Guest guest Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Hi Pam The more I read of cases like yours and of many others on this site the clearer it becomes that hormonal disorders are the elephant in the room that the medical profession politely (although not always so) insists on ignoring! Rgds Hans Hi Sheila Its interesting that you posted this today because I have only just come to realise I have severe aldosterone problems because of my worn out adrenals. ... I don't think any of these CFS doctors realise about the role of knackered adrenals they look for everything that is going wrong in the body and just don't realise the adrenals and thyroid could be behind most of the symptoms. Instead they keep looking for a virus to say that is the cause and I find it really frustrating that the malfunctiong adrenals can cause so many of the symptoms! BW > Pam > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hi Pam I'm delighted that you have found the reason for some of your problems. It is a fact that most people think only of cortisol and DHEA when it comes to adrenals, but aldesterone plays an important part. I have been reading Thierry Hertoghe's book 'The Hormone Handbook'. He says Aldosteron's major role is to keep water in the body and the blood pressure up during the day. To achieve this, aldosterone makes the kidneys retain sodium, and this water by osmosis thereby filling the blood vessels and tissues up with more fluid,. At the same time, aldosterone makes the kidneys secrete a supplementary amount of potassium, the antagonistic ion to sodium, to increase further sodium's water-retaining action. Daily secretion of aldosterone in young health adults averages around 150 ug a day. Aldosterone is produced by the cortex of the adrenal glands. Higher daytime aldosterone levels are found because individuals stand up during the day. The upright position strongly stimulates aldosterone secretion in order to maintain normal blood pressure. Aldosterone production is increased with physical activity, by standing up, stress, low salt intake, increased salt losses (caused by sweating or a diuretic), high protein and saturated fat diets. However, aldosterone levels decline with age. The excretion of aldosterone in the 24-hour urine urines during a normal salted diet declines by about 20% in elderly persons, aged 70 to 80, compared to young adults. When the diet is low in salt, the difference between young and old is more pronounced. To compensate for the low intake of salt, aldosterone levels, increase both in young and old, but the compensatory increase is about 50% less in elderly person than in young people, showing that individuals with increasing age lose part of the ability to increase aldosterone production to respond to increased salt and fluid needs. Symptoms of aldosterone deficiency include: tendency to lie down, tendency to move all the time when standing up to increase blood pressure. Drowsiness, zombie-like feeling: Easily distracted, absent-minded, day dreaming. Difficulty focusing on tasks, feels better in head when lying flat on a bed or moving all the time. troubled vision with difficulties in focusing on objects and tasks when standing up. Salt and salty food cravings, thirsty often, strong tendency to drinking a lot of water and other liquids and popping to the toilet several times during the day. Physical signs of aldosterone deficiency are: pale face, a drowsy, absent-minded look, low blood pressure (arterial hypotension), : Below 100/60 mmHg. Orthostatic hypotension. Hollow face, sharp wrinkles, eyes deep in orbit, soft eyes (eye ball fells soft to pressure because of low eyeball pressure), tongue with teeth marks visible at tongue borders (tongue indentation), and skin tenting-prolonged still skin fold after pinching the skin of the back of the hand. Several diseases may be aggravated or possibly caused by the dehydration that accompanies aldosterone deficiency, in particular cardiovascular diseases (thrombosis, coronary heart disease), rheumatoid and digestive diseases and possibly Alzheimer's dementia. For aldesterone deficiency you need 9-alpha-fluoro-hydrocortisone) fludrocortisone such as Florinef). You take 50 to 2000 mgs daily (most frequent starting dose is 100 mgs daily and you take one tablet in the morning. Alternatively, you can take oral Aldosterone, 70 to 200 mgs daily, but you take 3 tablets of Aldosterone a day. However, there are two exceptions to the rule> patients with a tendency to swell or who suffer from arterial hypertension (high blood pressure) should not receive aldosterone or should start at lower doses. Also, patients with severe low blood pressure (90mmHg of systolic blood pressure) may start at 125 to 150 mg per day. Doses should be increased in conditions where more aldosterone is needed (low salt diet etc.)or is used up (prolonged standing up or sitting position, heavy sweating, severe stress, etc) or less is produced (jet lag). Sometimes, after starting treatment, the increase in blood pressure, which is usually the first improvement noticed, may occur quickly, even the first day of therapy. In some subjects, it takes several weeks before a noticeable improvement. The slow progress is often due to low water or salt intake or an insufficient dose of fludrocortisone. Contraindications to treatment: Caution is recommended with individuals whose feet, ankles and/or hands easily swell, or who have high blood pressure, as these are all signs that may exacerbate with aldosterone replacement without significant benefit from the therapy. Patients who tend to swell or have high blood pressure should not take fludrocortisone nor aldosterone, or if they do, should start on doses as low as 25 to 50 mgs every 10 days up to `00 mgs unless the patient shows signs of excess. I am on day 6 of Fludrocortisone after having been in a state of collapse as mentioned above. Just sitting at the computer I couldn't stop sweating, I was soaking, couldn't sit upright just had to lie down all the time I was so weak and after throat infection couldn't get well. Thankfully something twigged in my brain last Friday and I luckily had Fludrocortisone in the cupboard cos Dr Myhill had given me a trial last March when I had similar symptoms. However I didn't take it properly then and it gave me high bp so I discontinued it which has turned out to be a very bad decision of mine. ___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 > > > Hi Sheila > > Its interesting that you posted this today because I have only just > come to realise I have severe aldosterone problems because of my worn > out adrenals. Probably have had it since 2000 and is the reason why > I haven't been able to recover with just glucocortoids and thyroid > meds. > > I am on day 6 of Fludrocortisone after having been in a state of > collapse as mentioned above. Just sitting at the computer I couldn't > stop sweating, I was soaking, couldn't sit upright just had to lie > down all the time I was so weak and after throat infection couldn't > get well. Thankfully something twigged in my brain last Friday and Hi Pam, have you had your aldosterone tested? I ask because I think mine might be low,I'm very heat intolerant and have awful flushes. The trouble is, my blood pressure is on the high side, and I've read i'ts condraindicated for people with high BP. I'm with Dr P, but he hasn't suggested this yet! Thanks in advance South Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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