Adrenal Insufficiency and Past Prednisone Use

sunny · Post by **sunny** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:21 pm

Just saw this thread... I take my thyroid at night too... By Bedtime I am sure it,s been more than 2 hours. I didn't want to wait an hour for coffee either.
Your adventures with your endocrinologist would be funny if not so dreadful!
I finally fired mine... Got tired af patronizing attitude and dismissing my symptoms.
I saw my PA Tuesday. And told her I wasn't taking levothyroxine anymore...I've taken it for 10years and it still doesn't work...hair falling out, exhausted, irritable... Enough! She said what are you going to do then? I told her I wanted to try Armour thyroid. Ok... Ok? I've been fighting about this just as you have ... It's too expensive, we don't prescribe that anymore... Etc...
It was $6.45 for month supply! Pharmacist said other thyroid had gone way up in price so she guesses Armour back in favor... Whatever...
I have better results with the PA than some specialists...She knows me...
Hoping for good things for you ....
Sunny

Post by **tex** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:30 am

As my old country doctor put it, "Some people think that thyroid supplements should be taken on an empty stomach, but there are no research data to support that claim". I take it first thing in the morning, just in case there's something to that old saw. But I usually start "fixing" (as we say out here in the country) breakfast immediately, so I'll be eating breakfast within 20 or 30 minutes after I take the pill. And on the occasions when I've forgotten to take it at the usual time, I've simply taken it after breakfast, when I take the rest of my pills. I've never noticed any difference.

Tex

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:46 am

I take my first dose around 4-5am to give me a bump when I get up around 6am. So my stomach is empty for that one. After that, I sort of try to take it on an empty stomach, but lots of times it ends up being within an hour or so after eating. According to what I've read, the taking it on an empty stomach is not really necessary. Sometimes the food helps it not to go into your system so quickly. YMMV, of course.

Post by **tex** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:47 pm

Marliss wrote:I take my first dose around 4-5am to give me a bump when I get up around 6am.

I thought I was the only one who lays around for an hour or 2 after awakening, before dragging my lazy carcass out of bed.

Tex

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:46 pm

Very funny, Tex! I can't imagine you actually do that.

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:09 am

Deb,

I saw a post on the NDT adrenal group this morning that made me think of you. One of the mods, in answer to a question, said: "The morning serum cortisol is not really relevant for two reasons. It measures both bound and free cortisol, and about 90% is bound. Also, just the stress of the blood draw can elevate cortisol."

Also, I found a link to the reference ranges ZRT Lab uses for all of their hormone spit tests: http://www.zrtlab.com/resources-and-dat ... nce-ranges Their cortisol test also tests DHEA, as they pretty much go hand-in-hand.

Post by **tex** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:02 pm

Marliss,

I had to remove the period at the end of that URL, to make it work, so I edited your post to reflect that change. (Browsers require a blank space to let them know where an URL ends. They also require a blank space in front, for that matter.)

Thanks. That's an excellent reference.

Tex

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:01 pm

Thank you, Tex. I wasn't wearing my web designer hat when I posted that link and didn't test it.

DebE13 · Post by **DebE13** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:00 pm

Thanks Marliss, I added it to my collection of medical info to use as a reference.