't always go by IGF-1 alone.
Looks like you flunked your ITT. Your growth hormone failed to respond to the stress of hypoglycemia. Your cortisol failed to respond to the stress as well.
Growth hormone is produced in pulsitile fashion during times of low glucose. The fact that you didn't react to hypoglycemia, tells me that you have growth hormone deficiency.
During times of stress/trauma(emotional/physical) or illness, healthy bodies produce MORE cortisol. More cortisol is required to deal with the stressor and to recover.
Even if you didn't have ITT, I would still strongly suspect secondary adrenal insufficiency due to low range ACTH, low Cortisol, low DHEA-S.
If you are not on thyroid hormone replacement...then it appears you have central hypothyroidism as well. This is due to low tSH and low free thyroid hormone.
What is your endocrinologist's plan of care for you? Is he filling out form for gh authorization to submit to insurance company? I would recommend starting/optimizing cortisol and thyroid hormone before sex hormone and growth hormone. Your needs for both may be different once optimized with the first two. Once you start GH, adjustments(likely increases) of cortisol and thyroid hormone will be needed.
Ruth would be able to tell you more about GH.
Did you have a head injury/trauma/whiplash? Laurie
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Post by moomav on Mar 11, 2009 15:56:03 GMT -5
Thanks Laurie for quick reply, Currently I am taking: 20mg HC 25mg thyroid hormone 25mg DHEA-S 25mg testosterone (in Androgel form) 40mg Amitryptiline (for nerve pain) 100mg Liryca (for nerve pain) 200mg Celebrex (for back pain) I still feel lousy: very tired (difficult to stay awake during day), zero libido. I tried GH but after four weeks I felt much worse (tired to the point of fainting). Doctors basicly have no idea what to do next. Pituitary MRI results shows: "partial empty sella". Is there any way (test?) to determine if my hypothalamus is working correctly (tertiary adrenal insufficiency). I had no head injury/trauma/whiplash. I suspect that my father has similar condition (never diagnosed) but his brother does not. May be there is some genetic condition manifesting itself in that form. Are there any internet resorces that would allow for some specialist to look at my pituitary MRI ? Any ideas are greatly appreciated Mark
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Post by fractal1 on Mar 24, 2009 13:35:10 GMT -5
Hi Mark, 20mg HC is not a high dose at all. Most of us do well on 25-30mg. If cortisol is too low, you won't be able to use thyroid hormone properly. Most of us use Armour or Thyroid Extract. It contains a combination of T4 and T3. Is this what you are taking? 25mg thyroid hormone doesn't sound like much either. You probably didn't do well on HGH because thyroid and adrenals weren't adequately supported. You need to get these right first. We are all very different, but nerve pain was resolved with florinef for me. Partial empty sella and labs is information enough. You have hypopituitarism. Cheers Mark
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