Parents and others who just don't understand

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Does anyone else have people around them (other than doctors..)

who think that cortisol is just " another drug " that you can " take or

not take - it really doesn't make much difference " - who don't

understand that it is a *natural* hormone and having an adequate

amount of it is NOT acceptable? My mother is like that - she wants

me to " stay off of IsoCort for a while " after I complete the wean I'm

doing now to get a clean DTI test results. In order to " see how the

thyroid does alone " . Well, it doesn't *quite* work like that..

Cortisol and thyroid are a bit more complicated than just completely

independent " drugs " (I don't call hormones drugs. Vitamin and

mineral supplements - maybe)

I'm keeping a " hell journal " of what happens during the weaning

process - as I imagine that is sort of what it will be like. Keeping

in mind there, just as with Dante, there are different levels of

medical hell, and this is likely going to be lower-case-circle-1-

almost-purgatory kind, rather then the capital-H-circle-10 (cold as

ice according to Dante - appropriate for hypoT) kind. This was my

latest entry, talking a lot about my mother and her apparent attitude

toward cortisol and thyroid:

"

Just got hair cut. Felt okay - of course, with my " numerical hypo

unawareness " , I could be at 55 or 60 and not know it (but still be

fine physically, although it might take a tole on the HPA axis). And

my throat is starting to feel a bit scratchy and in " over-mucus-

production " mode. I decrease Armour to 1/2 grain (from 3/4) for my

second dose, as the first one felt a bit overstimulating. So maybe

that's what's causing the throat thing - ironically, the very same

vocal effect that led me to believe there might be something wrong

with the thyroid in the *first* place.

I Told my mother that I had started the wean, which would take 3

weeks, then 2 weeks for the pituitary to reset, then I can get clean

test results. She asked, " how long do you think you should stay off

it? " Dammit mother, cortisol is a *natural* hormone, and I don't

make damn enough of it, from what *little* can be told from the ACTH

Stim results - if the " 25 for male " number that quoted is

correct - and I somehow trust her more than what the endo would tell

me (which is nothing apparently. He'd just look at the damn " normal "

range and say I was fine.. As he did.) Which of course is just the

statististical normal - 95.2% of the population, a lot of whom are

depressed (possibly hypoT and/or cortisol problems), can't get to

sleep (possibly cortisol problems, but they just take Lunesta..), or

can't get up in the morning well (probably cortisol problems, but

they just drink cofee or Jolt or Pepsi Max or whatever..) Corisol is

*not* something you just *go off of* to " see what happens (unless of

course your adrenals and pituitary are fully healed.

Why is it so damn hard for her to understand that I have hormone

problems..? Yes, *hormone* problems - women aren't the only ones who

have hormones you know.. No, I suppose actually most people might

not know, unless they've read Our Stolen Future or some other semi-

popular book on the subject, or know some intermediate human

biology) And this is *not* going to give her a chance to see how the

" thyroid works alone " as it is linked to cortisol in action, and

anyway my Armour is going to be decreasing anyway as I'm sure my body

will tell me that it can't handle the extra thyroid support adequately.

I just bought a copy last night of both Shoman's Living Well with

HypoT (I really hope she's not about to come out with a new edition

or something soon), and Jeffries' Safe Uses of Cortisol, and I'm

basically going to *demand* that she read them - especially the

cortisol book. I think I'll also book a consultation with Shoman

(yeah, $100 - but cheaper than the damn endo, and would be much more

informative as well). Maybe my mother would listen to another person

who has gone through this for years (and a woman - remember that

hypoT is supposedly a " woman's disease " .. I love that quote in

Shoman's book from a male patient: " I'm not asking for a mammogram,

I'm asking for a thyroid test. Last time I check the thyroid was a

little piece of tissue shared by both sexes.. " ) "

How do other people deal with this, or can you really? Or do you

just have to do your own thing, regardless of what anyone else says,

and accept that they can't really be made to change their mind

(especially about not blindly trusting doctors.. My Mom has reason

to be wary herself too (hypoparathyroid surgery vs. low Vit. D that

the endo *missed*), but that's another story.

Jim