LDN and Cortisol

January 7, 2010

I've been taking 4.5mg of LDN for a year along with Minocycline to successfully

treat Psoriatic Arthritis. Recently my AM blood pressure has been trending

upward(165/95). Does LDN cause an increase in Cortisol that might cause my AM

blood pressure to elevate? Should I give LDN a rest to see if my blood pressure

comes back down?

vinnylid

February 4, 2011

Hi Rocket.I see your point and have wondered about this myself.What I'm after with the testing is seeing how my adrenals are functioning on their own, and the rhythm of my cortisol production. If naltrexone affects the HPA axis, it may affect the rhythm because of how it suppresses endorphins. I won't get an accurate picture of my adrenal function, it seems to me. The picture could come out looking better than it really is. I think it could be difficult to dose any hormone supplement that I may need if I don't have this clear picture.

Some adrenal support actually changes the pattern of the cortisol, not just the amounts produced. It is not a proportional increase or decrease as I understand it.Even after all these months on naltrexone, I am still not sleeping well, which could well be an adrenal issue (could also be thyroid, aldosterone and probably a few other things), so something is still amiss.

The other thing is that if it's possible that naltrexone is negatively affecting my sleep, this might bring that to light?It is already recommended to go off antidepressants, sleeping pills and any other adrenal support, including herbs before the test, so I figure LDN might fall into this category. Strangely I am not at all concerned about the antidepressants. Since I've been on ldn, I have reduced my dosage by half and the doc has said that with this type of AD I could stop the rest at any time should I choose to (and eventually I will stop it permanently!)

Thanks!JayeOn 3 February 2011 21:28, Bridges <cbrocket2003@...> wrote:

Jaye, since you are planning to use LDN as a maintenance therapy, wouldn't it be more practical to know how your adrenals are functioning whilst on ldn rather than whilst off?

rocketchristine bridges

From: jprocure@... <jprocure@...>

Subject: [low dose naltrexone] LDN and cortisollow dose naltrexone Date: Thursday, February 3, 2011, 4:40 PM

Okay, I have googled my own question.

Although I didn't find anything on LDN and cortisol in people who were not suffering from alcoholism, Alzheimer's, or drug issues, it does seem that naltrexone does affect the HPA axis.

I guess it's safer to stop taking it. I'm sure 2 weeks won't kill me...

Jaye

-- Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. - Wilde

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-- Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. - Wilde

Please check out my blog:http://catholicanuck.blogspot.com

February 4, 2011

" Jaye Procure " wrote:

" What I'm after with the testing is seeing how my adrenals are functioning on

their own, and the rhythm of my cortisol production. If naltrexone affects the

HPA axis, it may affect the rhythm because of how it suppresses

endorphins. I won't get an accurate picture of my adrenal function, it

seems to me. The picture could come out looking better than it really is.

I think it could be difficult to dose any hormone supplement that I may need if

I don't have this clear picture.

Some adrenal support actually changes the pattern of the cortisol, not just

the amounts produced. It is not a proportional increase or decrease as I

understand it. "

Let me share some of my experiences with cortisol saliva testing, hormone tests,

and an evaluation by an esteemed endocrinologist at s Hopkins a few years

ago - in short, don't expect to learn too much, unfortunately.

I went on LTD in late 2006 with chronic Lyme disease, crippling CFS,

Fibromyalgia, and serious CNS problems, including almost non-existent higher

brain functions. Shortly before going on LTD I was behaving so erratically at

work on the days I actually made it out of bed and into the office, my

supervisor (supported by HR), who knew that I was being treated for Lyme

disease, forced me to get drug tested to prove that I wasn't loony from illegal

drug use! Then two years later we also discovered that I was suffering from

heavy metal poisoning, with lead, mercury, and cadmium being the worst - the

Doctor's Data test, the best one out there, found a whopping 14 out of the 21

metals they look for in my urine sample!. NONE of them belong in the human body.

After 2 years of antibiotic treatments my CFS was no better, so in June 2007 my

LLMD suspected that I was suffering from adrenal exhaustion, and put me on 5 mg

x 3/day of Hydrocortisone (HC) - I immediately noticed an improvement in my

energy levels. In September 2007 I did the cortisol saliva test, which showed my

cortisol production was totally bass-ackwards (and almost non-existent prior to

my morning dose of HC). The " normal " levels of cortisol in units of ng/ml are

(for a male?):

7:00 am: 7.0 - 10.0

Noon: 3.0 - 6.0

5:00 pm: 2.0 - 4.0

10:00 pm: < 1.5

My saliva test results showed a reversed curve, being extremely low in the

morning and peaking after my last 5 mg dose of HC of the day:

7:00 am: 2.0

Noon: 12.5

5:00 pm: 14.4

10:00 pm: 8.8

On the (primarily male) hormone front, in Jan 2007 I had my Serum Testosterone

level checked during a routine blood test, it was at the high end of the

" normal " scale (241-827), 788. Then in December 2007 I had it checked again,

this time I was also tested for my Pregnenolone (PGN) level - PGN is a hormone

precursor - I had no detectable PGN in my blood! My doctor put me on a PGN

supplement, available OTC, and my testosterone had dropped to 389.

Things continued to get worse, CFS-wise, in July 2007 I was tested again, this

time also checking my DHEA levels, which were very low, and my testosterone had

now sunk to 189, a decrease of 76%! My libido had also dropped to zero, along

with my energy levels, no surprise there. DHEA is the " big boy " as far as

adrenal gland hormone production goes, it's the precursor for almost all of

them. At that point, my doctor wrote me a scrip to have DHEA and PGN compounded

into one capsule, 250 mg each, one daily.

During early 2008 we tried to wean me off of the HC, but by the time I was down

to 5 mg/day I had completely crashed and had to go back to 15 mg/day. We started

wondering if I had more problems than simply adrenal gland exhaustion, like

pituitary gland problems, so I set up an appt. with the s Hopkins endo near

the end of 2008. As part of the preparation for the tests she was going to run I

had to go off the DHEA/PGN supplement cold turkey for 6 weeks - by the time I

finally had the exam/blood tests my fatigue was horrendous, I felt terrible

overall. As soon as the blood samples were drawn I immediately restarted the

DHEA/PGN supplement and immediately improved.

When we got her 4 page report 1 1/2 months later we were stunned by her findings

and diagnosis - my testosterone was 537, all of the other tests she ran were in

the " normal " range (TSH, LSH, LH, FT4, etc.), and she concluded that my

pituitary/adrenal glands were completely normal - despite the fact that I told

her during the exam how much worse my CFS had gotten over the previous 6 weeks.

In the several years that have passed since then I've done two rounds of heavy

metal chelation therapy (better, but still extremely high in lead/cadmium), and

I was finally able to completely taper off the HC without crashing near the end

of 2010. Over time, we also were able to reduce my DHEA/PGN down to 50 mg/day,

but I crash every time I try to wean off of it - still have some toxic cleanup

to do!

In summary, the human body is still a complete mystery, even to the

" specialists " , and everyone has their own unique hormonal profile - that's why

every time I wrote the word *normal* I put quotes around it - THERE IS NO SUCH

THING! What's " normal " for the average male, for instance, is NOT normal for ME.

February 5, 2011

Hi Astro Nut

Thanks for sharing your experience with me.

I am fortunate in that my doc is not a specialist. I haven't heard too many

good reports (although it could be the company I keep...) about endos! My doc

is willing to discuss. And do research.

From what I think I've learned while doing my research, I can see a few things

that happened with you that I hope to avoid.

Many find that 15mg/day of HC is really not enough to do a good job of

supporting hurting adrenals, esp in men!

I suspect my cortisol rhythm is not great. I've had intractable insomnia for

years...and I don't DO stress...at all. Even physiologic stress like hunger and

cold.

As I told my pharmacist a few months back...I'm tired of finding the right

'horse' to get me fixed up. Now I'm looking for zebras.

The cortisol test may not give all the answers, but I have to work with what

I've got.

Jaye

>

> " What I'm after with the testing is seeing how my adrenals are functioning on

their own, and the rhythm of my cortisol production. If naltrexone affects the

HPA axis, it may affect the rhythm because of how it suppresses

> endorphins. I won't get an accurate picture of my adrenal function, it

> seems to me. The picture could come out looking better than it really is.

> I think it could be difficult to dose any hormone supplement that I may need

if I don't have this clear picture.

>

> Some adrenal support actually changes the pattern of the cortisol, not just

> the amounts produced. It is not a proportional increase or decrease as I

> understand it. "

>

> Let me share some of my experiences with cortisol saliva testing, hormone

tests, and an evaluation by an esteemed endocrinologist at s Hopkins a few

years ago - in short, don't expect to learn too much, unfortunately.

>

> I went on LTD in late 2006 with chronic Lyme disease, crippling CFS,