One year ago I tested my saliva and was dx with Addison and put on HC I put on two stone of weight and decided to come off and retest. My previous test my morning 8am range was 3.62 with the rest low.
This time my results are up and down. Can someone help me explain what could be going on thanks! X
If you have been diagnosed with Addison's then you can not stop the steroids or else you will die. Were these these done when you were on HC? Who diagnosed you with Addison's, it sounds more like that you have secondary adrenal insufficiency rather than Addison's as you are producing some cortisol. I had a look at your previous posts which seemed to say that you were just supplementing HC when ill, is that still the case? Your levels for the SST are not very low but with sluggish response. If you were taking your HC 3 times a day it can be why you put on weight, it's often better to take smaller doses but more often so you don't get the high levels after each dose.
Hey Pauline, how are you?I haven’t post my last test as the result were all low that with doctors interpretation and then I saw Endo the last test I done 8am was 216 nmol and the rise was 320nmol. I was prx 15 mg of HC. 10 in morning 5 in noon. The last saliva result at 8am was 3.6 range was 6-21. First docs said SAI with the SST then the last saliva addisons. After a while on the HC I felt I had to much cortisol with the weight gain esp on belly. I weaned off for nearly a month and that was my results above. I got Hight cortisol at 4pm. I have Lyme disease too and done a lot of treatments maybe they adrenals were suffering due to infections and the dx of Addison was not accurate. I will retest in 3 months as I was also on bhrt and thryiod medication so will take a long break from all meds and see how they are truly preforming.
I think the fact that you do have some response to artificial ACTH given for the SST suggests secondary adrenal insufficiency rather than Addison's although the treatment is the same apart form Addies needing Fludrocortisone as well. Taking HC just twice a day is possibly why you had weight gain & a high 4pm result. The best way to take HC is at least 3 times a day as HC only lasts between 4-6 hours in the body, so you are flooding it with steroids in the morning & then you go hours without any cortisol in your body. Research has shown that taking it in large doses elevates the cortisol too much hence why you get weight gain. I actually take my HC 5-6 times a day. HRT can give an elevated cortisol result as well.
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