Itchiness Is Back

Remember that rash I was getting a few months ago? Well it is back, but this time I think I know what it is from. No DMSA this time, no supplements this time.

For 8 weeks my husband and I went on a wheat free, gluten free, egg free and almond free diet. He was holding all dairy but I still had a little in my coffee since I HATE goat milk. YUCK.

The day we added wheat back into our diet, I was itchy. I didn't think about it though. Then the one day I had a sandwich on some sprouted bread and within 45 minutes I had tiny little itchy bumps on my arm, face and legs. It is the same exact spots that itched before.

Yesterday we had some pizza and I was so itchy that I had to take a zyrtec! It was unbearable.

I think I might be allergic to wheat. That's the only thing that makes sense. I'm am going to restrict my wheat/gluten intake for a week and see how I feel.

Saliva Test Results Back

Yesterday the saliva test results came back and it is pretty interesting. Click on any picture to see it larger.

Feb '09 (new test)









Saliva Cortisol Chart--This shows that my noon is the highest throughout the day, which is not normal. The morning value is supposed to be the highest, near the top of the range at 23. Then fall throughout the day. I was wondering if the blood draw from that morning made my cortisol higher at noon. I was turned away at the outpatient lab and had to go to the hospital. The lady there wasn't that good at finding my small veins. I definitely think it's a possibility, but why would it affect my result 3 1/2 hours later?


















Sex Hormone Results--Some people say saliva isn't a good indicator, but the crazy high progesterone is interesting considering I don't supplement with it. We'll have to see what the serum levels show. Look at the Luteal lab ranges.

Weight Gain: I can't take it

In the past few months, I've been dealing with some weight gain. It is very strange though. I go through cycles where I lose a ton of weight for no reason. Then the cycle switches and every little thing I eat goes right to my butt and hips. Meanwhile my upper body looks emaciated and sickly with my ribs jutting out in my back. My body is very fat and puffing, even though I'm thin. There is a lot of fat where muscle used to be. I don't know what has caused this to happen, but my toned legs have become soft. My stomach used to be very toned is soft too.

My arms have nothing left on them and anytime I get my blood pressure taken or blood work done, that's what everyone talks about. "You sure do have small arms". Thanks jackass! I wasn't already self-conscious about it.

It's this cycle that gets me in trouble because I haven't been able to figure it out. My thyroid antibodies were normal and nothing in my diet changes. There is no reason for these cycles to occur, but they do. I have to keep several pants sizes in my house just so I have clothes for each cycle. Weird...I know. The pants I buy to replace the ones I have on, will probably only last me a few weeks. Then I'll have to buy new bigger ones. That's how it's been these past few months. As soon as I wear in the pants, I need new ones because I wake up one day and they no longer fit.

I've gone from wearing a size 1/2 comfortably to being unable to wear my new size 5/6 jeans. I'm going to have to go up to a size 7/8. I haven't been this size for at least 5 years and it is making it very nervous. Eight years ago I suffered from anorexia and almost killed myself from it. I abused Stacker 3's and probably should have died a few times, but somehow I made it through all of that hell. There were some nights, where I didn't think I'd wake up. I'd write goodbye letters to all of my friends.

I went from 142# down to 105# in a few weeks time and kept it there for months. For the first time in my life though, I actually enjoyed clothes shopping. I actually enjoyed going to the beach. I actually enjoyed wearing a pair of shorts. It was absolutely amazing. Too bad though I was dying inside.

I went to the doctor and got "help", which consisted of pills. I had to deal with my psychological problems myself because I didn't want any of this on my record. I was "cured", but it took a lot of time and discipline. My family did not support me through this whatsoever. Thank God, I went off of the pills and didn't suffer from any withdrawal symptoms.

About 2 years ago, I decided I wanted to start eating healthier. We ditched all of the packaged crap in our house and really get back to eating real, whole foods. I went from 125 to 117 in a few weeks time and felt fantastic. I was thinner than when I was anorexic and I did all of this eating 3 meals a day. I was so happy for myself and knew this was the size I was meant to be.

Now I am only 122#, but nothing is fitting me. I have no idea what is going on. I only gained about 5 pounds from when I was wearing a size 2, but apparently these pounds are all in my lower body. Part of me thinks it has to do with my pituitary, but I have no idea.

Unfortunately I just wait and see what happens. Will a new weight loss cycle kick in soon? Or will I continue to put on weight?

Having nearly undetectable TSH (with low frees) might have something to do with it...

Time to Update My Story

I was reading my story Part 1/2 on the left-hand side column and realized that I need a Part 3 at this point. So much has happened over the past 8 months. For starters, my hair is mostly grown back, I successfully chelated 8 rounds, my pituitary function has called it quits, and much much more. One of my biggest pet peeves is a blog that isn't updated regularly. That just drives me crazy, so I can't let my own get that way.

Once all of the results of the blood work come in either this week or next, I will be writing Part 3 of my story. Without that blood work, I feel like I haven't made any progress at all. Because well...I haven't.

Stay tuned for the update!

Salt Free Today

In anticipation for the last round of blood work tomorrow, I am on a salt restricted diet for a full 24 hours today. So far I've done a really good job of avoiding salt. Black Pepper is a great substitute!

For some reason I was really craving a yam with some butter. Thankfully we only buy unsalted butter, so I got to indulge! At the last minute I decided to smash it up and add a touch of vanilla extract (the real stuff) and some cinnamon. It was so delicious! Too bad I don't have a picture of my masterpiece to show you. :-)

We are taking a break from our gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free diet plan. Sadly neither of us are showing any difference in our digestions (good or bad), so this 2 month trial may have been for nothing. Even though my husband tested as highly allergic to all those foods, after 8 weeks he wasn't feeling any different.

The one good thing that came out of this diet, is that I am more comfortable in the kitchen. I'm am feeling more adventurous and willing to just throw in a bunch of spices to see what happens. I still never got down making gluten-free breads, but maybe I will in the future.

I'm not sure what we will do long term. I don't think wheat is good for you and should be avoided as much as possible. We are just going to play it by ear and see what happens!

Impulsive Me Does It Again

I am a really impulsive person. I don't know why I am like this, but I'm the type of person that is indecisive, but when I am decisive I make sudden, life changing, (maybe even stupid) choices.

We've all had moments in our lives when we do this. Sometimes it's of no real consequence. You buy a pair a shoes without really thinking about it completely. You get them home and realize that you'll never wear yellow pumps ever! HAHA Sometimes though it is of real consequence. You dump your girlfriend you've been with for 6 months for no real reason! There's other better examples, but I'll just tell you what I did..

Well yesterday, I wrote a short letter to the owner of the music studio and quit. Yeah...I quit both my voice and violin lessons. Remember that nice big post about wanting to get more serious with singing---Doesn't matter with impulsive me! Her policy is a written notice, 30 days in advance, so I have 1 more month and that's it. I absolutely love singing and I was enjoying my time with the violin. What I wasn't enjoying was the hassle of getting my ass down there and the damn chest pains I was experiencing after practicing for 10 minutes. Driving down there was just too stressful for me and it was irritating my husband. I just had enough of it. Now I won't have to worry about it. She won't be too upset because I could never pay her on time.

I've been having a hard time keeping all of my bills straight. It's just getting really bad now. There aren't too many bills that I am on time for now, which is UNLIKE me. Years ago (back when I was 18/19) I was always early with my payments. Being late for a bill would have like a national disaster. The only bills I keep on time are credit cards with special APR's on them. It would be pretty stupid to miss a payment on those.

I'm pretty upset with my decision to quit, but it's done now. I left it open to take lessons in the future and if I feel my health is in better order, then I can try again.

Getting Through the Mid-Day Slump

MMMmmmmmMMMMmmmm...
Image Courtesy of: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I know a lot of you out there self-medicate like me with chocolate, sweets, coffee, tea or even cigarettes to get you through the mid-day slump. Thankfully I don't smoke!

Today I can't have any caffeine, so I'm going crazy. I'll be the first one to admit that I have a caffeine problem. It's how I live my life and without it I feel completely lost. I'm really having a hard time keeping my eye balls open! haha But I must persevere. Normally at this time, depending upon what time I woke up, I would have a small cup of tea or coffee. Then at around 4PM, I lay down for about 45 minutes and then force myself to get up.

I thought well I could make something tasty to eat, but there is nothing exciting in our house at the moment. With both of us being sick for a week with the flu, a lot of our produce went bad! Our refrigerator was soo stinky once my sense of smell came back. I had to throw out a lot of food, so now we are really really low.

The place where I normally have my blood work done at, were unable to draw the IGF-1. So...I had to go to the hospital to get it done. /sigh They are doing a lot of construction up there, so the lab has been "closed". I showed up there and saw a lot of people considering it was "closed". The lady there, although she was very very nice, she obviously doesn't deal with many patients with small veins. I told her you have to tighten the band as tight as possible making it pinch my skin. She just kept telling me that that's not how they are trained and that she is not allowed to keep the band on longer than 1 minute. She kept saying the words patient comfort blah blah blah. I just kept telling her it won't work because my veins are small and in the end you'll make me uncomfortable with all the jabs.

Well after 2 jabs she tells me that they are trained not to jab more than twice and to make the 2nd one work. After 2 jabs patient comfort goes way down...No crap! During all of this, she randomly says to me, "How are you doing?" and in a tiny, high pitched voice, I let out a "OK".

To get all 4 vials, I was squeezing my fist as tight as possible and I convinced her to leave the band on. Thank goodness. The last vial took a long time to fill and we only needed 4. I've gone in to those places needing 9 vials with no problems at all. Obviously her following the rules didn't work out too well with me. It took her breaking them to get the blood out of me.

Sadly, I'm probably going to have to see her to get the renin and ACTH drawn. I still have to call the lab to see if they can do those in the outpatient center. My God, I hope so. I can't stand going to the hospital and that lady really was not that good. The women at the outpatient center are incredible. I haven't had a bad experience yet...Though I shouldn't speak too soon.

Preparing For Labs/Saliva Test

Well here we are at day 21 of my cycle. I have finally recovered from the flu too.

I started fasting at 8PM tonight for the blood work tomorrow! Tomorrow is a big day for blood work. I am having the following drawn as close to 8AM as possible.

DHEA-Sulfate
Free & Total Testosterone
Progesterone
Estradiol
LH
FSH
Prolactin
IGF-1
GH

I've never had a lot of these things tested, so I'm very curious.

Before I go, I need to fill the first vial with saliva for the cortisol test. This is a lot harder than it sounds. I'll have to dig in the refrigerator for something I can sniff to produce saliva. Another way to make saliva is just to try yawning over and over again. It's funny how many times you'll actually yawn and produce a TON of saliva.

I took another week off of violin/voice because of the saliva test. The one for 3-4PM would have been a problem since it is during my lessons and the drive back home. I wasn't about to collect saliva in their bathroom...

I am unable to eat chocolate, onions, garlic, cabbage, and cauliflower/broccoli and unable to drink coffee, tea, and other caffeinated drinks tomorrow. I'll have to constantly remind myself of this tomorrow.

These were the results of my first saliva test I had done through this company during the summer of '07.
07:00 - 08:00AM 6 Depressed (13-24 nM)
11:00 - Noon 5 Normal (5-10 nM)
04:00 - 05:00PM 2 Depressed (3-8 nM)
11:00 - Midnight 2 Normal (1-4 nM)

Cortisol Burden: 15 (23 - 42)

DHEA Dehydroepiandrosterone 4 Normal Adults (M/F):3-10 ng/ml

It's was pretty terrible...We'll see how things look now.

Still Recovering...

Last night and this morning were so bad, I cannot even describe it. I've been popping decongestant meds every time I can according to the box and even still, I can barely breathe through my nose. They are so plugged up that when I swallow it is popping my ears!

The only thing that has given me some relief, so I can sleep, is the medicine with pseudo ephedrine. You know the stuff where you have to practically sign your life away when you buy it? If it weren't for this stuff, I would have gone completely mad by now. In 2 more hours, I get to see how I really feel when it finally wears off and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

My sister is still sick too, so this must be quite the flu! We are now at day 5 and I don't see myself recovering by tomorrow.

Breaking News: DMSA TAKEN OFF THE MARKET

The FDA is taking DMSA off the market as a supplement and will only be available by prescription. This article was first posted on the frequent dose chelaiton yahoo group

A member of the frequent dose chelation yahoo group said they have received notification from VRP that they will be selling off their remaining stock and they are discontinuing the manufacturing of DMSA.

I can confirm this. When I checked my email today, this is what I found. Click on the picture below to see it in a larger, readable size.


VRP is where I purchased my 25mg DMSA capsules. Lots of people following Dr. Cutler's protocol were being supplied by VRP, so this will without a doubt FORCE people to STOP chelating. This will also affect the source in South Africa because you will need a prescription to order it. Clearly this is a huge blow to Dr. Cutler's detox protocol and any other group (autistic children) following his program.

To say that I am mad would be an understatement at the moment. I am lucky enough that I can get a prescription for DMSA, but at triple the cost! VRP was dirt cheap for their DMSA and my damn insurance company won't cover it if it's compounded.

Severe Dehydration Last Night

Yesterday was complete hell! At one point, I was really scared and told my husband if I passed out to give me at least 20mg of Cortef and to call 911. He had a temperature of 103.8, so he was in poor shape too. He had it must worse than me. I was ready to call 911 for him because his temperature kept climbing. haha! That would have been an interesting 911 phone call. "Yeah can you send out 2 ambulances. One for me and one for my husband? Neither of us can drive at the moment." LOL

I took my blood pressure multiple times last night and these were the results:

Sitting
109/70 HR 105
109/70 HR 119
98/74 HR 95
90/66 HR 127

Standing
83/64 HR 158
89/71 HR 141
84/57 HR 136 Shows it was irregular
84/63 HR 132 Shows it was irregular

Currently Sitting
99/70 HR 124

Currently Standing
Won't even register--I've tried about 15 times now. That's means its really low.

Clearly, I was salt wasting significantly through my sweat and pee. I was peeing more than I should have been, but I was so ill, I didn't get my meds in time. To try and recover I placed about 1 tsp of salt in 8oz of water and started chugging. My husband was like, "Are you sure you are supposed to do that". The salt tasted excellent to me, so I told him yeah. Even this morning, salt water tastes incredible like I'm eating a piece of apple pie!, so I'm going to continue with it until things balance out. Looking at my BP and HR, I'm still dehydrated!

There was an hour or so that I thought I might have died. Was it dehydration? Adrenal crisis? I'll never really know. I was having pain in my lower back, but I was also having other muscle pain too in my left leg and stomach. This was hellish. I hope I didn't pass this on to anyone.

I'm Sick

Oh no! My nephew gave us some terrible respiratory cold. I overslept by an hour, but when I woke up I realized why. My throat is very very swollen feeling and the cold went straight to my lungs. Before my nephew came, I thought I was fighting something off because my right tonsil was hurting and glands were swollen. Now with his sickness, my body is overloaded.

I don't know if I can handle a bad cold like this. I haven't been sick for years!

Some honey in water would feel so good right now.

I'm calling now to cancel my voice/violin lessons. I can't even take a deep breath without coughing.

My Saturday

Yesterday we visited with some family. Once again, I felt like I was painting makeup on a dead person. Since I don't interact with a lot of people on a daily basis, when I tried talking with family, I realized how much I'm out of it. I can't seem to look people in the eye and I just can't keep my thoughts straight. My mind wanders, jumps and goes off on tangents when just trying to talk about a simple topic. To remember information, I catch myself staring off into the distance.

Afterward we went food shopping and on the way home, I crashed and had a horrific headache. I didn't drive, but just having to look out for people crossing the center line, swerving into our lane and cutting us off was enough for me! We've had so many close calls recently because of idiot drivers not paying attention to what they are doing. There have been numerous occasions where we should have been in an accident, but I had a feeling and decided to turn my head, only to see a guy passing us illegally on the right or left side of our car. I'm sure it would have been our fault some how! It's such a nightmare driving in this area. I feel like I live in a 3rd world country.

We came home, unpacked the groceries and felt a little better. I was still very tired, but then got a "second wind". However, I was able to sleep pretty well throughout the night.

Tomorrow I get to see my 3 year old nephew, so I need to be ready for a crazy day. It's supposed to be really nice, so we may go to the park. :-)

Feel Very Fatigued Today

I drove myself to voice/violin lesson today and the drive down there has completely worn me out. I can barely keep my eyes open. I've been fighting with myself for hours now.

The funny thing is today both teachers said that I looked much better than last week. I purposely did my makeup and curled the ends of my hair. I thought I looked like a dead person trying to look alive, but obviously it worked! HAHA If they only knew how I truly felt.

Last week's lesson, I felt very crazy but tired. A little out of my mind, shaky, very sweaty and unable to focus whatsoever. I was still trying to recover from the stress of the week prior. I had started to wean off of the cortef and my body was feeling it.

I've been getting terrible headaches and I just feel like I'm moving in slow motion. Today I hope I sleep well. For how tired I feel, I can't imagine having any problems.

Mood Is Improvement

My mood has been a little better these past 2 days. I was really depressed and agitated last week and I'm glad that it is finally moving on. I think it was because I weaned myself off of the cortef a little faster than what's recommended. Obviously, I really need it, but I HAVE to wait. Dr. Goldstein agreed to order all of the blood work. There has been a slight change in plans. I believe I may be going to see a doctor near Scranton, PA. I may in fact cancel the appointment with the endo at the end of March. The doctor in PA is supposed to be really good with hypopituitary problems. He requires a lot of the blood work I requested from Dr. Goldstein. Since he is about 5 1/2 hours away from me, I want to make sure I have everything in order.

I just need to stop by Dr. Goldstein's office and pick up the papers when I go in for a B 12 shot next week... My legs and feet have been tingling again, which is always a sure sign for me.

Tomorrow I have the gynecologist appointment. I think I can go, but we'll have to see. /sigh

Winds Are Changing

I just have this feeling that something big is about to happen.

I'm feeling absolutely horrible right now and decided to listen to some 'old' music of mine.
A Perfect Circle--eMOTIVe

It's an album of covers and I think it's excellent.

Night Sweats Are Back

Unfortunately the night sweats are back. I've had them on and off for about a week now. Last night's was really really bad. My entire back was soaked through the sheet and I had to wash it as soon as I woke up this morning. It was disgusting. When this happens, my fingers are swollen too. I notice how stiff my fingers feel and it hurts to move them.

I still don't know what is causing them, but it really bothers me and interferes with my sleep.

While I was writing this, I just remembered I made an appointment with another PCP (DO) about 2 1/2 months ago. I think the appointment is in a few days...I need to find out! Maybe I'll just go to complain. I wasn't that happy with the other PCP, who didn't even know what diabetes insipidus was. DO's are usually better than that too. How pathetic. I suppose she had her role in things. She's the one that uncovered possible secondary hypothyroidism.

I've just been waiting around for doctor's appointment. I see a gynecologist on February 4th because my last pap smear from 4 years ago was abnormal and I've never had another check up. Yeah I know that is really stupid. And my menstrual cycles are becoming irregular. They used to be like clockwork, every 28 days. Now they are pushing 31 days. I'm not sure if that small amount is significant, but I'm certainly going to mention it to her. Since it is late again this month, I may not even be able to go to the appointment. /sigh

Then the endo's appointment is March 31. I have quite a long time before that one, but I have a lot to prepare for it. All blood work results, office notes have to be sent to this endo at least a week before my appointment. I'll probably need to get the MRI report too (which I can't find for the life of me). All of this will involve having to deal with doctor offices and labs.

Oh joy...

Chelation: Common Mistakes People Make

Updated March 2011:  I wrote this back in early 2009 when I thought Dr. Cutler's protocol was curing people left and right.  Now it is 2011 and there is nearly NO success stories with this protocol myself included. It has done absolutely NOTHING for me, but give me terrible side effects.  I get severe rashes and hives on DMSA no matter what dosage, no matter what dosing schedule.  Because of all of this my views on everything has changed substantially.  They have changed so much so that I am editing this post and rewriting it because I don't want to give people the wrong impression.

The only doctor (I have seen) who has published results from following Dr. Cutler's protocol is Dr. Amy Holmes.  She is no longer practicing medicine because her own health issues.  At this link you will find a chart that says no one over the age of 13 had marked improvements on Dr. Cutler's protocol.  Since I am an adult, I find this highly discouraging especially since for years she was important in the FDC circles. 

I think this protocol is solely based upon wishful thinking, hope and hype.  For some reason it grabs unsuspecting sick people like a spider web and you cannot get away no matter how hard you try.  Everywhere you look for chelation information, there is at least 1 Cutler follower who will scream if you attempt or even talk about any other chelation ideas outside of Dr. Cutler's. No other discussions are allowed because they are "unsafe" or "dangerous".  Dr. Cutler is highly prized in these groups and nothing he says can be questioned because he cannot be wrong, ever.  Right...I suppose if people were getting better, then they would have more ground to stand on.   Well, I have stopped drinking the Cutler Kool Aid and have opened my eyes up to the possibility there are other ways to recover from mercury poisoning especially since people are not getting better with DMSA and ALA.  If you stumbled upon this blog, then please read some of my newer posts on the matter and not my older posts from 2008 where I was just starting out on my journey.  I was naive.

As always though, I am not a doctor and whatever you do is at your own risk and you take full responsibility for any consequences which occur.

Most of this information is from my own experiences, but some of it is derived from Dr. Cutler's Frequent dose chelation protocol. You can find more information about him and his protocol at his website.

Mistakes Made Prior to Frequent Dose Chelation

• Chelating with amalgams in. You can pull mercury from the fillings increasing exposure.  

• Using chelating agents such as cilantro, chlorella, MSM and garlic because they are "natural" ( I am not so sure they are as dangerous as Cutler and his flock suggest).

• No lab work done prior--CBC with diff, TSH, FT3,FT4, cortisol saliva test recommended at bare minimums. If adrenal glands are suspected to be failing, then an ACTH stim test should be performed by a qualified endo before any hydrocortisone is supplemented. It is not something you should be messing with unless you have a documented adrenal issue. It is now becoming increasingly popular to go on HC for any reason.

• The idea that severe "detoxing" symptoms means you are excreting mercury. "No pain, no gain" attitude.  (I am now taking DMPS with no side effects while on round.)

Mistakes Made During Frequent Dose Chelation

This entire section assumes that the FDC protocol is actually working...That is assuming A LOT.  I can say with pretty good certainty that it is not working in a majority of cases, YET those on the FDC yahoo group will insist there are hundreds of success stories. However when you try to find said stories, they usually include young children or simply the stories are no where to be found. The so-called "success stories" list on FDC is a joke. Please do some of your own follow up of those people and let me know how many success stories are still making posts on FDC with issues.  It is maddening this would be counted as a success story. The day I consider myself a success story, I will never post on a health forum again.

I made a more recent post questioning whether or not people are really recovering.

• Starting on too high of a dose--DMSA-no more than 15mg, ALA-no more than 12.5mg (I now think that this is why the Cutler protocol isn't working.  The doses being used are a joke.  You might as well be flushing them down the toilet and doing nothing.)

• Increasing the dose too quickly. Do at least 4 rounds on intro dose before increasing. (Not sure it matters because no one really gets better regardless of what they do)

• Perceiving chelation as a 500 yard dash, rather than a marathon. Take your time because it will take years (Still think this is true. It will take time to get better, but I think 6 months to a year is reasonable to see some drastic improvements.  No one on Cutler protocol has this though)

• Trying to chelate without a dedicated timer/pill reminder.

• Not supplementing with the appropriate minerals-Vitamin C, B, D, zinc, magnesium, CoQ10

• Using DMSA/ALA on any schedule other than every 3-4 hours as recommended by Dr. Cutler (Once again I am questioning the very foundations of this chelation protocol. Who knows?)

Do your own research and start searching out people who have actually RECOVERED from mercury poisoning.  I have been listening to other sick people for years and I realized I was a complete idiot.  I should have been looking for those who have gotten HEALTHY!  DUH!  If a sick person has been trying something for years and they are no better, then whatever it is they are doing is not working.  Do not get suckered into listening to SICK people for HEALTH advice. It's obviously not working if they are STILL SICK.

The Cortef Saved Me

I survived a stressful Thursday. This is the first time in a long while, that I had an elevated stress level. When I woke up, I immediately took 10mg of Cortef. Then right before leaving I took another 10mg of Cortef.

That's quite a bit of Cortef to take within 2 hours, but I needed it. I came home and literally crashed. Yesterday was a terrible day. I was irritable, ready to cry and could barely move. I was so tired that at one point just fell asleep on the couch. I attempted to bake something and couldn't even finish it out of frustration. Why didn't I take more cortef when I got home? I didn't have any left. YIKES! The day prior to this, I attempted to fill it. That way I'd have a full bottle for Thursday. Well the pharmacy had to order it in. I thought this was a standard in-stock medication, so when she told me they didn't have it I actually got a little sick to my stomach. "It will be ready after 1PM" Oh goodness!

We waited until 1pm and picked up the cortef. This time I was given the generic type, called Hydrocort5. I wasn't familiar with this, so I didn't take one until I got home just to make sure it was the right medicine. Of course I didn't notice this until I got in the car! haha

I checked it online and it was the same as cortef and I took another 10mg. It calmed my nerves and the irritability subsided. However, I was still very fatigued. I just think that I had crashed, so there was no coming back.

My head is not very clear today. Just writing this blog entry has been difficult. I'm using the wrong words, typing things that make no sense. I keep deleting and re-typing my thoughts.

Now I must wean myself down off of such a high dose. You are only supposed to lower HC by 2.5mg every week until you are off of it completely. We'll see how lowering it goes. I really want to get these labs done.

Adrenals (& Pituitary) Aren't Doing Their Job

This week I have some stressful things going on. I have to meet with some attorneys. YUCK. Anyway, I decided it was more important to feel better for these events than to get my blood work done, so I started on some cortef yesterday. You have to be off of cortef for 2 weeks prior to testing, so that pushes things back.

Yesterday, I took 10mg in the morning. Didn't really feel much of anything. Then at noon, I took another 5mg. Eh, it was Ok. Nothing spectacular. Then another 5mg at 4pm. That is when I finally felt it working. We went to the mall to find an outfit for these meetings. By the time we got out of the mall, I felt like I was dying. I drank a 20 ounce bottle of water in 5 minutes because I was DYING of thirst. The woman checking us out looked at me really strange as I was trying to drink the water as fast as possible! I could tell she was thinking...wtf is wrong with this girl. My mind was not in a right state either.

My mouth was making that tacky sound. Felt like I had eaten 2 jars of peanut butter! haha Now since I have DI, I know what thirsty can feel like, but this was on a completely different level. In addition to that, I felt like I wanted to just cry and fall down. I was so irritated and angry, but I had no idea why. I assume that the cortef completely wore off and I was experience low cortisol. It appears my suspicions were correct!

Here's a list of symptoms found on the website, stopthethyroidmadness.com This website talks about adrenal and thyroid problems.

Items in bold, I am currently experiencing.

• continuing hypo symptoms with a high free T3, or high amount of Armour
• shaky hands; shakiness
• diarrhea
• bad palps
• feeling of panic
• weakness
• inability to handle stress
• inability to handle interactions with others
• inability to focus
• rage or sudden angry outbursts
• emotionally hyper sensitive
• overreacting
• highly defensive
• feeling paranoid
• exacerbated reactions to daily stress
• no patience
• easily irritated
• mild to severe hypoglycemic episodes
• taking days to recover from even minor stress
• taking days to recover from a dental visit
• clumsy (drop things, bump into things)
• suddenly feel extremely hungry
• dull cloud-filled head (happens when this patient is due for a next cortisol dose)
• light headedness
• dizziness
• coffee putting patient to sleep
• almost passing out every time patient gets up
• dark circles under my eyes
• waking up in the middle of the night for several hours
• frequent urination
• difficulty falling asleep
• extreme fatigue

I HAVE to get through this week in 1 piece and taking cortef is the ONLY way it's going to happen. Then once this is done, I have another deadline I need to meet. It's long overdue too.

Here's something you didn't know about me. Driving is so stressful for me that I don't even like to do it anymore. My husband practically drives me everywhere and I know it annoys him. Last week I drove myself to voice lessons and the whole time I was a complete wreck (shhhh don't tell my husband this--I told him I was OK). My hands were shaking and my thirst was OUT of control. Nothing would quench my thirst (even though I took my DDAVP). Today, I drove myself to one of the attorney meetings and I was actually calm. I took 10mg cortef in the morning and then right before I left another 5mg. That last me half way through the meeting. Popped another 2.5mg when she went to make a phone call and I needed more when I got out.

Now I still feel really wiped out from the meeting, but I noticed considerable difference in my driving. I was more focused and wasn't scared. Normally I am literally scared to death driving...This only happened about a year ago! I used to drive all over the place. I drove myself to New York 6 years ago to see a friend.

What the hell has happened to me in this time frame?

I'm telling you now, Thursday I'm going to be a wreck. I'm already a wreck. My body isn't working right. Sometimes I think since I don't work out of the house anymore (I quit because of my health) that I forget how bad I am. I go out on my own so infrequently, that I don't put my body in a stressful environment. On a normal day for me, stress is at a minimum.

This is all making sense to me now. I never thought I had a stressful life. In fact, I need to be more grateful for how easy I have it. If my pituitary isn't telling my body to make cortisol at an appropriate level, that's why my adrenal fatigue isn't necessarily related to bad stress. Any stress--whether good or bad--will cause my body to immediately fail. This week is certainly putting things into perspective. I'll need to talk about these symptoms and problems when coping with stress to the endo.

If it weren't for the cortef, I probably would have collapsed today. Once I figure out all of my problems, I'm going to be a large medical alert bracelet put all of my problems on it. haha