Problems With Cortisol Supplementation

by Paulette Brink
(Kroonstad, South Africa)

Cortisol deficiency and adrenal fatigue has caused me to suffer from bad health, for a couple of years. This was due to a hypothyroid condition caused by a tube pregnancy many years ago. It ruptured and I went into shock due to excessive bleeding.

I am 55 yrs old and improved in a way, by using all the end hormones, but still suffer because my body cannot tolerate cortisol supplementation -use hydro cortisol for a few days and have to stop then - massive fungus infection and GI tract problems set in, as well as an infection sometimes. I have non-stop symtoms. Are these low cortisol symptoms?

The last couple of weeks I cannot lay down - short of breath. (I am not over weight) The reason for this is still a mystery -and very frustrating. Lack of sleep which I never suffered from before, takes its toll.

To have the feeling of not getting enough of properly breathing is not easy and it seems to be that it gets worse - feels that it is one big circle.

Bloating, short of breath and fatigue are the biggest problems to over come?
Is there any one that can advise me how to take my daily cortisone with out all these bad symptoms I have mentioned?

Taking it with anti fungus prescription drugs, probioflora, proteins, milk, food, what ever, does not matter. After a few days I have to stop.

Can anyone perhaps can advise me how to successfully deal with a cortisol deficiency and adrenal fatigue?

Thank you,

Paulette Brink, South Africa.

Low Cortisol Symptoms - 2 Years of Hell!

by Barbara Auito
(Michigan)

Low cortisol symptoms indicating a cortisol deficiency and adrenal fatigue are often missed in medical diagnosis. They can cause severe health problems and be devastating to a person's quality of life as you will see here in story!

Turning 50 was a breeze. In August of 2009, I was at my ideal weight, working out three days a week at the gym, riding my bicycle 15 miles a day (sometimes even beating my 10 year old grandson in a race),riding my Harley on the best of days, teaching middle school, married 31 years to the same loving husband.

Within two months there were several family crises that overwhelmed me, the family 'glue,' and by Christmas I was sleeping all day and night, couldn't move my head from side to side, couldn't remember science and math concepts I'd been teaching for 15 years, and lost all concept of time. Little did I know that I was suffering from a cortisol deficiency which showed up in low cortisol symptoms, likely caused by adrenal fatigue.

I was confused, depressed, disoriented,in pain, angry, but mostly just plain weary. Tired didn't describe it enough. At the time, my family doctor, whom I loved and respected and was treated by for ten years had retired to teach, so I was searching for a new doctor I could trust.

This is where the problems really started. Because the new doctors I went to had never known me before this all happened, and my medical records were so vague, none of them took me seriously, let alone identified my symptoms as a cortisol deficiency. They would run the standard blood and urine tests, which, of course, came back normal. But I know my own body and I knew something was wrong.

My husband managed to get a hold of our retired doctor, who told us to have the doctor we were currently seeing run a test for adrenal fatigue. I had checked this out in the beginning by researching on-line, but the doctors had dismissed it because “patients need to stay away from the internet when it comes to medical issues.”

So my search continued. I saw three different family practitioners, two endocrinologists, a rheumatologist, two neurologists, a chiropractor, an NRT specialist, and a pain doctor. I was told by one family doctor that he "must not be smart enough to figure out what's wrong." I really felt like I was either going crazy or he was being condescending.

Things got to a point that by fall of 2010 I was unable to go to work and stayed home the entire first semester of school traveling from doctor to doctor. There were times when I truly questioned whether I could continue living my life this way, and the only reason I didn't follow through with an ending was my therapist. Getting out of bed seemed like climbing Mt. Everest, but again none of the doctors I had seen identified these things as a cortisol deficiency.

Paying bills was a nightmare because I would send the wrong check to the wrong company. On my best days I might be able to sit and read or work a sudoku puzzle. My husband took over all the household responsibilities. I finally decided that I might be going crazy, so I went to a psychiatrist. After talking with him for half an hour, he told me to make an appointment with an OB/GYN and that he believed I had one of the three worst cases of menopause he had ever treated.

Finally, someone was listening. I went to a doctor who specializes in bioidenticals and has a much smaller range of acceptable numbers in which she works. I've been on thyroid and HRT treatments for about a year now, but still having trouble sleeping, depression, staggering in the morning when I get up, and tired most of the day. When I went in to see her for check up, we decided to run the 24 hour urine collection test.

Guess what? After all this time, two years of my life of missing family events, concerts, vacations, painting (my passion!), I finally have an answer. My cortisol levels came back very low. I had been suffering from a cortisol deficiency. I just found this out today, and have been crying ever since.

Crying because of all that I've missed and because I finally have an answer and a solution. The Universe obviously has a special plan for me. I can't wait to see what it is.