Guest guest Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Hi guys My first post here on this informative board which was highly recommended to me by Lethal Lee. I have been monitoring the posts in this forum for a little while and have read through many of the reports in the file section which I found very helpful so a big thanks. My story is that I have been bouncing around within the Australian allopathic medical system for the last 5 years without a creditable answer or a helpful diagnosis of what I believe are my RT3 / Adrenal/ Hormonal and low ferritin problem(s). My comprehensive details are as follows. I know it is a lot so please excuse the length of this initial post but I thought I should get it all out there. If somebody could take the time and effort to provide some helpful guidance and advice it may assist me to finally move in the direction of solving my problem(s). For this I would be eternally grateful and hopefully a whole lot healthier. I have been over on the RT3 and the NTH Adrenal forums looking for answers as well. My details Male 59 years 182 cm or 6' tall Currently 70 kilograms or 154 lbs (normal range 70 kgs to maybe 75kgs at heaviest) Try to keep fit attending gym 5 nights weekly for running and weights Resting Heart Rate 55 to 65 BPM (when well and fit) currently though mostly higher Under a lot of ongoing stress which can't be solved immediately Gallbladder was removed in 1990 which was my turning point to eating healthy Vegetarian eating seafood, cheese and eggs. Recently added chicken back in. Try and focus on raw foods as much as I can. Use Himalayan Salt on food and drink Celtic Sea Salt ½ tsp 3 x p/d for low sodium I have been working on raising my chronic low ferritin levels, lowering my stress load, lowering my RT3 levels, raising my Aldosterone, sodium and potassium, supporting my adrenals, improving digestion and absorption and trying to put on some weight, both muscle and fat. But with my latest serum Estradiol and SHBG results I now need to focus on my sex hormones again as well, hence I am here. Hope you guys can help me! Prescribed Drugs Tertroxin ( Liothyronine) currently 40mcg daily in split doses, since September 29 2010. Hoping to wean myself from this gradually in February/March. Have been aiming for RT3 cellular clearance but not sure if that is going to happen or not as I am on a lowish dose and wary of going higher especially without any HC?? Current Supplements per day " Ethical Nutrients Iron Plus " 20 mg Iron x 1 Thorne Iron Picollinate 25mg x 1 Now Iron Bisglycinate 18mg x 1 Fish oil 1000mg x 4 Now Krill oil 1000mg x 1 Healthy Origins Ubiquinol CoQ10 100mg x 1 Total Balance Multi x 7 tabs Premium combination from NZ Vit D x 1000iu x 6 Glucosamine Sulphate & Chondroiton 1500mg x 1 Prostate Complete x 1 Ultra Zinc 46mg x 1 every 2nd day as already getting 30mg daily in other supps Magnesium oil Ancient Minerals x 100mg elemental Magnesium on skin, Morning smoothie with Flaxseeds, slippery elm, psyllium husks, WPI, coconut oil, blueberries, almonds, yoghurt, coconut cream and rice milk. Have been including Maca 1 tsp but currently just cycling it off and will add it back in 2 weeks or so along with LGlutamine ½ tsp x 2 Recently added supplements (24th December 2010) to target sex hormones and adrenals mostly Natures Way DIM Plus x 6 Metabolic Maintenance DIM Complex x 1 LEF Super MiraForte x 4 Now Tru C 400mg x 2 Ascorbic Palmitate Vit C 500mg x 1 Jarrow Adrenal Optimizer x 1 Thorne Basic B Complex (active) x 2 Now Licorice x 450mg x 2 Doctors Best Proteolitic Enzymes x 2-3 Now Super Digestive Enzymes x 2 with each meal Now Rhodiola 500mg x 1 LEF Super Zeaxanthan x 1 My ND injected 500mg then 1000mg Glutathione in December Recently ceased supplements Bio identical DHEA caps 25mg p/d ceased 6th July 10 Bio identical Testosterone cream ceased 21st May 10 ALA Chelorex x 16 (for metals chelating) Vit E, C, Selenium Evening Primrose oil 3 caps (ceased) Indolplex EstroSense Chrysin cream 5% Chrysin cream 10% ExtremeY x 1 tab, mens mix includes Ashwaganda 300mg, Ginsengs, Ginko etc (Ceased on Vals advice re Korean ginseng and Ginko as too stimulating for struggling adrenal glands) Testoroid/Erectomax Licorice Root 1 x 2 p/d from Dec 1st Have replaced with Now brand Herbs of Gold Stress Ease Recently ceased supplements that may have been hindering iron absorption pHour Salts alkalising salts copious amounts in water consisting of calcium, sodium ,magnesium and potassium bicarbonates Longevinex x 1 caps Resveratrol, quercetin, phytate and grape seed mix Vit D continue to take but may have some effect with Calcium on iron absorption??? Green tea within 4 hours of iron and meals. Note as a mostly vegetarian, by definition I consume mostly vegetables which I now understand contain phytates that hinder iron absorption.??? Symptoms Very cold hands and feet, worse in winter to the point of " stinging " , fine tremor throughout entire body always present, recent occasional tightness in the neck area, sunken cheeks, very gaunt sickly facial appearance, dark circles under eyes, dry nostrils sometimes, episodes of higher Blood pressure last year but low BPs in more recent times along with raised pulse, low serum free testosterone not reacting to supplementation, night sweats sometimes, unable to put on /maintain weight despite 3000kcal diet and regular weights workouts, exceptionally poor thin skin quality beyond age related expectation, eyes cloudy not clear, rapidly thinning hair, outer 1/3rd eyebrows gone, lower back pain sometimes feels like maybe kidney pain?? , Quite often I feel a general unwell feeling and I am not thriving despite all the considerable effort with lifestyle, exercise and diet. Recent 10k race sent my HR to 209 when previously it would only reach 175 to 180max I must add that at this stage I do not have a lot of the seriously debilitating symptoms that a lot of folk here and the other forums seem to suffer from thankfully. I go to sleep reasonably easy most nights and pretty much sleep through for 7 to 8 hours (some nights a bathroom visit is required) but I do not wake refreshed but rather sluggish actually. I am a regular runner and I am able to do this and remain competitive without overly undue exhaustion or air hunger although this seems to be getting more difficult in recent times. But maybe this is because I have been stopping some of my runs and have replaced some with walks so as not to overtax my adrenals so they can heal, hopefully. I am not diabetic, depressed, manic, brain fogged on drugs of any kind or suffering from any formally identified illness. I have never had any known problem with my Thyroid until I discovered the RT3 site and started researching and testing….thankfully. Although in the back of my mind I had harboured a question mark over my Thyroid for some time. So it would seem that I have RT3 resistance in the cells , sluggish Adrenals, low ferritin, high SHBG, high Estradiol and low free Testosterone, mid range Total Testosterone and maybe low cortisol as well as low Aldosterone, sodium and potassium.???. Not withstanding that my main problems as outlined above under " Symptoms " are severe enough that they impact negatively on my quality of life and I absolutely need to fix them…with your help, I function sort of ok on a daily basis but I am very concerned about my Estradiol levels and my unwell gaunt appearance is sending a message. For the last 2 years or so I have been using both bio identical DHEA, Chrysin cream and Testosterone cream in an effort to normalize my sex hormone levels. Whilst the DHEA did seem to work with good results I was concerned about the greater inbalance that this was creating with the free Testosterone which was not rising. So I have decided to cease all of these until I fully address my suspected Adrenal/RT3 problem as I suspect that this issue may also be somewhat contributing to the mid range DHEA and low free Testosterone and high SHBG and especially my latest high Estradiol (at 192 or 52.3) But that's only my thoughts , what do others think? My theory is that my thyroid is probably somewhat normal in producing T4/T3 but the main problem is the mis-conversion of T4 to RT3 due to 20 years of vegetarianism contributing to chronic low ferritin levels plus the significant stress upon me in the last 5 years (which is when my main symptons first manifested) combining to produce my resistance in the cell receptors? My aim is to support my adrenals hopefully with only Adaptogens and vitamin supplements, continue to raise my ferritin levels with iron tabs, clear my RT3 with T3 only in 12 to 16 weeks or so then wean off the T3 after clearance allowing my then supported adrenals and increased ferritin levels to promote normal function of conversion of T4 to T3 by my thyroid? I enclose the results of my last 2 Saliva tests in July and September 2010 Salivary Cortisol 19th July 2010 and 13th Sept 8am 43.2 H (6.0 – 42.0 nmol/L) 34.3 Midday 3.4 (0.0 – 11.0 nmol/L) 7.4 4pm 3.8 (2.0 – 11.0 nmol/L) 3.3 8pm 3.2 (1.0 – 8.0 nmol/L) 0.8 Daily total 53.6 (11.0 – 76.0 nmol/L) 46.8 Midnight 3.1 (0.0 – 5.0 nmol/L) 3.0 Melatonin Midnight 10 (10 – 40 pg/mL) 6.0 Androgens DHEAS am 7.3 (5.0 – 30.0 nmol/L) 6.7 DHEAS/Cortisol am ratio 0.17 L (0.20 – 0.60 ratio) 0.2 Testosterone 370 (100 – 720 pmol/L) Progesterone (P4) 139 < 159pmol/L Estrogens Estradiol (E2) 5.0 <6 pmol/L 3.0 Estrone (E1) 23.0 H (9.6 – 20.0 pg/mL) 25.0 Estriol (E3) <1.0 (0.00 – 25.0) pg/mL <1.0 E3/ [E2+E1] 0.04 L >1.0 Ratio 0.04 P4/E2 Ratio 27.8 (4.0 – 108.0 Ratio) Note I had been taking Ashwaganda 300mg plus other ingredients contained in my " Nutra Life Extreme Y " Male supplement up to 24 hours prior to the July test but not for the September test. These below were part of the July test results of urine Urine Spot Creatinine Urine Spot 4.6 (6.5 – 15.0) mmol/L Urine Iodine 73 ug/L Urine Iodine corrected 140.4 ug/gCR Notes: Normal iodine status >100ug Iodine /g creatinine Urine 24 hour Testosterone, urine 0.9 (0.6 – 2.2) umol/24h I also include some of my blood test history through 2010 Blood tests Feb-10 May-10 Jun-10 July/Aug/ Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec 10 Component Range S & N Labs Testosterone total 10--33 24 22 18.6 24 22 21 22 Testosterone free 40-100 42 29 28 20 19 18 Testosterone free calc 260-740 265 Oestradiol 40-250 162 131 89 155 155 122 150 192 DHEA 300-2700 1600 2300 1300 1300 SHBG 13-71 57 59 60 56 81 79 17 OH Pregnenolone 0.0-10.0 5.5 Hydroxy-Progesterone 0.2--1.8 1.3 DHT 3.19 Prolactin <15 5 5 Luteinizing hormone 3--20 5 5 Follicle Stimulating 3--20 17 17 Cotrisol 24 hour urine 80-590 Cortisol 190-610 320 360 450 530 520 470 370 ACTH 5--50 21 24 22 43 32 29 Adrenaline <1.0 0.2 Noradenaline <3.5 5.9+ Normetadrenaline free <900 308 Metadrenaline free <500 145 HbA1c <6 PSA <3.20 0.48 0.52 0.38 0.45 Cholesterol 3.9-7.4 5.1 4.5 4.7 4.9 4.2 4.7 4.6 Triglycerides 0.3-2.2 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 ESR 1--20 1 Serum Ferritin Assay 20-320 48 42 60 / 40 61 55 55 60 57 66 Iron 10--33 18 29 17 / 18 32 25 24 25 16 13 Transferrin IBC 45 - 70 69 / 61 71 68 59 64 61 61 Transferrin Saturation % 16 - 50 25 / 29 45 37 41 39 26 21 Serum Vit B12 Assay 162-811 888+ 354 453 902+ Red cell Magnesium 5.2-7.5 5.4 Serum zinc 19 16 Glucose 3-6 fasting 5.3 5.4 5.3 Homocysteine 0.0-15.0 7 11 8.1 6.7 Vitamin D 25hydroxy 50-300 160 160 140 120 140 Albumin 35-50 43 41 43 45 Globulins 20-40 27 24 24 25 Renin 3 -- 40 32 64+ 22 31 44 Aldosterone 100-950 190 440 250 210 280 Aldosterone/Renin ratio 2--75 6 7 11 7 6 Red Cell Folate Assay 545-3370 869 556 2343 1113 THS 0.4-4.00 1 0.7 1.1 0.9 0.1 0.3 0.07 Free T4 10 - 20 17 19 13 13 11 Free T3 2.8 - 6.8 5 4.8 5.9 4.8 6.8 Anti Thyroglobulin Ab <60 39 42 22 Anti Thyroid Peroxidase Ab <60 18 43 53 Red Cell Porphryn 0--900 430 530 Reverse T3 170--450 462+ 449 540+ Serum Leptin 2.0 - 5.6 2.4 Sodium 137 - 147 142 140 140 138 139 138 Potassium 3.5 - 5.0 4.4 4.4 4.8 4.3 4.5 3.9 Calcium 2.25- 2.65 2.46 2.43 2.64 2.49 2.37 2.49 Billirubin Total 2 -- 20 17 23+ 21 18 22 14 Billirubin Direct 0 -- 8 7 6 Questions 1. Am I hopefully on the right track with the DIM, Super MiraForte and other supplements targeting improvements in the sex hormones?? 2. What else do I need to do and what has been the experience of those here with any of the above supps? 3. Are any of my vast array of supplements etc likely to be working against me? 4. I am unsure of my real iodine status (despite spot test) so have stayed away from most identified iodine but not sure if this is the right approach or the wrong approach so any suggestions might be helpful. 5. Does anyone know how to safely increase my Aldosterone levels or how much Licorice is safe to take and for how long? 6. It seems that taking salt for low sodium may contribute in driving Aldosterone down so how do I raise sodium, Aldosterone, potassium and also keep calcium from elevating? I am open to all comments and will very much welcome your input on any aspect of the above as I feel I am now desperately struggling with all this and can't really see my way forward. Forgive me for the length of this post but I just need to get everything out there for completeness. The big question is what do I do now? Hopefully I will receive some valuable advice and guidance from this informed community. Kindest regards and warmest thanks Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.