What is the general consensus here on treating low cortisol?

[carmaniac]

It seems to be a complicated issue and there doesn't seem to be a consensus on how to battle this.
I have low testosterone, cortisol and thyroid issues. My doctor prescribed me testosterone injections and low dose hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone.

From what I understand if thyroid has problems and you have low cortisol, cortisol should be treated first. Thyroid medication can be taken as well but only once your cortisol levels are back to normal.

The problem then becomes, how to get your cortisol back up?
Hydrocortisone seems to generally be first on the list, if you take low dose(5-10mg) there's a good chance that your adrenals are not going to shut down as opposed to taking a higher dose for a long time where your adrenals will shut down and then you're on HC for your whole life.

I'm kinda wary of taking HC though. Even with low doses I have seen accounts of people on the internet who somehow shut down their adrenals or **** up their system depending on how long they took their HC.

I do not want to be worse off than when I started, it seems like a pretty big gamble.
I also don't exactly understand if taking HC for a certain period will kick your adrenals back into gear or if this is something that should be taken your whole life. Medicating lifelong with HC does not seem to be a good idea even if you see some benefit in the short term.

Then again there don't seem to be any other solutions? Adrenal fatigue is becoming such a hot topic but nobody seems to know what to do about it? And since adrenals need to be fixed while on TRT and before taking thyroid medication(or you will crash) I'm kinda at a loss here.

I also have himalaya stresscare tablets(ashwaganda, licroice, ginseng) which are supposed to help your adrenals heal as well. Should I try that first?


So to sum it up, is it a good idea to take HC and fludrocortisone to help cortisol levels. How many people here have been successful with it? What is the chance that it will **** up my body and adrenals even more? Are there any other ways to fix your adrenals?

I might post some labs another time.

thanks

 

[Vince Carter]

I was just placed on 5mg once a day in the morning HC. I had two saliva tests about 3 months apart that I was barely breaking the minimum levels in the morning/noon hours and then as expected near zero the balance of the day. My complaint was within an hour of waking that I was dragging, fatigued, yawning, and at about 6-7pm feeling like I was done for the day, like I was desperately trying to stay out of bed until atleast 9pm. I always wake without an alarm clock, I feel pretty fair for an hour and it was all downhill after that. THat's a little dramatic but accurate.

We ruled out Thryoid issues, full panel of every test was all within norms, DHEA-S was always low in the 25% if not supplemented. Dr Saya has me on a 100/100 DHEA and Preg cream. We're trying the HC for 6 weeks to subjectively see how I feel. After four days I think I've felt something different but that can be in my head.

 

[Brooksy Chuck]

I was just placed on 5mg once a day in the morning HC. I had two saliva tests about 3 months apart that I was barely breaking the minimum levels in the morning/noon hours and then as expected near zero the balance of the day. My complaint was within an hour of waking that I was dragging, fatigued, yawning, and at about 6-7pm feeling like I was done for the day, like I was desperately trying to stay out of bed until atleast 9pm. I always wake without an alarm clock, I feel pretty fair for an hour and it was all downhill after that. THat's a little dramatic but accurate.

We ruled out Thryoid issues, full panel of every test was all within norms, DHEA-S was always low in the 25% if not supplemented. Dr Saya has me on a 100/100 DHEA and Preg cream. We're trying the HC for 6 weeks to subjectively see how I feel. After four days I think I've felt something different but that can be in my head.

I thought HC was supposed to be dosed 3 to 4x a day like the body cycles it? dr jefferies wrote a book called "safe uses of cortisol"
when i first started HC i felt much better right away..and i was at a low dose.. now i am at 22.5 in divided doses..so many differnt schools of thought.

 

[Vince Carter]

I've read that, but me and my Dr are doing minimal intervention at this point.

 

[Vettester Chris]

Yes, adequate cortisol is needed to work with T3 getting to the cells. It's not a sometimes yes or sometimes no, it's just science, T3 will pool when cortisol gets too low.

Vince, the thyroid levels can always look "normal", but a physician really looking close at this will compare how FT4 & FT3 are with each other on the reference ranges, and more importantly compare FT3 with Reverse T3. Free T3 can sometimes look awesome, but then you realize T4 is low, and Reverse T3 is also elevated. Sadly, I'm dealing with a bit of this right now, but mine is more on the iron & ferritin side (went too long not donating).

 

[Vince Carter]

My Thyroids have been posted, you saw them and I trust Dr Saya and staff to have not found an issue there. Undeniably my cortisol thru back to back testing was if not a minimum, below min, from 0800-Noon, and after.

 

[carmaniac]

Are there even accounts of people who have used HC, who managed to kick their adrenals back into gear with it and who were able to stop taking HC after their adrenals were healed?