OT: Sam,'s BD ( Re: Dr. Vliet...)

[Guest guest]

Sam, that is AWESOME. I love hearing this and I think you're the bees

knees. I want you to know I took your advice on " treating the adenals

first. " I had been suspecting aldosterone w/me too, but I don't want

to charter this water alone, i'd prefer someone (MD) who

knew " something " about it... but I ordered my own tests anyway.

around the same time, i came back from Hawaii and talked to my NP

(after the wash out of all my T and E accidental overdose from

incorrect pharmacy mixing) and when I told her my symptoms from 2

years ago, that i " still have " : the shakes/jitters at night and after

a bike ride, she said to me " wow, this is adrenal and way more than

what we can handle here. (women's medical center focusing on BHRT for

women) I'd like you to see an endo who knows a lot about adrenals

and will test the hell out of you. In the mean time, stay off of

everthing so he can get a good reading. " This made me feel so much

better and i cancelled my own tests until i see him this week. I've

been off everything all month, except a little klonopin at night to

stop the jitters and heart racing and allows me to sleep. to my

happiness, this has been the best of all " sleep aids " because i can

actually function the next day.

mean while i'm following 's book on taking the vitamins (and

the other lady's suggestion on NSI/non-glutten vitamins although i'm

certain i'm not allergic to glutten, i suspect it isn't the best way

to absorb vitamins). I separate out all my vitamins and don't take a

multi. I load up on the B, C and E, Cal, Mag, in doses as suggested

by . And guess what? My skin looks amazing all of the sudden.

my color came back. I don't need blush, foundation or concealer

anymore. (I'm not a fan of make up, but dang, will use it when i

look bad.) the skin around my eyes doesn't look gray and washed out.

My scabs from all those " mite bites " caused from too much

progesterone lowering my immune system i had in august, are healing

FAST now. But my weight is still a bit on the heavy side for " my "

comfort level. But i'll deal with that after i'm on the right adrenal

track.

My theory on this adrenal thing is this: yes, heal them first, like

you said. Afterall, your sex hormones are made there too. the day you

lose making hormones in your overaries (for whatever reason,

menopause, hysterectomy), is the day you're going to need your

adrenals healthier than ever. I think (and this is just my common

sense theory) that with healthy adrenal glands, you'll be able to

produce hormones you need (sex or otherwise) in " closer to " your

body's balance/need and once you get there, " then " you can supplement

with what sex hormones you're lacking and missing (E, T, P, DHEA

whatever)... as for " other " metabolic hormones (thyroid, or

otherwise), i have no opinion since i don't know about them.

at least that's the way i'm going to try to approach this. i still

don't sleep " on my own " but since i've been really supplementing the

right vitamins the right way, i do feel " better " and not as prone to

the " wired " feeling throughout the day. I can get through yoga w/o

heart palps or fatigue and post exercise, i'm not jittering/shaking.

But that could be because i pop some electrolytes right away or drink

a non-caffienated kombucha post exercise. either way, i feel ok now

after exercise.

i think the doc i had before had always " suspected " my adrenals but

would not go further than testing 24 hour urine. and she had only

solved part of the problem by giving me estrogen (in the form of the

WP, which of course i couldn't tolerate). Looking back at what i've

learned, adding tons of E or P when there are other issues involved,

is like throwing buckets of water on a home inferno. you're helping,

but not really getting to the source.

I'm curious about the aldosterone thing because it seems the only way

to fix it is to balance the sodium/potassium thing, but it is really

hard to know how much to do it by.

but wow! i just love hearing your success story. my hair has gotten

really gray and thin the last 2 years (after having long thick brown

hair, its mousey now and very gray w/o color). i hope it will come

back like my skin.

best wishes to you and the many ladies on this list who've been

helping me.

>

> What dose of generic florinef? I built up to a whole pill of 0.1mg

generic

> Florinef (fludrocortisone) 1/4 pill at a time, then foud I needed

less and

> am happy back on 1/4 pill.

>

> Aldosterone is another adrenal hormone that not a lot of folks

think to

> test for when they test their adrenals...they usually test only

cortisol.

>

> When we are having issues with adrenals, some of us are also dosing

for

> example Armour Thyroid (but I think also other hormones, 'maybe'),

we can

> have issues with absorbing Armour into our cells, or even getting

thyroid

> receptors to open. So we treat low cortisol and 'usually' all

things are

> right with the world again. But if yet another adrenal hormone is

tanked,

> that can also affect things in a different way. Since I am still

learning

> about the effects of low aldosterone on thyroid hormone absorption,

I

> can't give you the exact mechanisms, but I think it also affects

> absorption or use of thyroid hormones by the body. That's why I

think

> after treating 'my' low aldosterone, my hair came back. I think. I

don't

> know exactly, tho...

>

> But EEE EEE EEE yes yes yes I am so delighted. YIPPEE WAHOOOOO!!!!!

> Oh, and, uh, well, more hair is coming back " everywhere " that it's

been

> missing from (does a bikini waxing hurt?). My eyelashes are

thickening and

> I'm getting ALL my eyebrows back, too! It's really like I just

turned the

> " on and off " switch back on.

>

> Sam

> (resting up from the weekend)

>

> ====

> > Anybody that knows me knows I love the hair stories. Sam, this is

> > fantastic! My goodness. People who work hard and persevere like

> > yourself deserve really happy things such as this. Do you have

any

> > explanation as to how aldosterone would have this effect? And

what

> > dose did you get to, 20 mg. ? I'm thoroughly curious!

> >

> > Happy Hair 2 You,

> >

> > -AG

> >

> > http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/growhair/

> >>

> >

> >> I have to tell y'all what I learned just this morning. I think

some

> >> of you

> >> know that I am finally pretty healthy. I also started to treat

low

> >> Aldosterone about a month-ish (or 2) or so ago. After RAI in

1990 I

> >> had

> >> lost ALL my hair everywhere, and after Armour and BHRT and all

that a

> >> little more than half of it returned. Well, this morning my

fiance

> >> pointed

> >> out that my real hair looked thicker and that I should check it

out

> >> in the

> >> mirror. I saw a gazillion new hairs growing all over my head.

About a

> >> month's or 2's worth of growth. I think treating my low

Aldosterone

> >> was

> >> the key to my hair returning. Honestly I have been crying tears

of joy

> >> about this all day long. OMG, my hair is finally all growing back

> >> after

> >> almost 18 years. OMG

> >>

> >> Sam

> >

>