- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I was taking 1.5 grains of armour with 20 mgs of cortef for about 3 months. When my dr raised it to 2 grains I felt pretty good then about 5 weeks is when all hell broke loose. My hair started falling out, losing muscle strength and losing appetite, horrible muscle contractions, consitpation coming back with a vengence, horrible brain fog, joint pains. After looking at the whole picture estrogen does play a role in these but with e2 of only 40 with SHBG of 27 I would not see that being a big enough player in the over all picture with shbg being higher it gave me a little space to play with estrogen as people with low shbg have a more narrow range. My labs where the best that they ever looked for past 5 years but I was not feeling right after that inital 5 weeks (labs drawn at week 4) For first time in 5 years my total t-4 was coming up to some what near normal level of 8-9 (it was a 6.5), total and free t3 where top 70%. What more could some one ask for right?
So now the question lies should one increase the cortef to 30 mgs or to just back off the naturethyroid to 1.5 grains? Would stress dosing help to get to the next level or just result in needed higer dosages of cortef in the long run.
I do not test testosterone, dht any more since they have been constant for over 3 years.
I noticed that with higher DHEA -s levels my shbg was coming down from upper upper 30’s. As Dr M noted several times that DHEA does help lower shbg.All supplements and hormonal variables had been constant only change was the thyroid dosage it I suppose did not hit me until the t-4 starting to build up after 3-4 weeks which took a toll on my cortisol if what I am speculating.
I am also going to look into the hardware in my next blood test to see what is really going on with inside the catecholamines since all urine test I have tested low on dopamine, norepinepherine, and adrenaline so it will be interested how the blood correlates with this.
Biggest complaint is constipation which has been un resolved through diet
(30 grams of fiber a day ) combination of insolulable and soluable,
Magnesium citrate does not work,
Gaba, theanine relax me
I feel like short of breath
ferritin levels are being addressed with iron and vitamin C
next investigation will be celiac disease due to constant low cholesterol <126 for all my life !! Lowest was 90 dr's told me this was excellent.My only speculation is that it is hormonal..
@hardasnails1973 691 wrote:
ferritin levels are being addressed with iron and vitamin C
next investigation will be celiac disease due to constant low cholesterol <126 for all my life !! Lowest was 90 dr's told me this was excellent.My only speculation is that it is hormonal..
How can it be “hormonal” if iron is low? The problem is at the cellular metabolism level.
Hormones can’t do their job at all when iron is low. The cells can’t respond to the hormone signal when celullar metabolism, itself, is impaired.
With iron being involved in so many basic cellular activities and enzymatic reactions, until iron availability is improved and stabilized, it is difficult to determine whether or not a hormone is acting optimally.
Until iron stores are improved, ferritin levels can vary a lot. This may cause metabolic processes to sputter – better some days, not better other days. Thyroid works one day, the next day it doesn’t. Behavior varies from bad to good and back again. Etc., etc.
One of the important pieces of advice in Anti-Aging medicine is to try and fix nutrition first before attempting to adjust hormones. The biggest reason from my point of view is that if cellular metabolism is impaired, hormone signaling is going to be impaired – the cells can’t listen to the hormone and act upon listening to the signal.
It is possible to adjust hormones and nutrition at the same time – particularly if levels are significantly low. But ultimately, stability and optimization of the system won’t occur until cellular metabolism is improved through nutritional optimization. When both hormones and nutrition are done simultaneously, it is an attempt to accelerate improvement compared to optimizing first one then the other. But it is quite a dance, a juggling and balancing act, like conducting a full orchestra.
Additionally, if hormone levels are optimized at a high end level before cellular metabolism is optimized, one can overshoot the mark and cause an excess in the hormone. For example, with thyroid, one can become hyperthyroid as one’s metabolism improves. This would be self-defeating since the hyperthyroid state can cause hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, which would then set a person back. Production of hormones may improve significantly with optimization of nutrition. Thus any hormone replacement has to be monitored for excesses. This is why I have had to avoid high dose thyroid hormone initially. The metabolic correction would lead to a hyperthyroid state. Once nutritional status is optimized as well as possible, I would then consider further adjustment in thyroid if a person still exhibits hypothyroid signs and symptoms.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.