Re: On being afraid of Cortef -

[Guest guest]

Oh, ! Thank yo so much for answering. Really....I mean it!

>

> I think you can use adrenal test even if you are mercury toxic.

> Cutler isn't the only expert on mercury, or adrenals. Read other

> people's stuff, and don't get boxed in by one person's opinion.

Oh, I do..I DO! I just have very little money, and wondered if the test

would even tell me anything at all...since I could not afford it inthe first

place!!!

...and I must mention, that even though I had previously been intollerant of

DMSA, last year, when I nearly died, I tried Andy's protocol of every 3 hour

dosing, and took it in teeny, minute quantities, and it totally saved my

life. I am thinking that if I had been on adrenal supplementaton even back

then, it would have helped a lot more, and would perhaps have spared me from

a lot of anguish. SO, what I am saying, is that I tend to put a fair amount

of stock in to what Cutler says, but not to the point that I have blinders

on. NO, not that far....

>

> I am mercury toxic, and had an adrenal saliva test done three times

> in four years.

>Each time the same pattern came back, and when I

> finally started on Cortef I had great improvement.

I seem to see improvement as well.

> Read

> 's book on Adrenal Fatigue, the 21st Century Syndrome.

Okay. I will get that one.

>It has

> loads of info on adrenal fatigue. Some people consider him to be an

> expert.

>

> I just wanted to give my opinion about Cortef. I think each of us

> individually has to try to unravel our thyroid problems, which

> understood is no easy task. If you have tried Armour for many

> months, and are not getting to a point of better health, I think it

> is time to investigate other things that might help. For some, that

> might be adrenal glandulars or Cortef. For me, so many of my

> problems have diminished since being on Cortef. I am at a stable

> dose of 12 1/2 mgs per day divided, and occasionally take a teeny

> bit more if very sleep deprived, or stressed by chemicals. It

> allows me to function better, and has diminished my muscle and joint

> pain and carpal tunnel so significantly that my sleep is vastly

> improved.

How did you finally decide on this particular dose? Just by feeling? Taking

the least amount that seemed to help?

>

> I look at the Cortef as a way to get better. I don't look at it as

> a forever thing. My husband has been on large doses of Prednisone

> (up to 75mgs. a day) for several months to a year twice. He got off

> the Prednisone, and I will get off the Cortef when the time is right.

Oh, that is SOOOOOoooooo encouraging to hear. I have been so worried about

creating even more problems for myself as I try to dig my way out.

>

> If a person has low thyroid as part of the complex of problems that

> goes along with mercury poisoning or other poisoning, the problems

> become very complex because the hormonal systems are affected, as

> are the liver and nervous system.

Yes..Yes! It is not just the thyroid for me/us...I know that!

> I think it is important to try to

> have faith in what you are trying to do, to not try too many things

> at once, to stick with one type of medication long enough to see if

> it is working for you, and to try other things when you reach a

> wall.

Okay. That is exactly what I was thinking and have been trying to do,but

this whole CORTISONE thing had really scared me, because I seem to need it

so much, and I was afraid of becoming dependant and/or doing even more

damage. Also, I can actually FEEL the effects of Cortisone, whereas from the

ARMOUR,I feel nothing. So maybe that scared me too

>It is probably a good idea to have your liver function tested

> also, as this can greatly influence how you handle toxicities in

> your body, and how symptomatic you might be.

The CORTISONE seems to make me a lot less allergic, and I don't crave starch

and sugar like a fiend when I use it. I think the low adrenal function had a

lot to do with the attacks I was getting last year too.

>

> I have found that the longer I have been on Armour, the more

> familiar I have become with what effects it has on me, and this

> helps me greatly to decide what I need to do next, or if I need an

> increase.

I have beenon it for nearly 4 years now, but only started increasing my

doses aove 2 grains, last summer. I am up to 4 1/2 now, but have seen little

or no difference. The cortisone gives me the impression it is going to help

that.

>

> Also, when combining Cortef and Armour, the two medications sort of

> weave together, but of course that doesn't happen right away or

> necessarily easily.

>When I first started on Cortef,

>>>it gave me low adrenal symptoms

GREAT!! THANKS! That is exaclty what I needed to know. I have had some of

those too, and it really confused me. I decided yesterday to stick to about

12.5 mg and ride it out for awhile and see what happens.

Did you ever wake up in the wee hours with your heart pounding from it? I

have taken about 1 mg of CORTEF at about 4:oo Am to stop this, and it seems

to work. Do you think that is okay?

>just like when I was on too little Armour it gave

> me low thyroid symptoms. I stuck with it, because I knew for me the

> Armour was not " doing it " , and after a couple weeks I felt much

> better and got to the dose my DR. said was good for me, and have

> pretty much stayed at it.

Which liver tests have you used? All I have ever had the done were our basic

liver enzyme tests.

Do you know of any I can get done without a doctor?

Thank you sooooo very much for helping me with this.

I ACTUALLY FEEL SO MUCH BETTER, knowing that what I am doing is probably

right for me at this time.

Whew! I have been scared to say the least. Mercury almost took me out last

year, and I wouldn't want to go bakwards after coming this far. You know, I

crashed and became terribly ill after having some severe stress...so maybe

the adrenals have been at play far more than I realized. I spent all the

money Ihad on medical help form a biointegrative doctor at the time,but she

never suggested the adrenals. In fact, she told me to stop the thyroid that

she had put meon, becasue she said my body wasn't usig it anyway, and she

said we needed to clean it out. The rest of my savings went on EDTA, which I

could no longer tolerate, and then some other infusions. SO, I thinkwhat she

was saying is that my receptor sites were blocked off.

A big huge hug for you for answering my post. I feel so much better now!

Off to order that book...

Inga

>

> R.

[Guest guest]

>

> My DR was very adamant about my not taking any more than 12 1/2

> mgs. ....

>

Okay, I seem to do okay on the 12 1/2 as well. I have divided things up

into a weekly pill box and that helps too. Then I keep a tiny amount like

maybe 2 mg for the night or ealy morningif I shold need it

>

>>

>> The CORTISONE seems to make me a lot less allergic, and I don't

>> crave starch and sugar like a fiend when I use it.

>

> That is interesting because Cutler says that you can fix yeast

> problems by normalizing the Cortef, and yeast makes a person crave

> sugar. Sounds like the Cortef helps you with that.

I had forgotten about that, I had thought it was a blood sugar thing.

I will go search for that section and read it...

>

>

>> Did you ever wake up in the wee hours with your heart pounding

>> from it? I have taken about 1 mg of CORTEF at about 4:oo Am to stop this, and

>> it seems to work. Do you think that is okay?

>

> I would think it would be o.k. I have not had the heart pounding

> you and others describe in the early morning hours. I did have to

> increase my Armour dose shortly after starting the Cortef.

I thik that is interesting. When we take more thyroid, we need to more

Cortisol, and when we take more cortisol, we need to increase the thyroid.

>If it

> helps, you would think the pounding would be related to low cortisol.

I used to think it was all from mercury and food allergie, but am starting

to think that adrenals have played a big roll in the heqart pounding and the

attacks I used to get. (Still get little ones formtime totim...but NOTHING

like I used to.

>

>

> I just had the Great Smokies Comprehensive Liver Detox profile done,

> as described in Andy's book. I don't know if you can have it done

> without a doctor. I did have a bit of a hard time with it, you have

> to take a NoDoz one day, and some tylenol and aspirin another day.

I do not tolerate caffein at all...I usually get horrific attacks from it.

Can you use something else? I don't think I could handle NoDoz.

> I felt " toxic " for a couple of days after doing the test, but it

> gave me really valuable information about how my liver works, which

> I think is part of the problem with toxicity of any kind.

>

>

> That is the hard part about trying to fix yourself with mercury

> toxicity. Everybody has a different opinion about how to go about

> it! I did a too long course of DMSA last year, and after that is

> when my thyroid crashed!

Interesting. I was on DMSA for about 7 months straight without a break. Andy

had said something aout there being rare circumstances where that was okay,

For me it was stoppng internal seizure-like attacks.

I had crashed before that when my mother died, my fiance went to prison, and

my brother who hates me and does not believe in mercury toxicity or anything

other than textbook medicine....got control of the estate and my well-being

adn afairs and such. The brother part was so frightening. I thought if he

found out I was sick, he would inadvertantly kill me...dragging me to a

hospital where they woudl experimebnt on me...I would likely have died..and

I was at my brother's mercy. So, I think that is where my adrenals went

to...

> Another interesting book is Eating Alive II by Dr. Jonn

> Matsen. He talks a lot about mercury and how it affects the liver.

I will put that on my list.

Thank you . Thank you for caring. Yes, this is quite a battle that we

are in...and the hard part is that we look so " normal " most of the time.

~Inga

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