Post by christy on May 4, 2009 8:08:45 GMT -5
Hello,
I apologize if this post does not make sense or if I am repeating things I have said before, but I just feel like I need to vent so please bear with me.
I have been on HC for almost two months now, after having a bad reaction to Armour at 3 grains daily, and having a low AM/PM saliva cortisol test. After having just come off the Armour, my DHEA and aldosterone were sky high, and my cortisol was at the very bottom of the range. Ferritin was acceptable, but slightly lower than the recommended range for Armour. I am estrogen dominant, but I do have low estradiol. I was taking sublingual progesterone in the form of 100 mg troche daily, but stopped that because I have labs coming up for which I want aldosterone to be unaffected.
I never felt well on the Armour, and my T3 never got to where it should have been. I am a poor converter, as my T3/RT3 ratio is 14. On the Armour, I never resolved my chronic constipation issues, depression, and so forth. But at the same time, I felt spastic all the time: snappy, irritable, jittery, intolerant to caffeine, exhausted, emotional. However, due to my T3 labs, we just kept upping the Armour; consequently, I felt worse all the while. It was as though I
was overmedicated/hyper but hypo at the same time.
Which brings me to now. I have not felt well on the HC. In fact, the BEST I have felt in a couple of years is when I simply quit the Armour, BEFORE going on the HC. I was so calm and happy, then a week later hypo symptoms hit me over the head. I also came down with a nasty cold. Then, after much reading about adrenal issues and considering my labs, I requested the HC from my doc; however, I am regretting it.
I take 20 mg HC per day. I have tried as high as 30 mg, but the higher doses make me feel worse. I can't sleep at night. I can't tolerate exercise, though I could before the HC. I am perhaps more irritable/intolerant. In as little as 15 minutes after I take a dose, my mood goes in the crapper. I also get a strange feeling in my chest and/or buzzing in my ears, brain fog, water retention in my calves, and my already nonexistent libido has disappeared even more. I have tried stress dosing, which it makes me feel worse. I felt much better when I was titrating up, but the higher the dose has gone, the worse I have felt. I have also put on quite a bit of midsection weight in only two months. My pants and skirts do not fit anymore, and my shirts feel uncomfortably tight on my belly. I don't seem to have gained weight anywhere else. This is really unsettling.
I keep trying to tell myself that this HC is what I need. That's what I hear from others, anyway. It just doesn't feel right. Shouldn't I feel some improvement? I don't know how to explain any of this, given my low cortisol saliva test, except that maybe the Armour was stressing out my system and using up all of my cortisol, but after having been off it for awhile, could my cortisol levels have gone back up? The labs were done just a day or two after coming off the Armour.
What I would like to know is, is it possible that my troubles were primarily due to my RT3 (and possibly ferritin), and not cortisol? I mean, YES, my adrenals were undeniably stressed to the max on the Armour. Is it possible that I was just over-medicated but still not getting the T3 that I needed because I don't convert T4 properly? My thyroid function was not terrible to begin with. In
fact, my FT3 is lower now than it was before I began treatment with Armour. My doc initially said that I wouldn't need much thyroid to bring me to a feel-good level. I was in range, though not optimal. The speculated "little bit of thyroid" just kept getting larger and larger in dose over the course of a year.
Come to think of it, all of my problems (adrenal, thyroid, estrogen dominance, and so forth) started, or at least I noticed them enough to investigate, after I weaned off Effexor quite awhile back. That was a nasty several months for me. I have not been anywhere near the same person since coming off from it. I'm almost tempted to go back on, but I have read so many bad things about how antidepressants negatively affect the HPA axis.
I am on Cytomel now, which makes me feel good (at least it did until I titrated my HC up to my current dose). I don't even take very much (5 - 10 mcg) but I FINALLY go to the bathroom! Sometimes three times per day! I had not gone "naturally" in years. Unfortunately, with all of this HC business, the great feeling has been fleeting. But there is a definite difference from the Armour -- a positive one. I seem to feel hyper on more than 10 mcg. Maybe I really don't need much? Maybe if my ACTH were back online I could make the cortisol to increase T3? I just don't know.
Here is what I propose that I do now: talk to my doc first, wean off HC, and get an ACTH stim test. If I need the HC, fine. If I don't, at least I will know and not spend all day every day wondering what I am doing, researching for hours upon hours and regretting how I feel.
My question to you all is, does this make sense and seem reasonable? If I wean off and feel worse, I would definitely continue treatment. But you know how we all have this sixth sense about our bodies, if something is working for us, and if something is wrong with a treatment? I get the sense that we are barking up the wrong tree with the HC. Something just does NOT feel right with it. Is it possible that it is NOT right, or am I overreacting somehow?
*sigh* Honest feedback would be much appreciated. Perhaps I need an attitude adjustment, but something just feels off.
Thank you so much,
Christy
I apologize if this post does not make sense or if I am repeating things I have said before, but I just feel like I need to vent so please bear with me.
I have been on HC for almost two months now, after having a bad reaction to Armour at 3 grains daily, and having a low AM/PM saliva cortisol test. After having just come off the Armour, my DHEA and aldosterone were sky high, and my cortisol was at the very bottom of the range. Ferritin was acceptable, but slightly lower than the recommended range for Armour. I am estrogen dominant, but I do have low estradiol. I was taking sublingual progesterone in the form of 100 mg troche daily, but stopped that because I have labs coming up for which I want aldosterone to be unaffected.
I never felt well on the Armour, and my T3 never got to where it should have been. I am a poor converter, as my T3/RT3 ratio is 14. On the Armour, I never resolved my chronic constipation issues, depression, and so forth. But at the same time, I felt spastic all the time: snappy, irritable, jittery, intolerant to caffeine, exhausted, emotional. However, due to my T3 labs, we just kept upping the Armour; consequently, I felt worse all the while. It was as though I
was overmedicated/hyper but hypo at the same time.
Which brings me to now. I have not felt well on the HC. In fact, the BEST I have felt in a couple of years is when I simply quit the Armour, BEFORE going on the HC. I was so calm and happy, then a week later hypo symptoms hit me over the head. I also came down with a nasty cold. Then, after much reading about adrenal issues and considering my labs, I requested the HC from my doc; however, I am regretting it.
I take 20 mg HC per day. I have tried as high as 30 mg, but the higher doses make me feel worse. I can't sleep at night. I can't tolerate exercise, though I could before the HC. I am perhaps more irritable/intolerant. In as little as 15 minutes after I take a dose, my mood goes in the crapper. I also get a strange feeling in my chest and/or buzzing in my ears, brain fog, water retention in my calves, and my already nonexistent libido has disappeared even more. I have tried stress dosing, which it makes me feel worse. I felt much better when I was titrating up, but the higher the dose has gone, the worse I have felt. I have also put on quite a bit of midsection weight in only two months. My pants and skirts do not fit anymore, and my shirts feel uncomfortably tight on my belly. I don't seem to have gained weight anywhere else. This is really unsettling.
I keep trying to tell myself that this HC is what I need. That's what I hear from others, anyway. It just doesn't feel right. Shouldn't I feel some improvement? I don't know how to explain any of this, given my low cortisol saliva test, except that maybe the Armour was stressing out my system and using up all of my cortisol, but after having been off it for awhile, could my cortisol levels have gone back up? The labs were done just a day or two after coming off the Armour.
What I would like to know is, is it possible that my troubles were primarily due to my RT3 (and possibly ferritin), and not cortisol? I mean, YES, my adrenals were undeniably stressed to the max on the Armour. Is it possible that I was just over-medicated but still not getting the T3 that I needed because I don't convert T4 properly? My thyroid function was not terrible to begin with. In
fact, my FT3 is lower now than it was before I began treatment with Armour. My doc initially said that I wouldn't need much thyroid to bring me to a feel-good level. I was in range, though not optimal. The speculated "little bit of thyroid" just kept getting larger and larger in dose over the course of a year.
Come to think of it, all of my problems (adrenal, thyroid, estrogen dominance, and so forth) started, or at least I noticed them enough to investigate, after I weaned off Effexor quite awhile back. That was a nasty several months for me. I have not been anywhere near the same person since coming off from it. I'm almost tempted to go back on, but I have read so many bad things about how antidepressants negatively affect the HPA axis.
I am on Cytomel now, which makes me feel good (at least it did until I titrated my HC up to my current dose). I don't even take very much (5 - 10 mcg) but I FINALLY go to the bathroom! Sometimes three times per day! I had not gone "naturally" in years. Unfortunately, with all of this HC business, the great feeling has been fleeting. But there is a definite difference from the Armour -- a positive one. I seem to feel hyper on more than 10 mcg. Maybe I really don't need much? Maybe if my ACTH were back online I could make the cortisol to increase T3? I just don't know.
Here is what I propose that I do now: talk to my doc first, wean off HC, and get an ACTH stim test. If I need the HC, fine. If I don't, at least I will know and not spend all day every day wondering what I am doing, researching for hours upon hours and regretting how I feel.
My question to you all is, does this make sense and seem reasonable? If I wean off and feel worse, I would definitely continue treatment. But you know how we all have this sixth sense about our bodies, if something is working for us, and if something is wrong with a treatment? I get the sense that we are barking up the wrong tree with the HC. Something just does NOT feel right with it. Is it possible that it is NOT right, or am I overreacting somehow?
*sigh* Honest feedback would be much appreciated. Perhaps I need an attitude adjustment, but something just feels off.
Thank you so much,
Christy