Adrenal support cautions

[Guest guest]

A friend of mine wanted me to post a little bit about adrenal

support. She had noticed that someone was taking both IsoCort and

Nutri+meds adrenal glandulars. I want to make people aware that

whole glandulars, IsoCort, and other adrenal extracts contain

cortisone. They are not benign, unless it expressly says on the

label that there is no hormone in them. Nutri+meds has somewhere

between 2 to 4 mg of cortisone per pill. IsoCort has 2-1/2 mg per

pill. Other over-the-counter or off-the-web adrenal extracts made

from either the whole adrenal gland or the adrenal cortex of sheep,

or cows also contain cortisone, but the amount is not known as the

manufacturer cannot tell you without risking loosing their

supplement status.

The part of the adrenal gland of humans and animals that makes

cortisone is the adrenal cortex. The adrenal cortex, from which

IsoCort is made of, is the inner part of the whole adrenal gland.

Nutri+Meds and other whole adrenal glandular extracts contain the

whole adrenal gland and that means it includes the adrenal cortex

and the outer part of the gland. Whole glandulars will contain

epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenalin) specifically made by the

outer part of the gland and about 20 hormones made by the cortex

including cortisone. The outer part of the gland rarely fatigues or

developes problems and so with whole glandulars you will be getting

some hormones you may not need along with cortisone from the cortex.

Any time you use these over an extended time, such as around 3 to 4

weeks, you are then dependent on them and must taper off slowly. You

also are at risk of weakening your own gland by the amount of your

dose. So, if you take 6 Nutri+meds a day for over 4 weeks, your own

adrenal gland will be weakened very roughly by half. If you take 8

IsoCorts a day, your gland will eventually be weakened by over 60%.

You should not add Nutri+meds on top of IsoCort, unless you are

aware of your total daily dose of cortisone. It would be very easy

to totally suppress your own adrenal production. You do not want to

do this. First it puts you at risk of an adrenal crisis, which could

be quite dangerous. Second, you increase your risk of secondary

's disease, where your own adrenal function will not return

to normal when you try to get off the glandulars.

The healthy adrenal produces somewhere between 20 mg to 40 mg of

cortisone a day. You need to be aware of your total daily dose of

cortisone in glandulars and make an effort to not allow your dose to

be too high so that it totally suppresses your own adrenal

production. You need to treat glandulars like real medicines and

take them on schedule if you are using them continuously for over 3

weeks. You need to taper off of them slowly if you have been on them

for some time, just like real cortisone prescriptions from the

doctor.

Tish