Posted by cybercafe on October 23, 2003, at 5:44:06
In reply to Re: Why lowering cortisol is not always good » cybercafe, posted by BarbaraCat on October 19, 2003, at 21:26:26
> I'll just ramble instead of addressing each of your items. First, I don't have narcolepsy. My dx is bipolar II mixed states and fibromyalgia and am hypothyroid. But I do have sleep apnea and have a rotten time getting or staying asleep. I reallywhat is sleep apnea like? does it make it hard to concentrate during the day? i wonder how close it matches ADD
>etc. When I get a good night's zzzzz it's like a new world. I take Ambien to help with this but quickly get tolerant. So in my case, the
are there any sleep meds that don't cause tolerance ... trazodone maybe?
>anti-stress things are really important. I had a really demanding high tech job before I eventually burnt out completely with fibromyalgia and can't work. I'm usually pretty highly wound up,
yeah i've had the high tech burnout too.... i think high tech jobs are especially bad .... at least when it comes to needing major concentration, focus, output
>sometimes tired but wired, and start getting revved up in the evening. Lousy cortisol fluctuations. My thyroid condition has been a real challenge as well, especially taking lithium. But things are getting better as I begin to address the underpinnings of the whole dysfunction.
i thought lithium was no good for mixed states? that's great if it's working for you
i am taking an antipsychotic (abilify) and they (zyprexa as well) work much better than depakote ever did
.
... assuming that being depressed without any mania is a good thing
> You have a good point however with getting adapted to a certain level of stress just to survive the jungle, but in order to do that you have to make sure your support systems are strong and not burning out at a slow simmer - like my hubby. Vitamins good for adrenal health are theyou're right.... though one big self realization was how important it was for me to get out there and do stuff i thought was impossible instead of sitting at home and writing on psychobabble all day ...... ug......
>B's, especially B6 and pantothenic acid. Vitamin C at around 6M per day, magnesium. There are formulations made for general adrenal health. If you go to www.iherb.com and do a search on adrenal or whatever you'll get lotsa hits on supplements.
any vegetables i can get these from naturally?
>influenced by pharmaceutical companies. It's really pathetic and scary what's happening to us and it's sad how doctors want to help but can provide care that's only adequate at best.for sure
>values. But things have changed with recent diagnostic methods and saliva is able to provide very sensitive measurements. If you want more info, go to http://www.salivatest.com. This is the website of ZRT labs, which is the one my naturopath uses.
thanks for the link :)
> I had a precancerous condition last year whereby I was getting way too much estrogen from the hormones I was getting from my HMO ob/gyn - even though they were as bioidentical as their pharmacy could manage. It wasn't fun. I had to basically go off all hormones and get back to square one then get the bejesus scraped out of me and bled for weeks afterwards. When I told him I wanted hormone tests now that I had a good zero point baseline and wanted to monitor my levels from that point on, he said the same thing you heard 'oh, hormone tests aren't accurate and besides I wouldn't know what to do with the numbers anyway'. I kid you not! Thiswow... that's horrible. i'm sorry you had to go through that :(
> As far as the bipolar/cortisol connection, I sure don't know. You mention high norepinephrine and that sure fits, but high cortisol means high norepineprine. But a major piece of the puzzle is
ah but i'm bipolar and i have low cortisol :)
>falling into place for me. On the suspicion of my naturopath, I had an IGF-1 test done that measure Human Growth Hormone levels. Sure enough, very very low. The pituitary makes HGH and it's a key player in regulating the whole HPA-axis, meaning that cortisol, sex hormones, thyroid hormone, muscle repair, all those important things, aren't working and no matter how many hormones I pumped into my system, nothing was maintaining. So I've been injecting HGH 6 times a week - the real stuff, not the secretogogues crap. It'll supposedly take about 6 months before I'll see a major diff, but my recent test levels are looking good and I'm feeling much better.
hmmm..... very interesting. this does seem like a very complex matter
> I wish I had a better understanding for the mood disorder stuff, chicken or egg, who knows. I'd be very rich if I did. But I can't help but believe with everything I have in me that hormones are a very big piece of the puzzle. Think PMS - any questions? So if I can leave you with anything it's this: Follow the money when it comes to your medical care and don't settle for less than excellent compassionate care and insist upon the tests you feel you need. It's not our concern if the medical business money interests are satisfied or not. We pay plenty for our medical care, and believe me, way too much when a company is no longer picking up the premiums. This applies to alternative health practitioners as well who push expensive supplements and treatments on you. Beware the hungry healer, or the hungry HMO for that matter. So, with that I'll leave you to go fix some chow for my poor ex-herniated guy. Take care and keep in touch. - Barbarayou too, be well :)
poster:cybercafe
thread:269316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031021/msgs/272198.html