Re: Re: My Labs And Problems Lowering Armour/Cortef

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My doc told me that his goal for me is mid-range: 115. I'm not there yet.mylilsuzyqs wrote: Hi Jan,That's what I'm thinking. I did get my ferritin tested and it came back at 97 (10 - 291) Some say that's perfect and anything over 120 is cause for cancers later in life. What number do you shoot for?I am also getting very moody being on this cortef. I was taking hydrocortisone but honestly, it didn't seem to do anything for me so my dr switched me to cortef and I am on 20 mgs. It sems to make me get irritated over nothing so I am going to figure out how to get off of it asap. My dr knew I was on 20 mgs and had me lower the dose to 5 mgs per week. I would have thought that could be bad but maybe not.

Who knows. Yesterday I was ready to toss the cortef and the armour into the trash. I guess I am just tired of trying to figure the right dose of meds. I'm sure I'm not the first to experience that.I noticed that when I skipped the last dose of cortef, that my resting pulse rate this morning was 78 bpm. I guess I'll see how 15 mgs per day is and then drp it again in a week.Thanks for trying to help.Sue> > Hi,> > I had labs drawn while being on 4 1/2 grains of armour. I am also > > taking 20 mgs of cortef.> > > > Free T3 7.2 (2.3 - 4.2)> > Free T4 1.9 (0.8 - 1.8)> > TSH 0.012 (0.35 - 5.50)> > > > My ferritin was 97 (10- 291)> > > > My cortisol saliva test was back in 2005 and all but one time came > > back low. My 4:00 - 5:00 PM came back normal. My morning result was > > the lowest at 5 (13 - 24nM)> > > > After my dr looked over the results, I

said I had lowered my armour > > to 2 grains. I was clammy and had a higher resting pulse rate. > Other > > than that, I seemed ok. I never had heart palps.> > > > We lowered my cortef from 20 mgs to 5 and I am back up to taking 20 > > mgs per day in 4 divided doses. I noticed that after lowering the > > armour, I had a dull headache that lasted over a week. It was > > constant and nothing I took made it any better. Someone told me > that > > I needed to raise my armour up to at least 3 grains. My dr said to > up > > it by 30 mgs and come back in 4 weeks. I was still getting > headaches > > so I am now at 3 1/2 grains and the headache is not coming back. > > > > Has anyone else had headaches while taking armour? I'm hoping to > get > > some ideas on what's going on.> > > > Thanks

to anyone who can help.> > > > > > Sue

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I never heard of any association with high ferritin and cancers. Here is an answer I just found. Thanks for your question posted here at The Doctor's Lounge. Ferritin is one of many different proteins in the body that can act as "acute phase reactants". What this means is that they can be increased, sometimes high, when some other process or illness occurs. It is a general, nonspecific sign of an illness and in and of itself does not imply anything specific. There are some cases

when a high ferritin is specific to a disease, such as in body iron overload (I.e.- hemochromatosis). In the case of cancer, a high ferritin is a nonspecific result of the cancer affects on the bosy and is not a cause of the cancer. A. Gordon, M.D. Judy P wrote: Are you kidding me? My ferritin is 146 and I was so proud of it. Jan, is ferritin a cancer indicator? Some say that's perfect and anything over 120 is cause for cancers later in life. Re: My Labs And Problems

Lowering Armour/Cortef Hi Jan,That's what I'm thinking. I did get my ferritin tested and it came back at 97 (10 - 291) Some say that's perfect and anything over 120 is cause for cancers later in life. What number do you shoot for?I am also getting very moody being on this cortef. I was taking hydrocortisone but honestly, it didn't seem to do anything for me so my dr switched me to cortef and I am on 20 mgs. It sems to make me get irritated over nothing so I am going to figure out how to get off of it asap. My dr knew I was on 20 mgs and had me lower the dose to 5 mgs per week. I would have thought that could be bad but maybe not. Who knows. Yesterday I was ready to toss the cortef and the armour into the trash. I guess I am just tired of trying to figure the right dose of meds. I'm sure I'm not the first to experience that.I

noticed that when I skipped the last dose of cortef, that my resting pulse rate this morning was 78 bpm. I guess I'll see how 15 mgs per day is and then drp it again in a week.Thanks for trying to help.Sue> > Hi,> > I had labs drawn while being on 4 1/2 grains of armour. I am also > > taking 20 mgs of cortef.> > > > Free T3 7.2 (2.3 - 4.2)> > Free T4 1.9 (0.8 - 1.8)> > TSH 0.012 (0.35 - 5.50)> > > > My ferritin was 97 (10- 291)> > > > My cortisol saliva test was back in 2005 and all but one time came > > back low. My 4:00 - 5:00 PM came back normal. My morning result was > > the lowest at 5 (13 - 24nM)> > > >

After my dr looked over the results, I said I had lowered my armour > > to 2 grains. I was clammy and had a higher resting pulse rate. > Other > > than that, I seemed ok. I never had heart palps.> > > > We lowered my cortef from 20 mgs to 5 and I am back up to taking 20 > > mgs per day in 4 divided doses. I noticed that after lowering the > > armour, I had a dull headache that lasted over a week. It was > > constant and nothing I took made it any better. Someone told me > that > > I needed to raise my armour up to at least 3 grains. My dr said to > up > > it by 30 mgs and come back in 4 weeks. I was still getting > headaches > > so I am now at 3 1/2 grains and the headache is not coming back. > > > > Has anyone else had headaches while taking armour? I'm hoping to > get > > some ideas on what's

going on.> > > > Thanks to anyone who can help.> > > > > > Sue

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A too-high ferritin all has to do with more oxidation of different factors, but I'm thinking that we can take/have antioxidants to help with that. Now with a ridulously high ferritin, I would be looking for some causative factor, like the ones your article below mentions, especially if I wasn't taking any iron supplements.

Re: Re: My Labs And Problems Lowering Armour/Cortef

I never heard of any association with high ferritin and cancers.

Here is an answer I just found.

Thanks for your question posted here at The Doctor's Lounge. Ferritin is one of many different proteins in the body that can act as "acute phase reactants". What this means is that they can be increased, sometimes high, when some other process or illness occurs. It is a general, nonspecific sign of an illness and in and of itself does not imply anything specific. There are some cases when a high ferritin is specific to a disease, such as in body iron overload (I.e.- hemochromatosis). In the case of cancer, a high ferritin is a nonspecific result of the cancer affects on the bosy and is not a cause of the cancer. A. Gordon, M.D.

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Do you have the hemochromotosis?

Re: Re: My Labs And Problems Lowering Armour/Cortef

Do you think that when he says 'high' he means out of range or in my case over 291?

Ferritin is one of many different proteins in the body that can act as "acute phase reactants".

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I'm not sure what that means. Does that have anything to do with hematocrit or hemoglobin because they are both high. The doc did give me digestive enzymes because he said my liver was taking a beating... Judy

Do you have the hemochromotosis?

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