Adrenal Cortex and DHEA Supplementation Advice?

[engineer2000]

Hi. I'm a 21 year old male and I have hypothyroidism, moderately low saliva cortisol in the am and afternoon, and EXTREMELY low morning saliva and morning serum DHEA. I'm a mechanical engineer so as you'd expect I'm in the same boat as all of you trying to figure this out myself.

Labs:

Serum DHEA-S: 90 mcg/dL (Should be 200-400. 90 is EXTREMELY LOW FOR MY AGE). Blood was drawn at 8:00am.

Saliva DHEA-S: 3.4 ng/mL (Should be at least 23 for my age and health. 3.4 is ALSO EXTREMELY LOW FOR MY AGE)

Total Testosterone: 1154 ng/dL (Range: 250-1100. Mine is very high, more on that below)

Free Testosterone: 123.5 pg/mL (Range: 35-155. Still high but not crazy. Probably because of SHBG being high)

SHBG: 83 nmol/L (Range: 10-50. High. Not sure why. It's been high since before I started supplementing. See supplementation below)

Saliva Cortisol:

8:00am: 6.7 ng/mL (Should be 9.5)

1:30pm: 2.3 ng/mL (Should be 2.55)

7:00pm: 1.7 ng/mL (fine)

Midnight: 0.4 ng/mL (perfect)

My problem is that I don't know the best way to go about my adrenal treatment. Here's some quick insight.

I'm currently on 75mg of Armour Thyroid taken at 8:00am everyday, 10mg micronized DHEA taken at 9:30am everyday, 200mg Thorne Adrenal Cortex(ACE) taken at 10:30am everyday, 150mg at 1:30pm, 50 mg at 6:00pm, and 50mg at bedtime.

The thyroid labs very clearly indicate hypo so that's not why I'm here. I'm increasing them 15mg every 4 weeks. I'm curious how to supplement quickly and efficiently in the morning while making sure all of my meds absorb. I believe DHEA should be taken on an empty stomach and I'm doing it 1.5 hours after Armour to be safe. And I'm taking my 200mg dose of ACE 1 hour after the DHEA to give it time to absorb. Also, I take all the ACE with food because I heard it absorbs well with food in the STTM book. I wish there was a simple way to take them all very early. Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions?

Also, here is another piece of the puzzle: My DHEA is extremely low yet my Total Testosterone is so high it's out of the range. I can't workout or run because of adrenal fatigue but if I do I gain muscle so easily you wouldn't believe it. This is strange because high T doesn't usually go with low DHEA since DHEA is what makes Testosterone. Thoughts?

I have A LOT more labs and I have the data all neatly organized in an excel spreadsheet so if you need more info to make a suggestion just ask!

[greygoose]

Have you tried taking your Armour at night, instead of in the morning?

[engineer2000 in reply to greygoose]

No I haven’t. What happens when you do that?

[greygoose in reply to engineer2000]

A lot of people find it suits them better. Just make sure it's about 2 hours after your last meal. But, that would mean you could take your DHEA early morning. As it is, taking it one and a half hours after Armour might affect the absorption of the Armour.

[engineer2000 in reply to greygoose]

I had no idea that 1.5 hours might not be enough time. I’ll look into taking it at night then. Do you have any sources?

[greygoose in reply to engineer2000]

No, sorry, but on here we always advise leaving at least two hours between thyroid hormones and other medication/supplements.

[Jazzw]

I’m wondering whether you’re trying too many things at once. If you aren’t yet on enough thyroid hormone (and it sounds like maybe you’re not) then other hormone levels will be impacted and subject to fluctuation. I know you want to feel better—now!—but you’re taking quite a lot of pre-hormones at a time when things are unstable.

How and when were you diagnosed with hypothyroidism? It’s unusual for a 21 year old to be on Armour rather than levothyroxine (were you ever on Levo? What happened?). I’m just trying to understand your “journey so far”.

[Redlester]

I don't know if this is helpful - but take from it what you find useful. I am taking T4, T3 and Thorne ACE for hypocortisolism.

I take my T4 at bedtime - 2 hours away from food - it seems to help me sleep and night time is a good time for me to take it. I take my T3 about 7am and I take only 2 doses of ACE as advised by my FMD. He advised me to take 3 caps of Thorne at 9.30am and 1.30pm with food in my stomach. So in the morning I take a small amount of fruit - take my ACE and then have the rest of my breakfast as usual and follow a similar pattern at lunchtime. That way my thyroid meds are taken on an empty stomach with plenty of time for absorption and I can fit in the ACE with foods - it is tricky trying to time everything an fit it all in!