Re: New Member - question regarding thyroid and adrenal function

[Guest guest]

Hi Sam

Welcome to the forum

Yes, lots of people have had their adrenal function tested. Some treat it with

adrenal gland extracts, some like myself take low dose hydrocortisone (with DHEA

to balance any catabolic effects of hydrocortisone), and for some adrenals seem

ok with proper thyroid treatment. I did used to take HC (HC=abbreviation for

hydrodcortisone) without DHEA, and that was a mistake in my view. Some doctors

would never give HC without giving DHEA, too. I think it's important.

Do you have any of these symptoms of the various adrenal hormone deficiencies?

ACTH

I have patches of hair loss

I have very pale complexion

I sunburn easily

I often have memory loss

I am stressed out/I'm facing many difficulties

My blood pressure has dropped

My friends tell me I look thinner

Aldosterone

I uninate too many times a day

I crave salty foods

My blood pressure is low

I feel dizzy when I stand up

I feel much better lying down than standing up

Cortisol

My face looks thinner

My friends call me skinny

I have eczema, psoriasis, urticaria (nettle rash), skin allergies, or other

rashes

My heart beats quickly

My blood pressure is low

I crave salt and sugar (to the extent of binging)

I have digestive problem

I have allergies (hay fever, asthma, etc.)

I'm stressed out

I'm easily confused

DHEA

My hair is dry

My skin and eyes are dry

My muscle are flabby

My belly is getting fat

I don't have much hair under my arm (0 = plenty of hair/4=hairless)

I don't have much hair in pubic area (0 = plenty of hair/4 = hairless)

I don't have much fatty tissue in the pubic area (flat " mount of venus " in

women) (0=padded/4=flat)

My body doesn't have much of special scent during sexual arousal

I can't tolerate noise

My libido is low

> I'm not saying at all that I have something like 's but I wondered if

my adrenals could be struggling?

Yes that's possible. Some doctors believe in adrenal fatigue and will treat

it; some don't believe in it or treat it. It can be that the body doesn't

function right, and the pituitary doesn't stimulate the adrenals or other glands

enough. It really depends who you talk to, some doctors are very rigid and

unhelpful, others look at the bigger picture and symptoms and read research and

look at patients symptoms as well as blood tests, and treat both.

Also, it may be that hypothyroidism downgrades the adrenals. Or, leaves less

free cortisol available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7749500

I do wonder if this is why people can have normal blood tests for cortisol, but

low saliva cortisol - if we have high CBG (cortisol binding globulin ) then

perhaps that doesn't leave much free cortisol to do it's job.

http://www.addisons-network.co.uk/high_cbg_ad.html

> Thank you for reading.

Any questions, please ask. Have you had any other blood tests done like

ferritin, b12, cortisol etc?

>I won't bore you with the rest, you will lose the will to live!!

Please feel free to share your history if you want to (you don't have to

though). It may give us more clues, and some people may find it helpful to

write about what's happened (though some find it upsetting to go over it all)...

are you male or female Sam?

I hope you find the help you need here....or at least if nothing else, pointers

to other places where you can get the help you need from

Chris

[Guest guest]

Hi Sam.

I tried the Nutri-Adrenal Extra tablets in the early days and apart from a

disconcerting coloured urine they really helped to give me a lift. I also took

them with a range of vitamins and minerals and found that they helped me to cope

better with my stressful job.

Have a look in the files and you will see where to order them from.

Good luck

Stacey

[Guest guest]

MODERATED TO REMOVE MESSAGES ALREADY READ. PLEASE REMOVE THESE WHEN YOU NEXT

RESPOND TO MESSAGES AND ELAVE JUST A FEW LINES THAT YOU ARE RESPONDING TO. MANY

THANKS. LUV - SHEILA

____________________________________

Hi

Thank you for replying. I'm impressed with your knowledge!

In all the years I have felt unwell the GP has never suggested testing for

adrenal function. My bowels when a bit wonky back in 2008 and I had a

sigmoidoscopy and blood tests. They were checking for IBD and Coeliacs. I

didn't test positive for antibodies so the consultant said I couldn't have it

but when I was referred by him to the Dietician, she disagreed and was convinced

I was a Coeliac. This has never been followed up like everything else with me!

Its a miracle they finally admitted my thyroid was struggling. It is, however,

my firm belief that my thyroid is a casualty of war that has been going on for

years, hence me asking about adrenal function etc.

I have tried to answer your questions below as honestly as possible:

Do you have any of these symptoms of the various adrenal hormone deficiencies?

>

> ACTH

> I have patches of hair loss - no, sometimes thin due to psoriasis

> I have very pale complexion

> I sunburn easily - yes very pale with freckles

> I often have memory loss - difficulty in retrieving correct word/s

> I am stressed out/I'm facing many difficulties - easily stressed over the

slightest thing (worryingly simple)

> My blood pressure has dropped - blood was fine last year when tested

> My friends tell me I look thinner - I have bouts of weight loss (noticeable)

>

> Aldosterone

> I uninate too many times a day - yes, quite large amounts

> I crave salty foods - I have cut out crisps because of this as it leads to

weight gain

> My blood pressure is low - I think this is fine

> I feel dizzy when I stand up - sometimes

> I feel much better lying down than standing up - I am very uncomfortable

standing up and start swaying very easily and will fall over if I close my eyes,

balance completely out of whack!

>

> Cortisol

> My face looks thinner - yes

> My friends call me skinny - no but sometimes when weight loss starts

> I have eczema, psoriasis, urticaria (nettle rash), skin allergies, or other

rashes - psoriasis, clear at present as no job due to redundancy which makes

stressful outbursts really obvious

> My heart beats quickly - sometimes

> My blood pressure is low

> I crave salt and sugar (to the extent of binging)- yes

> I have digestive problem - tested for bowel diseases/coeliacs

> I have allergies (hay fever, asthma, etc.)tree pollen allergy started for

first time last year

> I'm stressed out - too easily

> I'm easily confused - sometimes

>

> DHEA

> My hair is dry - I have fine hair that falls out

> My skin and eyes are dry - sore rather than dry, eyesight has got quite bad

in the last year

> My muscle are flabby - very weak muscles

> My belly is getting fat - yes

> I don't have much hair under my arm (0 = plenty of hair/4=hairless) - 0

> I don't have much hair in pubic area (0 = plenty of hair/4 = hairless) - 0

> I don't have much fatty tissue in the pubic area (flat " mount of venus " in

women) (0=padded/4=flat)- 0

> My body doesn't have much of special scent during sexual arousal - this is

fine

> I can't tolerate noise - at times noise is really overwhelming

> My libido is low

- at times.

The blood tests you mentioned I believe were taken last February as it was

criteria to be sent to the ME Clinic. Everything was fine and I wished I could

feel how my blood tests look!

I contacted Bupa last week to see if they could check my adrenal function

privately. We do not have any money but this is how much I want to help myself.

They said I still have to have my GPs permission. What is the point of having a

private system if you can't bypass the GP who is resistant to looking at the

bigger picture of incapable of piecing everything together to rule out things

like adrenals? If I thought my GP was up for all this, why would I be

contacting them in the first place, why would I pay if I didn't have to? The

system is a joke. My fertility has fallen away, another casualty of war. I

have been tested thoroughly, they can't find anything wrong. I believe that

adrenal or coeliac problems can affect fertility. Why after successfully having

my son 6 years ago and trying for 3 years have they not looked at my hormones or

revisited the Dieticians gut feeling? Ooh I'm so frustrated as you can

probabaly tell!!

Thanks again

Sam

[Guest guest]

Thank you Stacey, I will look into those tablets, they sound good.

Sam

>

>

> Hi Sam.

>

> I tried the Nutri-Adrenal Extra tablets in the early days and apart from a

disconcerting coloured urine they really helped to give me a lift. I also took

them with a range of vitamins and minerals and found that they helped me to cope

better with my stressful job.

>

> Have a look in the files and you will see where to order them from.

>

> Good luck

> Stacey

>

[Guest guest]

Sam, you need to do a good bit of reading in our FILES SECTION

to become fully acquainted with what might be happening. First, I have attached

a document showing the main associated conditions that go along with suffering

the symptoms of hypothyroidism that you should go through by way of a process

of elimination.

Unless you are suffering with 's Disease or borderline

's, there is little point on getting your adrenal function tested within

the NHS because they do not recognise low adrenal reserve (adrenal fatigue) and

will tell you that you don't have a problem. Go to our FILES Section

(accessible from the Home Page of this Forum) and on the Page that opens,

scroll down to 'Medical Questionnaires' and complete the Adrenal one, the one

about Candida and the one about Magnesium, and see how you score. Also, in the 'Adrenal'

Folder, click on 'Home Testing' and do the tests recommended there. These cost

nothing, but will give you a good idea of what might be going on.

It sounds as if you need to write a letter to your GP and ask

for this to be placed into your medical notes.

First, tell him/her that you are very unhappy that you have not

been given a diagnosis for your many symptoms and signs and that you are now

determined to find out the cause and hope that your GP will work with you.

First list all of your symptoms and signs (check these out in

our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk under

'Hypothyroidism' and then 'Symptoms and Signs' in the drop down Menu.

Next, list any members of your family who have a thyroid or

autoimmune disease.

Next, list your basal temperature for 4 or 5 mornings before you

get out of bed and before having anything to drink if they are 97.8 degrees F

or less (36.6 degrees C).

Next, ask for a FULL Thyroid function test to include TSH, free

T4, free T3 and TPO and Tg antibodies. Ask also for specific nutrients to be

tested because research/studies have shown that if any of these are low in the

reference range, thyroid hormone cannot be fully utilised at the cellular

level. These are iron, transferrin saturation%, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin

D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc. Ask for all these results to be made

available to you once they have come back together with the reference range for

each of the tests done. (You can post these onto the forum and we will help

with their interpretation - and btw - a doctor cannot withhold any information

that is in your medical notes under The Data Protection Act 1998)

Next, ask for a referral for a second opinion and if you haven't

anybody in your area who specialises in thyroid disease(most endocrinologists

specialise in diabetes), let us know and we will send our list of recommended

doctors to you.

Writing letters nearly always works, because it is there in the

records should anything go wrong, and doctors know this. When you have a

consultation behind closed doors, once you have left the surgery and something

goes wrong, whatever discussions took place between you and your GP can be

denied. Keep a copy of the letter yourself in case you need to refer to it at a

later date.

Good luck Sam

Luv - Sheila

The system is a joke. My fertility has fallen away, another casualty of

war. I have been tested thoroughly, they can't find anything wrong. I believe

that adrenal or coeliac problems can affect fertility. Why after successfully

having my son 6 years ago and trying for 3 years have they not looked at my

hormones or revisited the Dieticians gut feeling? Ooh I'm so frustrated as you

can probabaly tell!!

Thanks again

Sam

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