When you say that hydrocortisone is not the same as cortisol, what do you mean? Chemically, they are the same molecule.
Here we go, now I finally get it. I've been thinking that hydrocortisone = cortisone, which is WRONG. Hydrocortisone = cortisol, as Jaime said:
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cortisone-and-cortisol-hydrocortisone/
I'd love some feedback on the theory, if anyone is still looking at this thread! When you tried cortisol, did you feel you were in the early (hyperexcitatory) or late (suppressive) stage? Have you been diagnosed with Lyme, CP, or Bartonella? And please do say what your reaction to corticoids was if you reply.
OK. I'm trying hydrocortisone now. Since mid-March.
Assuming "hyperexcitatory" = immune system going nuclear + autoimmunity, that is where I fit. The evidence I have is from taking things that ramp up the immune system (Byron White Antiviral) vs. things that calm the immune system. The BW Antiviral formula is potent, and it put me in bed with excruciating neck spasms for a couple of months. Since that is my usual PEM reaction, it took me a while to discern what made it so much worse (other than my cortisol being tanked, but it took a few more months to find that out).
No Lyme, CP, or Bartonella. Just EBV and HHV6 antibodies in the stratosphere. And also TPO antibodies over 1600, thanks to quitting thyroid hormone (see #1 just below).
My response to hydrocortisone is mostly positive so far:
1) I've finally been able to restart thyroid hormone therapy (T3) at a small dose, after a year of avoiding it due to the ghastly end-of-the-world experience someone described. I had gotten to the point where even 6 mcg (of any thyroid hormone) would put me in this state:
- exhausted, phys & mentally
- overwhelmed, can’t manage
- sense of dread, distress
- muscle tension, can’t relax
- neck spasms
- hypoglycemia/ravenous
2) HC usually mitigates the neck spasms, etc., which presumably are from pro-inflammatory cytokines in my CNS (my ME/CFS was triggered by Epstein-Barr meningitis).
However, if I take more than about 12.5 mg in a day, the neck spasms get worse. There may be an interaction, too, when I haven't taken enough thyroid or possibly an interaction with licorice root, which I'm also taking because my blood pressure keeps plunging into the 80s/50s.
The feeling like everything is sinking can indeed be hypothyrodiism which cortisol replacement can further expose. Any endo that is evaluating a patient for adrenal insufficiency and doesn't test the Thyroid before treatment isn't worth a damn in my opinion. T3 to free t3 ratio is the best indicator of thyroid status from the scientific literature I have read and from personal experience..
Do you mean FT3: RT3 ratio?
Also, the hydrocortisone has enabled me to start taking T3 again after being god-awful hypothyroid for the last year. So what do you mean by the first sentence? It sounds like something I need to know about.
Gaaaah. The plot thickens again. (I haven't read these yet.)
