Guest guest Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 > > My Dr. just prescribed cortef because my cortisol levels were so > low. She did not say anything about gradually working my way up, > like says. I am supposed to take 7.5 mg. in a.m. and 5 mg. > in p.m. I am having it compounded so I will not be able to split the > dose. Were others told to work their way up, or do you think it's > o.k. to start at 7.5 like she prescribed? I didn't have any problems starting with 5 mg at a time, but I definitely have to dose 4X/day or I crash. I'm a fast metabolizer though. Nell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Thank you all foryour input on the cortef. I hope that I get some energy like some of you have gotten on it. I'm also hoping to gain a little bit of weight because I am underweight. I am really chemically sensitive and always worried about the effects of medications. But I feel that this one definitely sounds worth trying. Thanks again. > > > > My Dr. just prescribed cortef because my cortisol levels were so > > low. She did not say anything about gradually working my way up, > > like says. I am supposed to take 7.5 mg. in a.m. and 5 mg. > > in p.m. I am having it compounded so I will not be able to split the > > dose. Were others told to work their way up, or do you think it's > > o.k. to start at 7.5 like she prescribed? > > I didn't have any problems starting with 5 mg at a time, but I > definitely have to dose 4X/day or I crash. I'm a fast metabolizer though. > > Nell > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Hi , That was just this particular doctor's opinion and what he advised me to do though I know other people take higher doses straightaway and are fine. It does make it more difficult for all of us though when we hear different opinions from doctors about how to dose things but we are all different and your doses sound perfectly reasonable and your doctor knows your case and will be basing their advice on that. Best wishes, Anne > > > > > Hi , > > > > > > The feeling is a physical pull inwards in the abdominal area and > > > feeling " suppressed " is the best word I found to describe it. It > does > > > feel like the adrenals in the sense that you feel quite fragile > and > > > that you are about to run out of stamina at any moment and crash, > > > though I didnt usually feel shaky or overly anxious at the time. > I'd > > > never had it before but I have heard of other people on the > adrenal > > > forums experiencing the same thing and it was suggested that its > a > > > sign of running out of cortisol and so a sign to take another > dose of > > > h/c. With me it would normally happen about 2 hrs after a dose > though > > > once it happened very strongly when I took 5mg at bedtime, I woke > up > > > a couple of hours later with the same feeling but much much > stronger > > > as if my whole abdomen was caving in! It really scared me > actually > > > but when I woke up in the morning I felt ok. I had also taken > some > > > taurine at bedtime so that might have exacerbated things. > > > > > > I am not sure if this is related to your experience or not, but I > > have always felt that my hormone receptors are very sensitive. > > Perhaps due to deficiencies in lots of hormones all my life, they > > have become overly sensitive in order to respond to limited > > availability of hormones. So I react strongly to small amounts > > of any hormones. > > > > I don't know the immediate cause of your feeling of suppression, > > but maybe it has something to do with your body being sensitive to > > hormones?? Just a thought. > > > > > > > > > > When you talk about flooding your receptors, do you mean > receptors > > > > for cortisol? Why would that be a bad thing? Seems like you > want > > > > to hit the receptor sites for cortisol, no? > > > > > > Yes I meant flooding the cortisol receptors. Dr Peatfield said it > was > > > possible that because I took 5mg for my first dose and not 2.5 > which > > > is the ideal starting dose it may have flooded my cortisol > receptors > > > and temporarily switched them off causing some sort of > suppression > > > hence the need for another dose soon after. I know some people > can > > > tolerate taking a high dose straightaway but ideally I believe > you > > > should build up gradually raising the dose by 2.5mg every 1-2 > weeks > > > so the body can adjust. Interestingly he said he had never come > > > across any of his patients having this feeling of suppression > before > > > which surprised me so I assume I must have just been extra > sensitive > > > to supplementing it. I had taken prednisolone for 2 days about 1 > week > > > before I started h/c so I wonder if that had something to do with > it. > > > > > > > > I guess you could also be a very fast metabolizer and need to > > dose more often? Just a guess. > > > > > > > > > > > > dose of ashwagandha I used did in fact suppress my adrenals, > > > > because I definitely had to wean off it vs. just dropping it. > > > > That was part of my concern with using hc. Since using herbals > > > > did not actually prevent that, I guess I may as well use hc. > > > > > > Thats interesting about the ashwagandha, I didnt noticed that > happen > > > with me or maybe I attributed it to something else. Maybe it > depends > > > on the dose (how much did you take?) though I suppose its not > > > surprising as if something is powerful enough to make you feel a > lot > > > better the body will become dependent on it to some degree. I had > the > > > > > > > > I used 3 g per day of ashwagandha. From what I read, this is the > > low end of the therapeutic dose range, but people on various yahoo > > groups seem to think it is a lot. > > > > > > > > > > > same effect from taking phosphatydal serine, I felt much more > > > fatigued every time I stopped taking it and didnt understand why > as > > > at that time I wasnt aware that it lowered cortisol though I knew > it > > > supported the adrenals. Luckily I seemed to bounce back fairly > > > quickly and I never had the strong suppressive feeling I had on > h/c. > > > > > > > > I wonder if you have a very reactive stress response at the > > level of the pituitary, which exhausts your body by trying to > > push your adrenals to produce lots of cortisol when they can't > > keep up. By telling the pituitary to quit asking for so much > > cortisol (which is my understanding of what phos serine does), > > this actually gives you more energy, because your adrenals are > > not being forced to work so hard. I'm sure I've heard this > > explanation somewhere, but can't remember where. > > > > > > > > > > > Have you tried iodine? I've been taking that for a few months and > it > > > has been helping me a bit although not consistently. Its supposed > to > > > help balance out all the hormones in the body and I've read that > it > > > can increase the receptivity to cortisol and hence lower the need > for > > > it but I've been so up and down I can't tell if it has done that > for > > > me yet. > > > > > > I took iodine a few years ago when I first started working with an > > ND. Her suggestions helped me a lot overall, but I don't recall > > the iodine itself making a noticeable difference. It was not the > > really high dose iodine (iodoral). I haven't seen enough > information > > about that yet to be comfortable trying it. > > > > -- > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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