Adrenal support---what are you using

[Guest guest]

I have posted the following to an adrenal group here, and want to

ask those here the same. I will consider using the info I get for

the ADRENALS folder in our FILES section here:

As far as those who found out they needed adrenal support through

TESTING or obvious low-adrenal symptoms: I am curious what products

you have used here, and why you like the particular adrenal support

you are on, or have been on.

Also, how long have you stayed on your adrenal support, and when do

you think you will get off??

Janie

[Guest guest]

I have been usind IsoCort for well over a year now and find it very

good for me. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue with test results

showing low cortisol in the morning and high ACTH. I was first

prescribed Cortef, which upset my stomach terribly.

I have been on low dose cortisol therapy for 2 years now. It has

varied some from as much as 20mg down as low as 5 mg a day. I was

once off it for a short while. I am currently on 12 to 15 mg. a day.

I do not know if I will be able to get off of it. I have improved a

lot in the two years, but still have issues with excercise and

stress.

If I were to try to do without it right now, my quality of life

would be deminished a lot, I think. I would be impaired in how much

activity I could do and would not be normal at all.

Hope this helps.

Tish

[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed with low adrenal with the Great Smokies saliva

test. My cortisol follows a normal but low pattern (like my

thyroid). The afternoon and night time levels were just below the

bottom of the range. FYI I have had this pattern for three years,

and most recently I decided to take the test a couple days before my

period, and it was the lowest result. My doctor does not recognize

that I have an adrenal problem.

When I first started Armour I tried Isocort (made me hyper) and

Cortef (made me bloated, weight gain). I stopped both.

For the past 4 weeks I have followed parts of the

protocol, it has helped me tremendously with my energy level and

generally I find I sleep better and have less aches, even before and

during my period.

I take magnesium citrate, panthothenic acid, vitamin C and 's

adrenal glandular( which contains glandulars from other endocrine

glands,) 3 to four times a day in addition to my other supplements.

He recommends taking this at around 2pm to ward off the afternoon

fatigue common with adrenal depletion. This has worked completely

for me. I also take salted water a couple times a day, varying the

salt depending on how I feel. My guess is that I will be on this

for several months at a minimum.

R.

[Guest guest]

From which adrenal glands does 's adrenal support come from? It's my

understanding that Isocort is the whole adrenal sheep glandular, and then,

of course, Cortef is cortisol only, but from what source, I don't know.

Re: Adrenal support---what are you using

>

>

> I was diagnosed with low adrenal with the Great Smokies saliva

> test. My cortisol follows a normal but low pattern (like my

> thyroid). The afternoon and night time levels were just below the

> bottom of the range. FYI I have had this pattern for three years,

> and most recently I decided to take the test a couple days before my

> period, and it was the lowest result. My doctor does not recognize

> that I have an adrenal problem.

>

> When I first started Armour I tried Isocort (made me hyper) and

> Cortef (made me bloated, weight gain). I stopped both.

>

> For the past 4 weeks I have followed parts of the

> protocol, it has helped me tremendously with my energy level and

> generally I find I sleep better and have less aches, even before and

> during my period.

>

> I take magnesium citrate, panthothenic acid, vitamin C and 's

> adrenal glandular( which contains glandulars from other endocrine

> glands,) 3 to four times a day in addition to my other supplements.

> He recommends taking this at around 2pm to ward off the afternoon

> fatigue common with adrenal depletion. This has worked completely

> for me. I also take salted water a couple times a day, varying the

> salt depending on how I feel. My guess is that I will be on this

> for several months at a minimum.

>

>

> R.

[Guest guest]

, thanks for your reply (same to Tish!). I will add more in the

ADRENALS file concerning 's protocol. I am using magnesium,

Vit. C and Enzymatic Therapy " adrenal-cortex complex " and am finally

noticing a difference, though not yet sure if it's the above, or the

progesterone building up, or the testosterone building up...or what.

Janie

>

> I was diagnosed with low adrenal with the Great Smokies saliva

> test. My cortisol follows a normal but low pattern (like my

> thyroid). The afternoon and night time levels were just below the

> bottom of the range. FYI I have had this pattern for three years,

> and most recently I decided to take the test a couple days before

my

> period, and it was the lowest result. My doctor does not

recognize

> that I have an adrenal problem.

>

> When I first started Armour I tried Isocort (made me hyper) and

> Cortef (made me bloated, weight gain). I stopped both.

>

> For the past 4 weeks I have followed parts of the

> protocol, it has helped me tremendously with my energy level and

> generally I find I sleep better and have less aches, even before

and

> during my period.

>

> I take magnesium citrate, panthothenic acid, vitamin C and

's

> adrenal glandular( which contains glandulars from other endocrine

> glands,) 3 to four times a day in addition to my other

supplements.

> He recommends taking this at around 2pm to ward off the afternoon

> fatigue common with adrenal depletion. This has worked completely

> for me. I also take salted water a couple times a day, varying the

> salt depending on how I feel. My guess is that I will be on this

> for several months at a minimum.

>

>

> R.

[Guest guest]

> I have posted the following to an adrenal group here, and want to

> ask those here the same. I will consider using the info I get for

> the ADRENALS folder in our FILES section here:

>

> As far as those who found out they needed adrenal support through

> TESTING or obvious low-adrenal symptoms: I am curious what products

> you have used here, and why you like the particular adrenal support

> you are on, or have been on.

>

> Also, how long have you stayed on your adrenal support, and when do

> you think you will get off??

>

> Janie

I was aware of the possibility I would need adrenal support by reading this

list.

While I was on Cytomel alone, though, I showed no signs of needing it.

I tried Isocort and Enzymatic Therapy Adrenal just to see if they helped,

and I did not notice any effect. My doctor at that time gave me DHEA,

and it gave me a headache and made me even grouchier than normal,

and didn't improve anything.

A couple of weeks after switching to Armour, it was clear that the adrenals

needed support (every muscle in my chest & arms was quivering, massive

panic attacks at 3am). My new doctor ran the ZRT saliva test, and it showed

adrenal fatigue (duh). He insisted on first trying something called

TAD Adrenal Forte, which had no effect. He reluctantly gave me

Cortef at 15 mg per day, which immediately fixed everything (the first day

I got it, I slept through the night).

I like it because it is the only thing that works, and because it lets me take

the Armour which lets me have something approximating my life back. I have

been on it almost 6 months. I plan on trying to eliminate it in a couple of

years,

based on other people's stories on this list, but my doctor believes it will

be for life. I have had no adverse reactions that I know of, so if I need it

for life, I won't really mind.

The ZRT test is not easy to interpret. For example, my morning reading was

high,

then the next one was low, then the next two were normal. There is a paragraph

that explains it somewhat (they said the readings " were consistent with

evolving hypoadrenia " ). However, it is not necessarily obvious what to do

with this information. An easier, alternative test that can be performed at

home

is described in " Adrenal Fatigue " , by (p. 78), and I have

found it to be very accurate. It involves facing a mirror in a dark room and

shining a flashlight across (not into) one eye, and with the other eye watching

the pupil of the first eye. It will shrink immediately, but eventually it will

start

to open again as the muscle in the pupil becomes exhausted. You should time

how long the pupil can stay contracted. He suggests that the pupil should

be able to hold for about 2 minutes. Mine did 10 seconds. Today, it does about

30 seconds. suggests retesting every month to monitor recovery.

One interesting bit of information the ZRT test did have was that my DHEA

was actually high. This explains why supplemental DHEA was not helpful.

Hope this is the info you wanted, sorry if it's too long.

-- prr

[Guest guest]

>

>

> From which adrenal glands does 's adrenal support come

from? >

>

, 's product is called Adrenal Rebuilder. Ingredients

are " A proprietary blend containing Adrenal, Gonadal, Hypothalamus,

Pituitary, and Thyroid concentrate from Porcine sources, Calcium

Glycero-phosphate. "

I have had hormonal problems my whole life, probably the inclusion

of all the endocrine glands helps me.

R.

>

> Re: Adrenal support---what are

you using

>

>

> >

> >

> > I was diagnosed with low adrenal with the Great Smokies saliva

> > test. My cortisol follows a normal but low pattern (like my

> > thyroid). The afternoon and night time levels were just below

the

> > bottom of the range. FYI I have had this pattern for three

years,

> > and most recently I decided to take the test a couple days

before my

> > period, and it was the lowest result. My doctor does not

recognize

> > that I have an adrenal problem.

> >

> > When I first started Armour I tried Isocort (made me hyper) and

> > Cortef (made me bloated, weight gain). I stopped both.

> >

> > For the past 4 weeks I have followed parts of the

> > protocol, it has helped me tremendously with my energy level and

> > generally I find I sleep better and have less aches, even before

and

> > during my period.

> >

> > I take magnesium citrate, panthothenic acid, vitamin C and

's

> > adrenal glandular( which contains glandulars from other endocrine

> > glands,) 3 to four times a day in addition to my other

supplements.

> > He recommends taking this at around 2pm to ward off the afternoon

> > fatigue common with adrenal depletion. This has worked

completely

> > for me. I also take salted water a couple times a day, varying

the

> > salt depending on how I feel. My guess is that I will be on this

> > for several months at a minimum.

> >

> >

> > R.

[Guest guest]

Janie - I tried Armour 2 1/2 years ago and felt good for a while, then

started having a lot of problems -- horrible hair loss, weak muscles,

no sex drive, hot flashes at 2 am, heart palps and emotionally I was a

mess.

I attributed it all to thyroid, but regardless of what combo of armour

+ T4 I tried, the problems never got better. Finally, in April 04, a

natural chiropractor did a saliva test which showed low DHEA and

cortisol over the range. She had me take a Chinese herbal formula

designed to calm my system down. My regular dr. also had me start

taking DHEA. (I had also looked at the checklist at Dr. Rind's site

and had a lot of the adrenal symptoms.)

My hot flashes and heart palps seemed to get a little better, but

nothing else. I quit taking the DHEA after a while because I was

getting bad acne and hair loss was getting worse.

In July, I took another saliva test on my own by BodyBalance (a

subsidiary of Great Smokies Labs). It now showed cortisol was at the

bottom of the range. So I'm really not sure if the Chinese herbal

caused it to drop that much or what exactly happened.

I decided to try the nutri-meds adrenal in Sept. and seem to have had

good luck with them. My hot flashes and heart palps are basically

gone. Hair loss and muscle strength is much better. Emotionally, I'm

much more myself.

I've also switched back to armour and overall, I am much better.

About a month ago, I was at the same dose of armour that I was 2 1/2

years ago when I had so many problems start. And those problems

didn't pop up this time at all which leads me to believe that adrenals

were behind most of it.

I'm really not sure how long I anticipate being on the adrenal

supplements. Am having a few slight problems now so may need to

adjust, but overall, they've been very helpful to me so far.

Debbie

>

> I have posted the following to an adrenal group here, and want to

> ask those here the same. I will consider using the info I get for

> the ADRENALS folder in our FILES section here:

>

> As far as those who found out they needed adrenal support through

> TESTING or obvious low-adrenal symptoms: I am curious what products

> you have used here, and why you like the particular adrenal support

> you are on, or have been on.

>

> Also, how long have you stayed on your adrenal support, and when do

> you think you will get off??

>

> Janie

[Guest guest]

Ok, what I was thinking at this point is that (1) You may have been

sensitive to the sheep adrenal or another filler in it or (2) It may not

have been the cortisol you were needing, since your body didn't like the

Cortef??? and/or (3) Since you're back to taking a whole porcine adrenal

supplement, it could be one of the other adrenal substances you're needing

in there, plus you're not sensitive to any of the fillers in this product.

I would figure that a whole adrenal gland from an animal is just that, the

same glands, but it will depend on processing, fillers, which animal gland

is more compatible with your own body system. Guess you've figured that one

out, huh? I haven't tested, so I'm not exactly sure which ones I do or

don't need, at this point.

Re: Adrenal support---what are you using

>

>

>

> >

> >

> > From which adrenal glands does 's adrenal support come

> from? >

> >

>

> , 's product is called Adrenal Rebuilder. Ingredients

> are " A proprietary blend containing Adrenal, Gonadal, Hypothalamus,

> Pituitary, and Thyroid concentrate from Porcine sources, Calcium

> Glycero-phosphate. "

>

> I have had hormonal problems my whole life, probably the inclusion

> of all the endocrine glands helps me.

>

> R.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/4/2005 9:35:19 AM Eastern Standard Time,

lacretiamo@... writes:

> ...can any others here tell if the adrenals are

> healing?

when my startle response got better, I knew my adrenals were better.

cindi

[Guest guest]

I am on adrenal support. I take Cortef 20mg daily (10am, 10 noon)

Pregnelone 1xdaily (doctor says it lasts longer than Cortef), Armour

90am and 60noon and a couple of other prescriptions that are not

related. I have been on adrenal support 11 months and the doctor is

supposed to start wiening me off at 12 months. We have postponed

this due to me getting married in March. I wanted to get that done

before going off the meds. I wouldn't say that Cortef or Pregnelone

has fixed me completly but it did improve my health a great deal. I

can now stay awake until 10-11pm at night and before treatment 7pm

tops. I still get what I call flare ups of fatigue and muscle

weakness. I think the worst symptom though is the nausea. I find

myself nauseated quite a bite. I will say that the Pregnelone has a

great effect on treatment as I forgot to refill it a few weeks ago

after going without it for about a 1 1/2-2 wks, I had this lingering

fatigue and muscle weakness that would not go away. Once I remember

the prescription and started taking it again, I felt great!

Question though...can any others here tell if the adrenals are

healing? Meaning you get overactive symptoms when the adrenals

start to heal or you just can't tell how they are doing until you

are taken off the medication and wait to see if the adrenals work

again???? I'm curious to see if anyone gets symptoms that they are

repaired and working to a degree or does the Cortef supress it

completly until you are taken off thus having to wait to see if it's

repaired or not. Any commments?

LaCretia

> > I have posted the following to an adrenal group here, and want to

> > ask those here the same. I will consider using the info I get for

> > the ADRENALS folder in our FILES section here:

> >

> > As far as those who found out they needed adrenal support through

> > TESTING or obvious low-adrenal symptoms: I am curious what

products

> > you have used here, and why you like the particular adrenal

support

> > you are on, or have been on.

> >

> > Also, how long have you stayed on your adrenal support, and when

do

> > you think you will get off??

> >

> > Janie

>

>

> I was aware of the possibility I would need adrenal support by

reading this list.

> While I was on Cytomel alone, though, I showed no signs of needing

it.

> I tried Isocort and Enzymatic Therapy Adrenal just to see if they

helped,

> and I did not notice any effect. My doctor at that time gave me

DHEA,

> and it gave me a headache and made me even grouchier than normal,

> and didn't improve anything.

>

> A couple of weeks after switching to Armour, it was clear that the

adrenals

> needed support (every muscle in my chest & arms was quivering,

massive

> panic attacks at 3am). My new doctor ran the ZRT saliva test, and

it showed

> adrenal fatigue (duh). He insisted on first trying something

called

> TAD Adrenal Forte, which had no effect. He reluctantly gave me

> Cortef at 15 mg per day, which immediately fixed everything (the

first day

> I got it, I slept through the night).

>

> I like it because it is the only thing that works, and because it

lets me take

> the Armour which lets me have something approximating my life

back. I have

> been on it almost 6 months. I plan on trying to eliminate it in a

couple of years,

> based on other people's stories on this list, but my doctor

believes it will

> be for life. I have had no adverse reactions that I know of, so

if I need it

> for life, I won't really mind.

>

> The ZRT test is not easy to interpret. For example, my morning

reading was high,

> then the next one was low, then the next two were normal. There

is a paragraph

> that explains it somewhat (they said the readings " were consistent

with

> evolving hypoadrenia " ). However, it is not necessarily obvious

what to do

> with this information. An easier, alternative test that can be

performed at home

> is described in " Adrenal Fatigue " , by (p. 78), and I

have

> found it to be very accurate. It involves facing a mirror in a

dark room and

> shining a flashlight across (not into) one eye, and with the other

eye watching

> the pupil of the first eye. It will shrink immediately, but

eventually it will start

> to open again as the muscle in the pupil becomes exhausted. You

should time

> how long the pupil can stay contracted. He suggests that the

pupil should

> be able to hold for about 2 minutes. Mine did 10 seconds. Today,

it does about

> 30 seconds. suggests retesting every month to monitor

recovery.

>

> One interesting bit of information the ZRT test did have was that

my DHEA

> was actually high. This explains why supplemental DHEA was not

helpful.

>

> Hope this is the info you wanted, sorry if it's too long.

>

> -- prr

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

16 months on and I am still waiting for that to happen <lol>

Lynda (in the UK)

Re: Re: Adrenal support---what are you using

when my startle response got better, I knew my adrenals were better.

cindi

[Guest guest]

Oh much greater...I just about jump out of my skin when the phone rings

Lynda (in the UK)

Re: Re: Adrenal support---what are you using

With bad adrenals is you startle response greater or lesser?

Kate

[Guest guest]

Oh much greater...I just about jump out of my skin when the phone rings

Lynda (in the UK)

Re: Re: Adrenal support---what are you using

With bad adrenals is you startle response greater or lesser?

Kate

[Guest guest]

Ah, I had a internist tell me he thought my overreaction was due to long term

use of migraine meds. I've always turned to my strong stuff only as a last

resort. Hmm, I wonder...

Kate

Re: Re: Adrenal support---what are you

using

With bad adrenals is you startle response greater or lesser?

Kate