Hi, my saliva test is so bad - every sample below range - that despite trying CT3 and LDN it is looking more and more likely that the only way to progress is to take hydrocortisone. Unfortunately my cortisol blood comes back high, so I can't see an NHS GP prescribing me any and I know it is very expensive to buy from the states.
Has anyone seen a private dr in the UK who has prescribed them anything - LDN, NDT or HC? - and if so how did the money work out, how much did you have to pay for prescription in addition to the consultant fee and how expensive was the actual medication compared to buying from US Pharmacy or other? Did you have to pay for a prescription every time you needed it?
I have an appointment in Jan with Dr Myhill and just wondering whether it would be better to spend the money on sourcing HC myself or more sustainable to go to her. I know that once I go down the HC route I am unlikely to be able to come off it and I just don't know how I am going to afford to keep on it for life! Alternatively I don't know how many more years of my life I can lose to so called 'M.E'.
If you have any experiences of paying for private please help me. Thank you
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sulamaye
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Sula, have you tried some things on your own in the meantime? I wonder if there is a reason that the saliva shows low results and the blood, high. I'll look for an answer to that. Dr. Wilson has a lot of advice and this page is about the diet for weak adrenals. The last item I saw about hydorcortisone recommended a short term of low dose of supplementation.
I am sorry you are having problems with your adrenals. I know one doctor who said that if we are hypothyroid and take medication that the adrenals can sort themselves out. Another doctor says the opposite.
I note you say you have M.E. Have your own doctors done a check on your thyroid gland? If you had that test a while ago, ask your GP if she will do a new test for your Thyroid Gland,
Also ask her to check your thyroid antibodies, vitamin B12, Vitamin D, iron, ferritin and folate.
If you are on any medication don't take it before your blood test and have it as early as possible. Get a copy from the surgery with the ranges and post on a new question.
This is an important link and self-explanatory. Dr Skinner died last year and he had lots of success with his patients as they couldn't get a diagnosis as their TSH didn't 'fit in' with the 'modern blood test' for diagnosing. Patients were given any diagnosis except a thyroid gland one. You will see how he became involved. That's why I am suggesting you ask for these tests from your GP. He/she may not do them all but its worth a shot.
Thanks everyone - I have no problem with my thyroid test, I've been prescribed thyroxine for twenty years, I suspect some major operations one after another lead to stress on my body, high RT3 and I ended up not being able to use the large dose of T4 I was on. I think it's true that not enough thyroxine leads to adrenal insufficiency. But when your adrenals get really low then when you try to address thyroxine correctly you can't tolerate a large enough dose before BP and other symptoms go haywire. That's why I tried cicadian T3 to see if it would help support my cortisol production.
My understanding about the blood test is that the cortisol blood test measure bound and unbound, whereas the saliva measures what is available to the cells. UNfortunately NHS doesn't recognise the saliva test so even a private Endo won't prescribe me HC with my cortisol test.
Sulamaye, you can find HC on-line at a reasonable price. If you're interested, I'll pm you.
As for taking it for the rest of your life, it depends how you take it.
When you are just taking it for adrenal fatigue, you need to take it first thing in the morning and again at lunchtime. But you must not take it after one pm.
The reason for this is that with adrenal fatigue you do not need to take a full replacement dose as you often do thyroid hormone for a failing thyroid gland. You just need to give the adrenals a helping hand during their busiest time - the morning - to give them a bit of a rest,, then let them get on with producing their own cortisol for the rest of the day, when the body needs less. That way, they can heal and restore themselves and, eventually, you can wean yourself off the HC.
If you replace thoughout the day to imitate the adrenals normal production, as so many people recommend you do, the adrenals are going to stop producing altogether. And once they stop, you won't be able to get them started again, and you will need to be on HC for the rest of your life.
This is how my doctor explained it to me. And this is what I did. I took HC for a couple of years, and then I came off it.
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