Spironolactone and hormones

[zoeleestar]

Hi, I've been prescribed sprironolatone for hormonal imbalance and PCOS, I suffer from hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue could anyone advise if this will be suitable or cause further hormone problems.

[humanbean]

I've never heard of the drug, but this link may be of interest :

drugs.com/spironolactone.html

You mention having adrenal fatigue. If there is any chance of you having Addison's Disease then this drug might not be for you, according to that link.

[zoeleestar in reply to humanbean]

Thanks for the reply. I have not been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue but did a saliva test which showed fatigue. I'm a bit concerned about taking further hormones as nt want to make symptoms worse. I will read the link much appreciated. Thanks, Zoe

[vixvixvix]

Hey Zoe! Hi, from another hypo/pcos sufferer! I too have adrenal fatigue now, but I was only on spirolactone when I was in my twenties so I can only tell you about my experience at the very beginning of my hypo journey, and my symptoms for hypo was quite mild back then (I made the gp give me levothyroxine, I was "technically subclinical"). I'm not sure how much it would help you?

I was absolutely fine on spiro. For me, I didn't feel that there was much interaction, but way back then (oh my god, it was nearly 10 years ago!!!) I also had pretty bad depression as well, so there was a heck of a lot of drugs going into my body, all of it trying to control a patch of hormones so who knows what was going on hormonally. Let's just put it this way- of all the drug mess going on/ went on in my body, I think spiro/ pill combo is the least of my worries with the least lasting impact. It was FANTASTIC for bloating though, I lost about 5 pounds of water weight from it (hey, we need to be delighted by the "good" side effects). The only thing I felt physically coming off it was that I sadly gained that 5 pounds back. Stopping spiro/ pill didn't affect my mood or energy levels/ hypo symptoms.

Should you take it? Personally, apart from the weight loss, I don't think it did much- but my main pcos symptoms were minor cysts, lots of acne and amenohrea (well and apparently my BMI wasn't fantastic either but the anti depressants made it even worse. YAY!). For me, I felt very little was different. The golf ball sized cyst I had did shrink and the pill already took care of the whole no-period thing. I still had terrible acne and I got the fake period every month. The side effects were less than metformin, which they put me on next- it made my digestive system really sluggish- as if someone covered all of it in cling film (and arguably didn't change how I felt in terms of my sex hormones).

Just be aware that you can't try to be preggers for around 18 months after taking spiro due to the way it interacts with sex hormones, rendering the fetuses not viable. That was the main reason I came off it in my late twenties (since then I've decided I don't want kids and also I started seeing a traditional chinese doctor to manage my symptoms 3 years and doing a million times better).

Would I choose to take it again knowing what I know and with hindsight? Probably not. After all it does mess around with hormones produced by the adrenal glands and while I would say my gut feeling is that it didn't contribute much to my adrenal fatigue, you can't be 100% certain. But then, apart from the chinese medicine blend I take, I've sworn off all western medicine that plays around with my sex hormones (the chinese doctor wasn't pleased I chose to have a copper coil but she's conceded that this was the "least worst option if I must"), so I'm perhaps not the best person to talk to.

[zoeleestar]

Thanks for the informative post. It's difficult to know what treatment to use. It's good that you're having success with a Chinese doctor, has your health improved since not taking western medicine. I'm considering making an appointment to see a private dr as I'm struggling with the fatigue and illness, I take thyroxine and metformin and was concerned about taking spiro and causing further symptoms as I read it can affect your adrenal glands and I suffered from adrenal fatigue which showed in a saliva test.

[Neeta-K in reply to zoeleestar]

How did you get on with Spironolactone? I'm thinking of taking it for severe acne