What I wanted to say..

Thanks alice1

I look forward to your updates.

My partner and I are both trying to go gluten, lactose and wheat free.

Good luck

I'll keep you posted.I can imagine that combo is difficult.I'm expecting her to say 'ok next is sugar,no fruit,no carbs of any kind( I have mod- to high candida) and no gluten'That will make me a walking stick.Plus I love fruit.But I will do it cause I'm getting results.
Good luck with your diet.

Alice, my cortisol blood tests always came out in the normal range, too. I knew they were low, though. I had two ACTH tests, years apart, and because you have to make an appointment at a hospital lab to take them, they ended up on my "good" days. They were in the low normal range (7 on a scale of 5-20 being normal). I begged my MD to give me a trial course of low dose cortef. It took months to convince her, but also she was waitng to see what the adrenal support she was giving me would do. She is also does alternative medicine She consented to a trial.

I am on 7 mg per day of hydrocortisone (generic cortef). After atarting it I had a normal appetite at breakfast time for what seemed like the first time in my life. The nausea would subside after taking my dose and would come back about 1 hour before needing the next dose. When I started I was bedridden except for going to the bathroom. My brain was more than fogged, I couldn't talk straight, I was wishing I could die. But after a couple of months I was able to sit up longer and be up for several hours a day.

I recently had saliva tests done and while still taking the hydrocortisone and they indicated that my cortisol levels are normal with medication. Now I am on it for the duration.

That's fantastic.I wanted to go on Corteff but I have Lymphoma and my oncologist flipped when I told him I wanted it.
If I continue to get better on the things my Naturopath doc has given me I'll stay with it otherwise my onc is going to have to realize it's my body and not his toy.
I have a friend who went on a low dose as well and after 2 years of being off it she's still doing great.
Continued success to you...

It always amazes me how I can have a very decent day followed by feeling like crud the next.

Hi Alice1!
YEAH! Sounds like a great improvement! When we FINALLY were diagnosed with CFIDS, my son Blake and I were put on the ALT rotational diet BEFORE the specialist would administer any type of medications. He wanted to gauge how much better we could get by diet alone. The answer was 10-15% and it steadily improves each month. Apparently, it is his thopught that MANY CFS/CFIDS/ME Patients are Gluten Sensitive or Allergic.....getting rid of Gluten, Dairy, Wheat and sugar in our diet and combining our foods diffrently honestly saved our lives because when we started to "feel better", we started to say what you are saying...."What Next?"
Blessings,
Julia

alice1;bt423 said:

It always amazes me how I can have a very decent day followed by feeling like crud the next.

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That is the saddest part. There have been days where I'll be out driving and feeling pretty good and I'll be saying, why can't it be like this all the time. And it never is. Those days are rare, too rare.