Post by corky21 on Mar 23, 2009 17:59:23 GMT -5
I initially had gone to an endocrinologist for my low thyroid symptoms. I told him how lousy I felt. He ordered many tests (posted on my journal on RTH under corky21). Many people here said I was most likely hypopit and need Armour and HC for life. Since the endocrinologist didn't want to treat me with anything but DHEA 25mg and L-Carnitine I went to a holistic doctor. I brought the initial blood report and he gave me the Armour and HC. He has me on very conservative doses (after 4 months I'm at 1.5 grains and 15mg HC); he doesn't think I need much HC but he's allowed me to get up to that amount.
I've been researching the hypopit and secondary AI today and I'm beginning to think I may need the endocrinologist. It seems to me that I should get much better testing to find out exactly what is up with me. I'm thinking of going back to my endocrinologist with my research and beg him to follow up on this properly.
My initial tests (the important ones)
ACTH: 9.9 (10-60 pg/ml)
Cortisol 17 (8 a.m. ) (4-25 ug/dl)
LH 23.3 (one week b/f a period) 14.0-95.6)
FSH 19.5 (4.7-21.5)
Prolactin 6.3 (4.79-23.30)
I PICKED MIDCYCLE PEAK AS I GOT SOMETHING A WEEK LATER.
DHEA-S 142.0 (12-379)
TSH 1.580 (0.27-4.2)
Free T4 0.97 (0.93-1.7)
Sodium 141 (133-145)
Potassium 3.9 (3.3-5.3)
Calcium 9.1 (8.4-10.4)
Glucose 83
Ferritin 31
He never took Renin, Aldosterone.
Should I pursue this with the endocrinologist and ask for better testing to find the actual cause of that original low ACTH number? I have been on the HC for a while and my last blood test showed the cortisol even lower at 9.3, but the T4 went up a bit to 1.17 and he took a free T3 and that was 3.1 (2.57-4.43). My DHEA also went down quite a bit since starting the Armour/HC, it went to 64.9 from 142.0. I dont' like that my DHEA went down so much.
Does it matter? Should I pursue this, or stay with the holistic doctor and keep taking the Armour/HC? I want to know if I'm in a serious situation down the road; I need to know if I need extra meds, syringes, etc. This holistic doctor didn't agree on giving me a back up supply for stress dosing; he said I don't need to do that.
So I'm happy that I got someone to give me the Armour and HC, but now I'm wondering if I need to go back to a specialist.
Help!
I've been researching the hypopit and secondary AI today and I'm beginning to think I may need the endocrinologist. It seems to me that I should get much better testing to find out exactly what is up with me. I'm thinking of going back to my endocrinologist with my research and beg him to follow up on this properly.
My initial tests (the important ones)
ACTH: 9.9 (10-60 pg/ml)
Cortisol 17 (8 a.m. ) (4-25 ug/dl)
LH 23.3 (one week b/f a period) 14.0-95.6)
FSH 19.5 (4.7-21.5)
Prolactin 6.3 (4.79-23.30)
I PICKED MIDCYCLE PEAK AS I GOT SOMETHING A WEEK LATER.
DHEA-S 142.0 (12-379)
TSH 1.580 (0.27-4.2)
Free T4 0.97 (0.93-1.7)
Sodium 141 (133-145)
Potassium 3.9 (3.3-5.3)
Calcium 9.1 (8.4-10.4)
Glucose 83
Ferritin 31
He never took Renin, Aldosterone.
Should I pursue this with the endocrinologist and ask for better testing to find the actual cause of that original low ACTH number? I have been on the HC for a while and my last blood test showed the cortisol even lower at 9.3, but the T4 went up a bit to 1.17 and he took a free T3 and that was 3.1 (2.57-4.43). My DHEA also went down quite a bit since starting the Armour/HC, it went to 64.9 from 142.0. I dont' like that my DHEA went down so much.
Does it matter? Should I pursue this, or stay with the holistic doctor and keep taking the Armour/HC? I want to know if I'm in a serious situation down the road; I need to know if I need extra meds, syringes, etc. This holistic doctor didn't agree on giving me a back up supply for stress dosing; he said I don't need to do that.
So I'm happy that I got someone to give me the Armour and HC, but now I'm wondering if I need to go back to a specialist.
Help!