Hello, I am a patient of Dr Gordon Skinner and as most of you know he has passed away. Apart from being absolutely devastated about his untimely demise, I am now struggling to find anyone who may treat me as he did...symptoms first rather than lab results! I know that many of you on here are as good as he was at understanding lab results and poo poo-ing the accepted reference ranges by the medical profession. I have my blood results in as requested by Dr Skinner last time I consulted him. Can anyone here help me interpret them at all?
The results are written exactly as they are on my report;
(44g) Plasma glucose level - 4.4 mmol/L (3.3-5.5) (bh) - Normal - No Action
(4482) Serum cortisol 288 nmol/L (bh) Normal - No Action
Reference Range:
nmol/L 9am: 140 - 690
nmol/L 12mn: 75 - 175
Post Dexamethasone: < 60 nmol/L
My bloods were taken at 9am and I had been fasting for 15 hours.
Thanking you all for your help
Sarah
xxx
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earlybirdsarah
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Hi I am no expert on glucose but it seems fine to me, were you suspecting high or low?cortisole is on the low side , google B12d and search for hypoadrenalism protocol, depending on your symptoms you may fall into stage three, but it is very hard to say. Could you describe your symptoms a little more
Hi Roslin, thank you for replying. My symptoms vary wildly. I neglected to mention the mess I am on. I was diagnosed hypothyroid in oct 2012. After seeing Dr Skinner I am now on 200mg levothyroxine and 60mg armour (however not sure how I'll get that now,) I have cold hands/feet, average temp of 35.2degrees cels. I can get episodes of very anxious and shaky and get upset v easily. Little things like a messy house will send me off into a tidying rage! I suffer from loose bowels one day then totally bound up the next. Dr Skinner had a list of symptoms he would ask you to highlight and I pretty much highlighted 90% of them! I have felt improvement since increasing the mess way up. But Dr S wondered if I was diabetic which I doubted and I wondered about my adrenals which he was happy to explore.
Hi sarah, I was under Dr S as well and last time I saw him (the week before he died) he reduced my armour from 5 grains to 3 and added 40mcg T3 because I was still very hypothyroid. I am not an expert but it looks to me that you may have some conversion or resistance problems as well. You may want to look into adding some some T3 maybe reducing thyroxine. If you would like info where to get T3 and Armour I can PM you. I was discussing cortisol with him as well and he was wanting to get the thyroid hormone sorted before looking at hydrocortisone, this was earlier in the year. Thing came to a crisis in september with severe low cortisol symptoms and I took the decision to start HC by myself. My last morning cortisol was a little lower than yours at the last test in may but I was deteriorating. I wish I had been able to do it with a proper diagnosis and under medical supervision. But needs must. I am now looking into B12 deficiency which is a strong possibility when you have a dier rear for so long. have a look at the hypoadrenalism protocol I mentioned before. I doubt that your GP will treat your adrenals on the results you have as most drs wont accept that to be deficient. You could ask to have a short synachten test done but this is a very unreliable test to measure our type of problem as it will just rule out addisons disease. Sorry I havent been able to come up with any solutions, the only thing I can say is to make sure that you have you vitamins and minerals at an optimal level. You should also ask to get the Drs list sent to you from TUK if you havent already and see if there is a dr in you part of the country that can help you. I have an appointment with a Dr in Feb and I hope he will be able to take over my thyroid management, the problem is that it has to be a very brave Dr to put themselves up against GMC. If he cant I will self treat.
Hi Roslin, it's such a shock about Dr S isn't it. I saw him late Oct. Poor man, we've lost such a brilliant mind and ambassador. Good luck with your new dr. Do you know if dr Skinner's surgery is recommending any consultants or any are taking his patients on? I'm concerned I have to go though the whole paying full consultations etc. sounds cheap of me but it is expensive. 8-/
Yes please pm me re where to get these Meds, thanks Roslin. Also let me know where you're based. Maybe we could meet for a chat and remember dr Skinner?
Hi Roslin, I've just checked out the HC and it says that you shouldn't use it for thyroid conditions. Is this because they have to say it for legals reasons or is that referring to hyperthyroid not hypo? I watched Dr Chandry's you tube talk and he is amazing and he prescribes hc to thyroid ppl. All this information is quite complicated and hard to understand. I'm so new at this..! Sorry to keep buggin you.
I started off by reading the book Stop the Thyroid Madness, it was a steep learning curve. It also has a web site with a lot of information about cortisol. It is involved with the conversion of T4 to T3 together with iron, B12 , selenium, magnesium, folate and D3 , probably other substances too that I am not aware off. It is a big step to start HC and best to do it with a dr. You also need to make sure your other levels are good, not just within range but towards the top, many drs don't understand this is important particularly for people not doing well on their thyroid meds. Ferritin should be at least 70 . Most people here supplement with this and som in high doses. Doing a saliva cortisol test is useful but your GP is unlikely to pay attention as they are not used to this. NBD mentions T3circadian method which is helpful for some, that is also a book and a Facebook page. Don't know very much about that.
this you had done was blood cortisol which normally shoots up very quickly when you only just see the needle approaching your arm! As such you are likely to have even lower cortisol than on this result!
If I were you I would explore 2 things:
doing a saliva cortisol test (available privately via Genova Diagnostics see thyroid uk web page) approx cost £75
and
doing the circadian T3 (CT3M) method with your NDT dosage, I would not increase just yet to be honest, just do the CT3M (can anyone chip in here and tell earlybird sarah about it? I am at work and will not be able to until at the very least tomorrow)
Thank you, I will get the saliva test done. My GP is really quite innocent in doctoring I feel. She really sticks to guidelines. She's v young and from another country so I get the impression she is frightened to 'rock the boat' so to speak!
I have had my vit b tested and it was like 40 and the cut off for the dr to give me any prescription b was 35...go figure! I am going to ask for a referral to the endo at my local hospital as I've done some research on him and was pleasantly surprised that he has a reasonable rep. I will also see someone privately. Then compare the two....my GP at least never refused Dr Skinners requests apart from I had to pay for the armour.
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