pregnancy and TWINS???

[Guest guest]

Hi, everyone,

I'm going to feel really silly if I post this and then in a few weeks I find

this was all a false alarm, but I'm alarmed (!) today and wanted to vent.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant and have had a great pregnancy so far. I started the

pregnancy with good thyroid and adrenal labs, good CBC, and I felt great.

Probably why I got pregnant, hee, hee. But in the last month or six weeks,

I can feel myself gradually slipping back into what really feels like

adrenal fatigue again. I've been researching madly, but there is so very

little about adrenal insufficiency and pregnancy in the medical literature.

The best I found was to figure my weight in kg and to take 1 mg of

hydrocortisone for each kg of weight (per day). My doctor and midwife have

been cooperative, and that's what we've done, even though that seems like

such a huge amount.

I'm also on just 2 grains of Armor, but every time I try to increase, I just

get all my adrenal symptoms back again. However, symptoms of hypothyroidism

are returning, such as acne, frizzy hair, dry feet, feeling cold, raspy

voice, etc. I've been charting my daytime temps like Dr. Rind says to do,

and they're all over the place, from low 97s to high 98s. So again, it

seems like it's really my adrenals that are struggling.

Then I gained 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks, and I've already gained in 20

weeks more than I've ever gained in any of my other TOTAL pregnancies (this

is baby #6 for me). Now my uterus is beginning to measure large for dates.

Everyone says I look like I'm about 9 months pregnant, and that's for sure

what I feel like.

My blood sugar levels are fine, so no one is suspecting gestational

diabetes.

This last Wednesday, I worked in my flower beds for an hour tops, and it

wasn't even all at once, and I just crashed. On top of that, my legs and

toes, fingers, and even my face puffed up with fluid. It was horrible by

Wednesday night, and I was in tears -- a tell-tale adrenal symptom for me.

I've never had that happen in pregnancy before. I've also gotten really bad

varicose and spider veins in my legs. My lower back went out, so I went to

see the chiropractor, but it's still pretty sore.

My midwife is sending me for an ultrasound to check for twins. I must admit

to being a little scared, because not only do I feel like the world's

biggest guinea pig being pregnant with adrenal insufficiency, but twins? No

one has a clue how to handle things now, let alone with two babies. I feel

like I have to do all the research and the doctors just nod their heads or

disagree. (Who's getting paid here anyway?) Sorry to rant.

I'm just not sure what to do. I'm already taking so much more

hydrocortisone than I ever thought I would, yet I still feel like I need

more. I just ache in back by my adrenals, and I'm starting to feel dizzy

again. My emotions are a little raw. Plus I don't want to have too little

Armour. The baby (or babies) need my thyroid to be right! But my adrenals

can't seem to handle any increase.

AAAAgh! Any advice? And THANK YOU to everyone who always answers with so

much knowledge and comfort. This group is so helpful! You'll never know

~Anne