adrenal gland & thyroid

[Pippe]

I recently read a book “The Great Thyroid Scandal (and how to avoid it)’ and “ticked” my way through the book as I have had 90% of the various symptoms detailed in the book for the past 30 years.

It suggested that the adrenal gland & thyroid work closely together & if thyroid is not functioning as it should then initially a short course of a very small dose of cortisone might kick start the thyroid into using the T3 provided instead of the T3 passing through the system, GP saying you are taking too much but you still feeling rubbish.

I asked a GP at my practice, having taken in 8 pages of notes from the book that related to me & my symptoms & a month of my basal temperature observations, if he would consider prescribing cortisone. Without looking at notes, asking who author of book was or being curious about my basal temperature ( which is 35.4) he said the wasn’t going to prescribe based on “quack” advice!

I have written to my endocrinologist and am waiting for his response.

Has anyone else read this book, heard about using or trialled cortisone? I would be interested to hear if your experience.

Thanks

Pippe

BBC

[Alanna012]

I take adrenal glandulars., but I only find them semi-effective. I purchased some hydrocortisone and tried a dose of 10mcg in the morning for a few days. I did not feel good. I did not have any more energy and felt flat in the afternoon. HOWEVER my sleep urge in the evenings was fantastic! I have not experienced good sleep for so many years, I had forgotten what genuinely deep sleep urge felt like. I would drop into blissful sleep eadily but then wake up again very quickly, so I realised I would likely need a higher morning dose and a bit more in the afternoon.

I'm afraid I am too afraid to do that and risk becoming dependent on it, so I stopped. I need a good private endo and that's a totally unaffordabe option for me right now.

That said when I was taking NaturThyroid I did very well and my sleep and energy was gradually improving on that alone, so I can't work out why that worked so well but taking T3 and/or other ndt since then hasn't resulted in the same effect.

It could be if your medication is the correct combo then the adrenals may rally. Some members have found that to happen.

Your doctor's reaction is typical of conventionally trained GP's arrogance whilst knowing nothing. I can just about accept arrogance when being well-versed in the subject at hand, but to be fair, you'd be hard pressed to find a doctor who would put you on hydrocortisone. They are afraid to do so for not entirely illegitimate reasons.

[greygoose in reply to Alanna012]

If your problem is adrenal fatigue, caused by being hypo, then you should never take HC after 1 pm. We take it early morning to give the adrenals a helping hand at their busiest time - early morning cortisol is to get you out of bed, and started on your day. The rest of the day the adrenals should be left to work for themselves, because if they ever stop working completely - as they would with 24 hour dosing of HC - they will not start again. Just that little help can get them started working full time again. But it is a last ressort, when morning cortisol is very, very low, but not low enought to count as adrenal insuficiency.

[greygoose]

That is always the theory we read in books. But it would be a very rash doctor that would start HC without first testing cortisol levels. Very, very few doctors know anything about adrenals, any way - they don't even know that much about thyroids!

I was prescribed HC for a couple of years but the doctor I saw privately - who cost an arm and a leg! - was a hormone specialist who has Hashi's himself and has also suffered adrenal fatigue and taken HC. The majority of doctors don't even admit that adrenal fatigue is a thing. So, not surprising your doctor wouldn't comply with your wishes.

[Alanna012 in reply to greygoose]

I had a couple sessions with a private doctor (little did I understand at the time what a bonus it was) who had hashis himself. I wish I could find and afford someone like that now. You can't beat personal experience.

I've read that you were able to wean off 20mcg hydrocortisone fairly easily GG, but is it always the same for everyone that's what gives me pause. Dr Myhill recommends quite a low dose I think.

(But I do not wish to co-opt the OPs post)

OP it will be interesting to see what the Endo's reply is. Usually you will get a morning cortisol blood test on the NHS and dependent on results, a short synacthen test to see how your adrenals are able to produce cortisol.

The problem is some people with severe adrenal fatigue can still technically pass the Synacthen. And the NHS doesn't recognise nuance in the results or adrenal fatigue, so unless you fail it completely, or your blood cortisol is extremely low giving evidence of possible Addison's disease, they are reluctant to prescribe hydrocortisone.

Consultants do give it more readily to severe asthmatics though, which I find interesting

[greygoose in reply to Alanna012]

I never said I was on 20 mcg. I honestly can't remember the dose, but I've a feeling it was more than that. I took it twice a day. Once on rising and once around lunchtime. But never after 1 pm.

Yes, as I recall, it wasn't a problem coming off it. But I've never taked to anyone else that has come off it, so I have no idea how it is for other people. The doctor that prescribed it didn't forsee any problems, though, having done it himself.

I didn't have a SST myself, but it seems to me that the whole business of that test is a farce because doctors don't seem to understand what they're testing for!

[Alanna012 in reply to greygoose]

Sorry GG I'm reading the message board half the time with fog brain. I thought you used hydrocortisone cream 20mcg daily which probably makes no sense! Apologies.

I agree with your assessment of the SST

[greygoose in reply to Alanna012]

No. They were tablets that I swallowed. I can't imagine that 20 mcg hydrocortisone cream would have helped much.