Re: Slow Release Cortisol + Normal HC dosing?

March 20, 2008

Everyone absorbs medicines at a different % and I'm gussing everyone

absorbs " slow release " meds at different speeds too. I believe I was

absorbing it over about 6 hours, not 12.

I would take 15mg SR in the morning and for a while I felt good and it

was working. However after a week or so, I started waking up in the

early morn with asthma, and this got worse and worse until I had a

severe attack and couldn't breathe. The asthma was because I must have

been running on nadda cortisol.

I hypothesise that the 15mg cortisol was being released too quickly -

shutting down my own production, and then my adrenals couldn't product

enough to get me through the night.

You might need a higher dose if it was working and not anymore?

Personally I liked SR because it was more of a steady release. On pure

HC I feel it way too much after I take a dose and don't feel well at

all. I think my body uses the HC way too quickly so thats why I think

SR Cort multi dosing might work for me like normal HC dosing does for

everyone else.

> I am also using Cortisol SR. I was taking it wrong, 4 x a day.

Now I am taking it 2 x a day. I don't know if converting has caused

problems or what, but I haven't felt right. It almost seems as if it

isn't working. I don't get that nice calm feeling as when I started.

I am currently on 12.5 mcg: today I tried something different. I did

7.5 at 7:00 a.m and 5 at 1:00. I am having trouble sleeping so I don't

want to take it any later. How do you know your adrenals were being

shut down? Did it feel like it wasn't working anymore. Why do they

prescribe it this way if it could shut your adrenals down in large

doses? Makes me think the slow release doesn't work right. I have a

doctor appointment on Monday and am wondering if it is better to take

the HC. Rhonda

March 20, 2008

> Do you think that 15 mcg might be to high a dose to take all at

once. It would be nice to take it all at once, but I don't think I

could handle it all at once. 7.5 is as high as I can go for one dose

so far. I dont' want to screw up the adrenals either. This stuff is

so complicated and the doctor I see didn't give a very clear picture of

what to do.

Sorry I think you misunderstood me, well I should have made it clearer.

Where I said " I would take 15mg SR every morning... " I was saying

that's what I did and it didn't work - I wasn't suggesting that you do

it! : )

Sorry about that. I think multi dosing is still necessary on SR, but

just like anything it's about finding the right dose and scheduling for

the person.

March 22, 2008

I am also using Cortisol SR. I was taking it wrong, 4 x a day. Now I am

taking it 2 x a day. I don't know if converting has caused problems or what,

but I haven't felt right. It almost seems as if it isn't working. I don't get

that nice calm feeling as when I started. I am currently on 12.5 mcg: today I

tried something different. I did 7.5 at 7:00 a.m and 5 at 1:00. I am having

trouble sleeping so I don't want to take it any later. How do you know your

adrenals were being shut down? Did it feel like it wasn't working anymore. Why

do they prescribe it this way if it could shut your adrenals down in large

doses? Makes me think the slow release doesn't work right. I have a doctor

appointment on Monday and am wondering if it is better to take the HC. Rhonda

Slow Release Cortisol + Normal HC dosing?

Does anyone here use SR Cortisol?

I was initially on 15mg SR Cortisol in the morning and felt really

good but after a while I realised my body was absorbing it much too

quickly leading to shutdown of the adrenals over the first half of

the day and leaving nothing for late afternoon and over night until

the next morning. I know this because I started getting severe

asthma attacks in the early morning and I don't normally have asthma.

Now I'm on pure HC but it seems to be making me feel much worse. I'm

currently on 7.5 - 5 - 5 - 2.5 (tried other combos, this is the most

recent as suggested by val) but when I take a dose boy I feel it big

time - within minutes, and not in a good way.

I just took my dose of 5mg 10minutes ago and now my head hurts, I've

got a heap of dizziness, and generally feel like crap. Very hard to

write this. Before the dose I was feeling alright. Feeling much

better since Val told me to drop my morning dose from 10mg to 7.5mg.

All this leads me to believe my body is very sensitive to HC and uses

it up very quickly. Correct me if my hypothesis is wrong, but the

more pure HC I take, the worse I feel, whereas on the 15mg SR I

actually felt good it was just not lasting long enough.

So what if I tried something like this dosing, using a mix of HC and

a SR HC:

Morning: 2.5mg HC, 5mg SR HC

2nd dose: 5mg SR HC

3rd dose: 5mg SR HC

bed time: 2.5mg SR HC

So basically in the morning I have a bit of pure HC to get me going,

along with the SR HC, and then after than I just use SR HC.

Since my body seems to use up HC so quickly and all at once, is it

possible that SR HC for me is the equivalent of other people on plain

HC?

I've read on other boards that some people need to switch to

methylprednisolone because they were using up HC too quickly, but I

think the above dosing plan might be a healthier option?

There's a lot of questions in this post and I'm new here - please let

me know if I should break up my posts into individual topics in

future.

Thanks.

March 22, 2008

Do you think that 15 mcg might be to high a dose to take all at once. It

would be nice to take it all at once, but I don't think I could handle it all at

once. 7.5 is as high as I can go for one dose so far. I dont' want to screw up

the adrenals either. This stuff is so complicated and the doctor I see didn't

give a very clear picture of what to do.