Re: Vitamin B5 and Adrenal Metabolism? Help, Andy!!

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Nicola.

Great to hear from someone w/a similar experience. I wasn't sure exactly which

story you

were referring to on the addisons network site. Wasn't sure how to find it. Just

read the

story about the man and his wife in " About us/Contact us. "

Interesting about Pred. Is that Prednisolone, or Prednisone?

I need to be at a sane dose to prepare myself for the stress of the extraction

that needs to

be done pre-chelation. Right now my Dr. and I are working on bringing me down

VERY

gradually off the HC to the point where I'm on only Medrol, since supposedly

Medrol is

more sustained. We'll see if that works better. How do you think Medrol and

Pred compare

in terms of being long-lasting and effective for a difficult case? I believe I

went so long

trying to convince a dr. to treat my hypoadrenal situation, all the while

getting ignored,

that my adrenals are probably very atrophied now. I was in the ER twice before

my dr.

finally consented to put me on HC. So my body is trying to make up for lost

time.

After the 2 ER visits, my dr. put me on lots of sea salt w/all fluids. I take

1/4 tsp. of sea

salt per pint of water I drink. That solved my major problems w/low blood

pressure right

away (What a relief! I need lots of salt to live.) The problem was, I was

urinating about

every hour or two. Then I found out about how the adrenals are supposed to make

Aldosterone, too, and not making it results in salt wasting.

I am now taking Florinef (100mcg / day, total), and it helps quite a bit. I am

now urinating

much less frequently (at a more normal rate).

But I'm still on so much HC and Medrol. Today's total dose: HC-90 mg,

Medrol-12mg,

Florinef-100mcg. It got so high from the stress of last Saturday's dental work.

I stress

dosed up to 140 mg HC that day, and Medrol 18mg.

We'll try bringing me down by 10 mg less of HC every 3 days, while keeping

Medrol at

12mg throughout. But I have to really protect myself from any stressors, even

minor

stressors. Otherwise I'll have to drive my dose back up again rather than

tapering it down.

> > >

> > > I've been really researching to try and figure this out. What is

> > causing me to use up my HC

> > > so fast? If I know that, then Andy's book can tell me what to

> take

> > to fix it.

> > >

> > > Is this a matter of liver metabolism? I haven't had any liver

> > profile tests done yet. (Probably

> > > should at this point). But I have many signs of fast phase one,

> > slow phase 2.

> > >

> > > Would fast phase 1 liver metabolism cause me to burn up all my

> > hydrocortisone so fast?

> > >

> > > Again, would taking lots of Vit. B5 help? I started a B-50 for

> the

> > first time earlier today

> > > (don't have B5 yet), and I was surprised to find my low cortisol

> > symptoms stayed away

> > > longer than usual. But then it wore off. Consistent w/what Andy

> > says--B vit. capsules are

> > > not long-acting.

> > >

> > > I just wonder what route to take to slow down my metabolism of

> > hydrocortisone so I'm not

> > > always hyper-dosing it. If this is caused by fast phase 1 liver

> > metabolism, I'll jump into

> > > taking the supps that help with liver (like Milk Thistle, which

> I'm

> > not currently taking), like

> > > maybe more methylating agents?

> > >

> > > If this is just a matter of needing B5, then that's what I'll

> focus

> > on.

> > >

> > > Or maybe I just need to transition to Medrol instead of HC for my

> > adrenal support.

> > >

> > > Gotta get this solved before my extraction in 2 weeks. I don't

> want

> > to become comatose

> > > due to lack of cortisol during dental surgery.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > <snip>

>