I replace ALL my hormones. This brought me back to life. But is it sustainable for decades?

[thingsvarious]

In my opinion CFS is often (not always obviously) multiple hormone deficiency (esp. adrenals, perihperal thyroid sensitivity).

I am a medical student in my last year. I replace ALL of my hormones. my energy levels went from the 5th percentile to the 95th percentile.

In early twenties my life was starting to go down the gutter. My life started to fall apart in every domain. I felt like shit. It took me forever to wake up. Freezing all the time. No inner peace. My mind was always racing, nonetheless I was lethargic all day, every day. Everything was drudgery and required a ton of self-discipline. Loads of coffee and painful cold showers were required to get me through life. Each night I was grateful that another day was over. I was just trying to get by. At best.


I started multiple hormone replacement. Whereas before my life was a nightmare, it has been a dream ever since. I have been doing this for some years now.

My question. As I am in my mid twenties, do you think this is sustainable for decades? Will my lifespan increase or decrease because of it?

What I take. But what works for me might not work for others.

I personally need/choose to optimize all hormones but often for many people it is just ONE hormone that is imbalanced/deficient and replacing that is sufficient
Everyone is different, but the target range I aim for is in the upper tertile of the youthful reference range. Just falling somewhere within the reference range is not “optimal”. The reference range covers 95% of the population. Certainly more than 5% of the population have hormones bad enough to warrant intervention.

• TRT: Test Cyp (50mg subQ 2x/week), HcG (250iu subQ 2x/week), anastrozole (0.25mg 1x/week), dutasteride 0.5mg 1x/week (as my androgens are high I don´t need the DHT).
• cortisol: cortisone acetate (20mg/d HC equivalent) (split into 4 daily doses)
• thyroid: 1.25 grains NDT + 6.25mcg T3 (a few hours later in the day)
• GH: 0.5iu genotropin pfizer (aiming for IGF1 of 250) prebed
• fludrocortisone 01.mg/d morning
• melatonin: 0.25mg sublingual prebed

Other stuff I do: keto/paleo, HIIT, weekly rapamycin, a bunch of supplements (all of them together less worth than a slight alteration in hormones), some exercise every day, sleep around 6h (wake up refreshed without alarm -before HRT I needed 8+).

Before hormone replacement I was trying out every nootropic under the sun (modafinil, caffeine, shitty racetams, small doses of MTP, ephedrine). Now I don´t need any (sometimes a little nicotine gum while studying). My cognition is now almost always sharp, no brain fog, great energy, motivated. The combo of good sleep + cardio + keto + good hormones is much healthier and more sustainable than any stims/nootropics. Too bad that so many people focus just on supps and nootropics.

I do everyhing mostly myself because many (not all) endocrinologists are shit. Once I found what works, taking all these hormones takes less than 5min per day and no thought whatsoever. Tiny price for a huge prize.
You can´t outdrug/outbiohack/outlifestyle a bad hormonal profile.

If you are interested I wrote about my experience here.

I also wrote a guide the other day on how I´d go about replacing multiple hormones. It took 1000s of hours to figure out. Hopefully some of you will find value in it.. Here.

Many of you guys will say that I am screwing myself. Well, to them I say that I am aware that this is uncharted territory. I am aware of the risks. But to me the cost-benefit analysis is a no-brainer. If I had to, I would sign a contract to rather live 10 more years with my new vitality and then die instead of living to one hundred with the dreadful state I was in before. Life is about filling time and not passing it.

My goal: to find a great balance between performance/wellbeing and health/longevity.

Why do I post all this?
1) Trying to provide value: Because it does just cost me a little time but perhaps can help others out a lot. Had I known what I know now, it would have saved me lots of money, happiness, effort, researching, experimenting. And suffering
2) Trying to get feedback/criticism/blind spots. I am sure some of you are quite knowledgable and experienced and might give valuable feedback/criticism and point out stuff I didn´t think about. Also as this is rather uncharted territory, do you think this is sustainable for decades? Will my healthspan increase or decrease because of it?

What does this mean for you? Hormones have an INSANE connection to energy levels. Just falling into the normal range is not enoguh. Unfortunately they are VERY neglected. If you have been fatigued for a long time it might be worth looking into your hormones. ANY hormone deficiency (GH/IGF1, sex hormones, thyroid, cortisol) will cause brain fog, subpar cognition, lethargy, anhedonia, low motivation, low mood, fatigue

Again: I personally need/choose to optimize all hormones but often for many people it is just ONE hormone that is imbalanced/deficient and replacing that is sufficient

 

[Pyrrhus]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is all very interesting.

The ME doctor John Richardson found that a lot of his patients had problems with the hypothalamus, which can affect many hormones. But I haven't heard of such large-scale hormone replacement therapy.

Best wishes.

 

[sb4]

@thingsvarious nice article. Did you replace all the hormones at once or did you add in one at a time. If the latter then did you experience incremental improvements with each?

 

[thingsvarious]

@thingsvarious nice article. Did you replace all the hormones at once or did you add in one at a time. If the latter then did you experience incremental improvements with each?

No it took me like 4 years to arrive where I am at now. I started out with HcG -> thyroid 1 year later -> GH and cortisol 1 year later (cortisol made the biggest improvement by far) -> fludrocortisone -> contiuously tweaking dosage and timing

 

[wastwater]

I wondered about my pituitary gland and it’s function,suspected inherited hypo pituitary

 

[gbells]

• TRT: Test Cyp (50mg subQ 2x/week), HcG (250iu subQ 2x/week), anastrozole (0.25mg 1x/week), dutasteride 0.5mg 1x/week (as my androgens are high I don´t need the DHT).
• cortisol: cortisone acetate (20mg/d HC equivalent) (split into 4 daily doses)
• thyroid: 1.25 grains NDT + 6.25mcg T3 (a few hours later in the day)
• GH: 0.5iu genotropin pfizer (aiming for IGF1 of 250) prebed
• fludrocortisone 01.mg/d morning
• melatonin: 0.25mg sublingual prebed

I'm very concerned about the bone loss that is going to come with long term steroid use. It isn't sustainable. C3 turmeric is a safer way to reduce Nf-kb inflammation. I think a lot of your improvement is just masking due to cortisone and will eventually deplete your energy stores and overload you with free radicals causing a crash.

 

[thingsvarious]

I'm very concerned about the bone loss that is going to come with long term steroid use. It isn't sustainable. C3 turmeric is a safer way to reduce Nf-kb inflammation. I think a lot of your improvement is just masking due to cortisone and will eventually deplete your energy stores and overload you with free radicals causing a crash.

Well I did a DEXA scan twice and my BMD improved after starting cortisol. I also did a number of urinary 24-h free cortisol tests and I am well within the range. At these dosages IMO there is no reason for concern IF YOU ALSO HAVE ADEQUATE LEVELS OF ANABOLIC HORMONES.

 

[unicorn7]

I take 25 mg of hydrocortison, because my cortisol levels were very low (I tested this in saliva on 5 different points in the day). It helps a lot, but I am also worried about the effect long term.
How did you figure out your dose?

Did you test all the hormones? Where they all low or low-normal?

I find this extremely interesting. I have often wondered why these replacement medication (that are usually safe and well tested in other diseases) are not used. It’s not a cure, maybe it’s only secondary, but if it gives me back my
life I don’t care!

 

[serg1942]

Hi "thingsvarious",

I just read your whole blog, and I must say that I am impressed. I have been bedridden for almost 16 years now, but I experienced a great improvement for about 5 years that allowed me to enroll into med school and reach the 4th year (I lost this improvement because the product that gave it me to me (GcMAF) was persecuted and taken out of the market).

So, having being a med student myself, I can fathom how much time and effort you have invested in mastering the hormonal replacement world. So, congratulations for your achievement, for your courage, and of course, for your improvement.

I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind:

- First, could you recommend good literature to learn about HRT, in order to know well the "dogmatic" or stablished knowledge, as well as the more "cutting edge" or "holistic/alternative" knowledge?

- What do you think the cause of your panhypopituitarism is? I mean, your low hormones are obviously acquired from what you tell on your blog, so, what do you think is the prime cause? (heavy metals, chronic infections, micotoxins, etc.)

- I'd like to check my hormones, but I know regular blood tests are not always reliable... I understand cortisol is better assessed through saliva 4 times per day? (I've read you recommend 24 h urine cortisol or an experimental trial), and regarding thyroid, would free T3 and T4 suffice? (I'm Spanish, so perhaps you know of a good hormonal panel in Europe?).

- Do you think you have ME/CFS? Yes, you did probably meet the diagnostic criteria before your improvement. And yes, low hormones is a usual finding in this disease, however not everybody shows low hormones as clearly as you explain you did, or not everybody shows improvement from HRT... Do you think many people with ME/CFS could get better by having their hormones in the 3rd percentile of the normal range? For example, I have my free T4 in the low normal range, and my TSH varies from 3 to 5... Also, my cortisol in saliva is low, but my ACTH challenge test was normal, while my DHEA is usually almost low...Would you consider these levels low enough to be worth supplementing? Or when you say you had low levels, you mean really low in regular blood tests?

Finally, as for your initial question, well, you must have read what the studies say about long term use of HRT (I have no idea)... However, my main doubt is whether the underlaying cause of the disease (low grade inflammation and autoimmunity caused, for example, by intracellular infections such as borrelia b. ) could be damaging in the background, more than it would if you were sick (there is the hypothesis that our cells are kind of "hybernating" in order to avoid further damage- - e.g. The CDR state, established by Dr. Naviaux--). Have you tested for pro-inflammatory cytokines, or PGE2, or elastase?

Anyway, I must say that I do agree with you: "health is not everything but without it, everything is nothing" ... I would take the risk you've taken if that would mean to get my health back. In a blink of an eye!

Take care and thank you so much for having shared your story.

Best wishes,
Sergio

 

[thingsvarious]

I take 25 mg of hydrocortison, because my cortisol levels were very low (I tested this in saliva on 5 different points in the day). It helps a lot, but I am also worried about the effect long term.
How did you figure out your dose?

Did you test all the hormones? Where they all low or low-normal?

I find this extremely interesting. I have often wondered why these replacement medication (that are usually safe and well tested in other diseases) are not used. It’s not a cure, maybe it’s only secondary, but if it gives me back my
life I don’t care!

Saliva tests are worthless.
Yes i tested extensively and researched 1000s of hours before starting up treatment. Also all this took YEARS.
I was super scared of cortisol initially, but it was THE hormone that made a bigger difference than anything else.

I monitor HBA1C, TGs, LDL, HDL ect. and none got worse for taking cortisol, which means that I am within the physiologic range.
I started on just 12.5mg CA -> now I am double that (but for sure my adrenals are more suppressed than they were then).

Read the section of cortisol at the bottom of my guide. Hopefully some of you will find value in it.. Here.

 

[thingsvarious]

Hi "thingsvarious",

I just read your whole blog, and I must say that I am impressed. I have been bedridden for almost 16 years now, but I experienced a great improvement for about 5 years that allowed me to enroll into med school and reach the 4th year (I lost this improvement because the product that gave it me to me (GcMAF) was persecuted and taken out of the market).

So, having being a med student myself, I can fathom how much time and effort you have invested in mastering the hormonal replacement world. So, congratulations for your achievement, for your courage, and of course, for your improvement.

I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind:

- First, could you recommend good literature to learn about HRT, in order to know well the "dogmatic" or stablished knowledge, as well as the more "cutting edge" or "holistic/alternative" knowledge?

- What do you think the cause of your panhypopituitarism is? I mean, your low hormones are obviously acquired from what you tell on your blog, so, what do you think is the prime cause? (heavy metals, chronic infections, micotoxins, etc.)

- I'd like to check my hormones, but I know regular blood tests are not always reliable... I understand cortisol is better assessed through saliva 4 times per day? (I've read you recommend 24 h urine cortisol or an experimental trial), and regarding thyroid, would free T3 and T4 suffice? (I'm Spanish, so perhaps you know of a good hormonal panel in Europe?).

- Do you think you have ME/CFS? Yes, you did probably meet the diagnostic criteria before your improvement. And yes, low hormones is a usual finding in this disease, however not everybody shows low hormones as clearly as you explain you did, or not everybody shows improvement from HRT... Do you think many people with ME/CFS could get better by having their hormones in the 3rd percentile of the normal range? For example, I have my free T4 in the low normal range, and my TSH varies from 3 to 5... Also, my cortisol in saliva is low, but my ACTH challenge test was normal, while my DHEA is usually almost low...Would you consider these levels low enough to be worth supplementing? Or when you say you had low levels, you mean really low in regular blood tests?

Finally, as for your initial question, well, you must have read what the studies say about long term use of HRT (I have no idea)... However, my main doubt is whether the underlaying cause of the disease (low grade inflammation and autoimmunity caused, for example, by intracellular infections such as borrelia b. ) could be damaging in the background, more than it would if you were sick (there is the hypothesis that our cells are kind of "hybernating" in order to avoid further damage- - e.g. The CDR state, established by Dr. Naviaux--). Have you tested for pro-inflammatory cytokines, or PGE2, or elastase?

Anyway, I must say that I do agree with you: "health is not everything but without it, everything is nothing" ... I would take the risk you've taken if that would mean to get my health back. In a blink of an eye!

Take care and thank you so much for having shared your story.

Best wishes,
Sergio

Hi,

glad you are doing better.

1) wikipedia (love it), Peter Attia AMA podcasts (ask me anything editions), Thierry Herthogue The Hormone Handbook

2) genetics. My brother is in a similar state as I am.

3) cortisol you just can´t test ufortunately. Read my section about cortisol Here.
Yes for thyroid fT3 and fT4 and TSH. Get all the tests done I recommend if you can.

4) With endocrinology bloods don´t give us the whole picture. I believe that a TSH of 3-5 is WAAAAY too high. In my opinion, it would best to supplement your way to a TSH of 1, not much above and not below. DHEA being low can be an indicator of cortisol being low. I think it would be best to try low dose CA/HC to see if you can really feel it. Best "diagnostic" test ever.

Read again Here.

Also CFS is a HETEROGENEOUS issue (meaning if you have 10 patients with CSF there might be 5-6 different "subtypes" with completely different causes). We just lump them together into a single phenotype (similar to depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, -all heterogeneous).

5) At least for me there is no inflammatory issue. I have checked borrelia ect. CRP is always unmeasurable. Leukocytes and lymphocyte subsets are always normal, so no infection for me, neither viral nor bacterial nor protozoan.

Wish you the best!!! Hit me up if you have more questions

 

[thingsvarious]

I take 25 mg of hydrocortison, because my cortisol levels were very low (I tested this in saliva on 5 different points in the day). It helps a lot, but I am also worried about the effect long term.
How did you figure out your dose?

Did you test all the hormones? Where they all low or low-normal?

I find this extremely interesting. I have often wondered why these replacement medication (that are usually safe and well tested in other diseases) are not used. It’s not a cure, maybe it’s only secondary, but if it gives me back my
life I don’t care!

In my opinion, I think it would be best to switch to cortisone acetate if you can get your hands on it.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

, but I experienced a great improvement for about 5 years that allowed me to enroll into med school and reach the 4th year (I lost this improvement because the product that gave it me to me (GcMAF) was persecuted and taken out of the market).

What can we do, to assist you with utilizing this treatment again?

 

[heapsreal]

In my opinion CFS is often (not always obviously) multiple hormone deficiency (esp. adrenals, perihperal thyroid sensitivity).

I am a medical student in my last year. I replace ALL of my hormones. my energy levels went from the 5th percentile to the 95th percentile.

In early twenties my life was starting to go down the gutter. My life started to fall apart in every domain. I felt like shit. It took me forever to wake up. Freezing all the time. No inner peace. My mind was always racing, nonetheless I was lethargic all day, every day. Everything was drudgery and required a ton of self-discipline. Loads of coffee and painful cold showers were required to get me through life. Each night I was grateful that another day was over. I was just trying to get by. At best.


I started multiple hormone replacement. Whereas before my life was a nightmare, it has been a dream ever since. I have been doing this for some years now.

My question. As I am in my mid twenties, do you think this is sustainable for decades? Will my lifespan increase or decrease because of it?

What I take. But what works for me might not work for others.

I personally need/choose to optimize all hormones but often for many people it is just ONE hormone that is imbalanced/deficient and replacing that is sufficient
Everyone is different, but the target range I aim for is in the upper tertile of the youthful reference range. Just falling somewhere within the reference range is not “optimal”. The reference range covers 95% of the population. Certainly more than 5% of the population have hormones bad enough to warrant intervention.

• TRT: Test Cyp (50mg subQ 2x/week), HcG (250iu subQ 2x/week), anastrozole (0.25mg 1x/week), dutasteride 0.5mg 1x/week (as my androgens are high I don´t need the DHT).
• cortisol: cortisone acetate (20mg/d HC equivalent) (split into 4 daily doses)
• thyroid: 1.25 grains NDT + 6.25mcg T3 (a few hours later in the day)
• GH: 0.5iu genotropin pfizer (aiming for IGF1 of 250) prebed
• fludrocortisone 01.mg/d morning
• melatonin: 0.25mg sublingual prebed

Other stuff I do: keto/paleo, HIIT, weekly rapamycin, a bunch of supplements (all of them together less worth than a slight alteration in hormones), some exercise every day, sleep around 6h (wake up refreshed without alarm -before HRT I needed 8+).

Before hormone replacement I was trying out every nootropic under the sun (modafinil, caffeine, shitty racetams, small doses of MTP, ephedrine). Now I don´t need any (sometimes a little nicotine gum while studying). My cognition is now almost always sharp, no brain fog, great energy, motivated. The combo of good sleep + cardio + keto + good hormones is much healthier and more sustainable than any stims/nootropics. Too bad that so many people focus just on supps and nootropics.

I do everyhing mostly myself because many (not all) endocrinologists are shit. Once I found what works, taking all these hormones takes less than 5min per day and no thought whatsoever. Tiny price for a huge prize.
You can´t outdrug/outbiohack/outlifestyle a bad hormonal profile.

If you are interested I wrote about my experience here.

I also wrote a guide the other day on how I´d go about replacing multiple hormones. It took 1000s of hours to figure out. Hopefully some of you will find value in it.. Here.

Many of you guys will say that I am screwing myself. Well, to them I say that I am aware that this is uncharted territory. I am aware of the risks. But to me the cost-benefit analysis is a no-brainer. If I had to, I would sign a contract to rather live 10 more years with my new vitality and then die instead of living to one hundred with the dreadful state I was in before. Life is about filling time and not passing it.

My goal: to find a great balance between performance/wellbeing and health/longevity.

Why do I post all this?
1) Trying to provide value: Because it does just cost me a little time but perhaps can help others out a lot. Had I known what I know now, it would have saved me lots of money, happiness, effort, researching, experimenting. And suffering
2) Trying to get feedback/criticism/blind spots. I am sure some of you are quite knowledgable and experienced and might give valuable feedback/criticism and point out stuff I didn´t think about. Also as this is rather uncharted territory, do you think this is sustainable for decades? Will my healthspan increase or decrease because of it?

What does this mean for you? Hormones have an INSANE connection to energy levels. Just falling into the normal range is not enoguh. Unfortunately they are VERY neglected. If you have been fatigued for a long time it might be worth looking into your hormones. ANY hormone deficiency (GH/IGF1, sex hormones, thyroid, cortisol) will cause brain fog, subpar cognition, lethargy, anhedonia, low motivation, low mood, fatigue

Again: I personally need/choose to optimize all hormones but often for many people it is just ONE hormone that is imbalanced/deficient and replacing that is sufficient

Looks good but if i was going to query anything it would be the arimidex, my experience most guys on that dose of testosterone dont aromatize enough to increase e2 too much. Current fews on e2 is that it has good cardioprotective effects and neurological protection.

The other thing that might be worth considered is slowly replacing cortisone with pregnenolone if it helps??

Cheers

 

[gbells]

My question is what would cause multiple dysregulation of numerous organs simultaneously? I can see stress lowering immunity but for numerous organs to suddenly crap out sounds like poisoning.

 

[thingsvarious]

Looks good but if i was going to query anything it would be the arimidex, my experience most guys on that dose of testosterone dont aromatize enough to increase e2 too much. Current fews on e2 is that it has good cardioprotective effects and neurological protection.

The other thing that might be worth considered is slowly replacing cortisone with pregnenolone if it helps??

Cheers

Pregenolone does nothing other than being a neurosteroid and skyrocketing my progesterone. Improvements in glucocorticoids are slight at best, at least for me.

 

[serg1942]

Hi,

glad you are doing better.

1) wikipedia (love it), Peter Attia AMA podcasts (ask me anything editions), Thierry Herthogue The Hormone Handbook

2) genetics. My brother is in a similar state as I am.

3) cortisol you just can´t test ufortunately. Read my section about cortisol Here.
Yes for thyroid fT3 and fT4 and TSH. Get all the tests done I recommend if you can.

4) With endocrinology bloods don´t give us the whole picture. I believe that a TSH of 3-5 is WAAAAY too high. In my opinion, it would best to supplement your way to a TSH of 1, not much above and not below. DHEA being low can be an indicator of cortisol being low. I think it would be best to try low dose CA/HC to see if you can really feel it. Best "diagnostic" test ever.

Read again Here.

Also CFS is a HETEROGENEOUS issue (meaning if you have 10 patients with CSF there might be 5-6 different "subtypes" with completely different causes). We just lump them together into a single phenotype (similar to depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, homosexuality -all heterogeneous).

5) At least for me there is no inflammatory issue. I have checked borrelia ect. CRP is always unmeasurable. Leukocytes and lymphocyte subsets are always normal, so no infection for me, neither viral nor bacterial nor protozoan.

Wish you the best!!! Hit me up if you have more questions

Thank you for the advice!

Genetics cannot explain low hormones, if you had normal levels until you fell sick in the first year of med school. There must be some epigenetics going on, that caused the panhypopituitarism... Don't you think?

The markers you are testing are not indicative of chronic inflammation, but rather of acute inflammation. CRP and ESR can be normal in chronic conditions, as it is my case. Only markers of chronic inflammation are usually high in ME/CFS or other chronic inflammatory conditions, including proinflammatory cytokines (IL1, IL6, IL8, TNFalfa, MCP-1, etc.), elastase, prostaglandin E2, sometimes C4a or C3a, among others. Also, a patern of normal-low 25 hydroxycholecalciferol and normal-high 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol is a pretty good indicator of low degree chronic inflammation.

I would really like to know if you suffer from chronic inflammation given that you need chronic HRT.

As for chronic infections (borrelia, bartonella, babesia, coxsackie B4, chlamydia, ehrlichia, anaplasma...), normal leukocytes count does not show chronic infections either. You would need to check your CD3-CD57+ status as well as the inflammatory markers I listed above in order to know if you are suffering from chronic infections.

As for borrelia b., unfortunately normal tests are not reliable (serlogy, PCR, western blot, elisa). They shed many false negatives. Here, a low CD3-CD57+ could be a marker of chronic borrelia infection that you could confirm with an LLT test or the new qPCR borrelia phage test.

Again, congratulations for your research and accomplishments. They are truly remarkable!

Take care and thank you again for sharing your story!

Sergio

 

[serg1942]

What can we do, to assist you with utilizing this treatment again?

Well, thank you for asking! Unfortunately there's not much we can do. GcMAF was a great treatment for some of us. It allowed me to pass from bed-ridden to a 50-70% of functionality, which allowed me to go out, drive, study, go to the gym... It wasn't a cure but it gave me part of my life back!

But it was taken out of the market and doctors using it were persecuted and some lost their license... It was just "too good to let it be real"...

(well, I'm sure that there is a black market where one can get it, because it is very useful for cancer, and people with cancer are willing to take the risk and acquire a product of uncertain origin... But I wouldn't dare to take GcMAF from the black market unless I knew it was safe...)

Thank you again!
Sergio

 

[SilverRose88]

I started hydrocortisone (up to 25mg) quite a few years ago now, it has by no means cured me but it got me from being bedbound to being able to be upright! I’m still largely limited by my ME, but I swear the HC is what has helped. I also am on 75mcg thyroxine (couldn’t tolerate pigs hormone as I have a high normal free T3). It was always my FT4 which was low.
I’m now only on 15mg and will be on HC for life because I’ve been on it for so long, I used to worry about being on it long term but I very much had the same mindset as you, I’d rather have limited years being able to feel less deathly than more years on end unable to move from my bed. I also developed osteoporosis from my severe ME as I didn’t develop bone strength during the vital years (I was a teen), I’ve had DEXA scans and my bones haven’t worsened since being on HC.

Can I ask what is the difference between HC and cortisone acetate please? I’m wondering if my HC should actually be 20mg. What doses do you take at what time too as I’ve been taking 15mg in one dose in the morning... (hope you don’t mind all of the qs!).

 

[thingsvarious]

Thank you for the advice!

Genetics cannot explain low hormones, if you had normal levels until you fell sick in the first year of med school. There must be some epigenetics going on, that caused the panhypopituitarism... Don't you think?

The markers you are testing are not indicative of chronic inflammation, but rather of acute inflammation. CRP and ESR can be normal in chronic conditions, as it is my case. Only markers of chronic inflammation are usually high in ME/CFS or other chronic inflammatory conditions, including proinflammatory cytokines (IL1, IL6, IL8, TNFalfa, MCP-1, etc.), elastase, prostaglandin E2, sometimes C4a or C3a, among others. Also, a patern of normal-low 25 hydroxycholecalciferol and normal-high 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol is a pretty good indicator of low degree chronic inflammation.

I would really like to know if you suffer from chronic inflammation given that you need chronic HRT.

As for chronic infections (borrelia, bartonella, babesia, coxsackie B4, chlamydia, ehrlichia, anaplasma...), normal leukocytes count does not show chronic infections either. You would need to check your CD3-CD57+ status as well as the inflammatory markers I listed above in order to know if you are suffering from chronic infections.

As for borrelia b., unfortunately normal tests are not reliable (serlogy, PCR, western blot, elisa). They shed many false negatives. Here, a low CD3-CD57+ could be a marker of chronic borrelia infection that you could confirm with an LLT test or the new qPCR borrelia phage test.

Again, congratulations for your research and accomplishments. They are truly remarkable!

Take care and thank you again for sharing your story!

Sergio

Well I think you are stuck with this idea of "chronic inflammation" explaining everything, but I think it just is a scapegoat for so many things we don´t have answers for. Given that sooo many people are "chronically inlfamed" I don´t think it is powerful enough to screw your hormones as much.

No, my brother is similar -> indicative of a genetic component. It is not all black and white but we both fall at the very bottom of the reference range in almost all hormones, borderline "normal" if you will. Just at the very left tail end of a normal distribution. Not a specific gene, but likely hunderts of genes involved. So you could say I was just very unlucky being below the 5th percentile of normal or so.

I wish you the best and i wish you that you don´t have tunnel vision trying to explain away everything with chronic inflammation