adrenal fatigue treatment questions

orry if this has been discussed before.

I have been on Medrol for adrenal fatigue for the past three years. It works even though I do not really realise it. What I mean is that I forget to bring it on a trip recently and, after about 24 hours, I started feeling more tired than usual. So it definitely does something for me, even though it does not give me an immediate boost.

I understand that hydrocortisone on the other hand can give an immediate boost, and that its effects are felt more quickly (but also that it wears off more quickly and therefore needs to be multi-dosed, whereas Medrol can be taken once a day).

I was on 6 mg of Medrol daily for over a year (it equals 30 mg of natural HC). Now, I have lowered it to 4 mg daily, hoping that I would eventually manage to wean off it. However, I don't feel as well as I did on 6 mg daily. I also have serious doubts whether I will ever be able to wean off adrenal support completely. Has anyone successfully managed to get off prescription and/or OTC products for adrenal fatigue? If so, how long did it take? After three years, I can definitely say I have not (yet) reached a stage where I can go off all adrenal support.

On the other hand, isn't Medrol suppressing my own adrenals? Is the idea that they get to rest and recover while being suppressed?

The obvious solution would be to go back to 6 mg daily. However, I have been wondering lately if it would be a good idea to supplement the 4 mg of Medrol daily with an OTC product (adrenal cortex, or possibly whole adrenal glandular), or add a little HC to the mix?

I would really appreciate to hear from those of you who have successfully treated adrenal fatigue caused by years of hypothyroidism. There are hundreds of OTC products out there, and I have no way of knowing which work and which don't. Since I have have never tried HC, I have no idea how it compares to Medrol.

The reason my doctor (a Hertoghe doctor) put me on Medrol three years ago was because I tended to retain fluid, and HC is likely to worsen that problem.

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Sorry, I just realised I already asked this question here a couple of months ago...totally confused at the moment! No need to answer this as I can just read the earlier post.

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thecat346 - interested in your comment re fluid retention, has Medrol helped? Did this doctor offer any advice or reasons for this?

I have the same problem, it's really getting me down.

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Hypothyroidism inadequately treated with thyroxine only for ten years prior to my first consultation with this doctor. When I first went on NDT (Armour), I lost quite a lot of water in the first weeks of treatment (on as little as 60 mg of Armour which was my starting dose along with a reduced dose of T4). I have the impression I no longer look as puffy as I used to when I was taking T4 only, so at least Medrol has not made things worse.

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Thanks, that's interesting.