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

[Wisdom]

@thingsvarious

What about your blood pressure before and now？

 

[thingsvarious]

@thingsvarious

What about your blood pressure before and now？

Blood pressure was 105/70 before and not it is around 120/65.

 

[thingsvarious]

Update: I was able to cut out the fludrocortisone and not notice much difference.

 

[thingsvarious]

Update: at the moment I am off the cortisol completely (3 months now) and seem to be doing fine. The process of weaning was way easier than imagined. It seems that these years of cortisol replacement have somehow kickstarted my HPA again instead of suppressing HPA-function (as one would assume)

 

[Learner1]

Update: at the moment I am off the cortisol completely (3 months now) and seem to be doing fine. The process of weaning was way easier than imagined. It seems that these years of cortisol replacement have somehow kickstarted my HPA again instead of suppressing HPA-function (as one would assume)

I was at one point on 30mg cortisol and as I've undergone treatment for infections, immune dysfunction, and mitochondrial repair, I've gradually, over 2.5 years, weaned down to zero, excepting for right after my IVIG treatments, as my adrenals have started working better.

Have you tested for pro-inflammatory cytokines, or PGE2, or elastase?

Curious why you asked about PGE2? What would the significance be?

 

[GlassCannonLife]

Update: I was able to cut out the fludrocortisone and not notice much difference.

You mean your blood pressure has remained normal?

I also wonder how much a temporary multi-hormone replacement can "restart" some aspect of the various HP axes

 

[serg1942]

I was at one point on 30mg cortisol and as I've undergone treatment for infections, immune dysfunction, and mitochondrial repair, I've gradually, over 2.5 years, weaned down to zero, excepting for right after my IVIG treatments, as my adrenals have started working better.

Curious why you asked about PGE2? What would the significance be?

Sorry for the late reply. PGE2 is usually high in chronic Lyme disease. It is at the core of the inflammatory milieu. So, I think it is something to check when trying to rule out Lyme disease.

 

[Learner1]

Sorry for the late reply. PGE2 is usually high in chronic Lyme disease. It is at the core of the inflammatory milieu. So, I think it is something to check when trying to rule out Lyme disease.

Thanks for explaining. Do you have a reference? It doesn't seem that PGE2 is specific to Lyme...

 

[serg1942]

Thanks for explaining. Do you have a reference? It doesn't seem that PGE2 is specific to Lyme...

Actually I have measured it myself many times over the past 10 years or so. It was prescribed by Dr. De Meirleir, and it was always high.

I think that mine is a clear case of chronic Lyme disease (as shown by IgG western blot, positive LTT, low CD3-CD57+ and normal CD38+). Plus I have seen the same pattern of high PGE2 in many other patients of Dr De Meirleir, also Lyme positive.

But I haven't looked for literatute linking the PGE2 with Lyme. Sorry. Please let me know if you find any.

Take care,
Sergio

 

[Learner1]

Actually I have measured it myself many times over the past 10 years or so. It was prescribed by Dr. De Meirleir, and it was always high.

I think that mine is a clear case of chronic Lyme disease (as shown by IgG western blot, positive LTT, low CD3-CD57+ and normal CD38+). Plus I have seen the same pattern of high PGE2 in many other patients of Dr De Meirleir, also Lyme positive.

But I haven't looked for literatute linking the PGE2 with Lyme. Sorry. Please let me know if you find any.

Take care,
Sergio

You might read the paper I linked to above. PGE2 is not specific to Lyme. Additionally, I found this:

"Prostaglandins, such as PGE2, are not stored in cells, but rather produced following arachidonic acid metabolism and therefore can be produced by almost all cells in the body (22). PGE2 is the most abundant prostaglandin in humans (23) generated via the action of cyclooxygenase enzymes."

It acts in acute inflammation and causes mast cell degranulation. It is also active in many autoimmune diseases.

 

[thingsvarious]

You mean your blood pressure has remained normal?

I also wonder how much a temporary multi-hormone replacement can "restart" some aspect of the various HP axes

Blood pressure did not drop again (it was low before).

Yes, I assume that exposing certain hypothalamic cells to higher levels of hormones for some time, could be able to get these networks "used" to having a higher baseline, which is attempted to be maintained after hormones are weaned off.

 

[GlassCannonLife]

Blood pressure did not drop again (it was low before).

Yes, I assume that exposing certain hypothalamic cells to higher levels of hormones for some time, could be able to get these networks "used" to having a higher baseline, which is attempted to be maintained after hormones are weaned off.

Yeah I wonder how much it is that, vs a temporary deficiency after stopping the support inducing a overcompensatory boost in HP hormones.

This also being reinforced by there being normal levels for a while, potentially helping to repair systems/restore homeostasis.

There was an interesting study I saw recently where they gave men a few weeks (4 IIRC.?) of dianabol, the AAS, or DHEA. They saw suppression of testosterone, LH and FSH but then upon cessation they only had 7-10 days of low testosterone before they had a boost up above baseline for a few weeks.

 

[thingsvarious]

Yeah I wonder how much it is that, vs a temporary deficiency after stopping the support inducing a overcompensatory boost in HP hormones.

This also being reinforced by there being normal levels for a while, potentially helping to repair systems/restore homeostasis.

There was an interesting study I saw recently where they gave men a few weeks (4 IIRC.?) of dianabol, the AAS, or DHEA. They saw suppression of testosterone, LH and FSH but then upon cessation they only had 7-10 days of low testosterone before they had a boost up above baseline for a few weeks.

Unfortunately, there likely are not going to be any studies on the subject soon. However, there could theoretically be a neurobiological basis (epigenetics; network effects) for a potentially higher setpoint. Unfortunately, there will be mostly anecdotes as to this

 

[GlassCannonLife]

Unfortunately, there likely are not going to be any studies on the subject soon. However, there could theoretically be a neurobiological basis (epigenetics; network effects) for a potentially higher setpoint. Unfortunately, there will be mostly anecdotes as to this

Why do you think we are unlikely to see such studies soon?

 

[SWAlexander]

If anybody is interested in diving deeper into Cortisol:

Chromosome 10: gene which creates cortisol, Matt Ridley
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/view/15405-Chromosome-10-gene-which-creates-cortisol-Matt-Ridley.html

Corticotropin-releasing factor receptor-1 modulates biomarkers of DNA oxidation in Alzheimer's disease mice: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28750017/

Does cortisol boost the immune system?
It causes your body to produce greater levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In short spurts, cortisol can boost your immunity by limiting inflammation. But over time, your body can get used to having too much cortisol in your blood. And this opens the door for more inflammation,:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-when-your-immune-system-gets-stressed-out/

Also:
SNPedia is waring about:
"The scientific credentials of Dr. Amy Yasko are strongly questioned by these sources:"
https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Yasko_Methylation

 

[Learner1]

SNPedia is waring about:
"The scientific credentials of Dr. Amy Yasko are strongly questioned by these sources:"
https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Yasko_Methylation

Er, if you bother to read the rest of the stuff on this page, it describes Yasko's approach, which is actually based on quite a bit of research during her academic research career:

Dr. Amy has a PhD in Microbiology/Immunology​

/Infectious Disease from Albany Medical College, along with multiple postdoctoral fellowships including Yale Medical center, Wilmont cancer center URMC, and Pediatric Infectious Disease at URMC.​

​

She has served as a member of the scientific advisory board for NFAM (National Foundation of Alternative Medicine) and the Documenting Hope Project for chronic illness. Dr. Amy worked in biotechnology for 15 years, codeveloping the first low cost DNA synthesizer and co owned a DNA technology company as an inventor on multiple patents involving DNA and RNA technology.​

She was a pioneer in nutrigenomics and the body of knowledge has evolved over time as research has fleshed out the theories. As a patient, I have benefited white a bit with this approach, having my genes evaluated and using that knowledge to guide my care. I've used testing to validate the theories and I'm able to use this knowledge to help myself and others.

Quackwatch and Science Based Medicine are not reputable sources of medical information. Quackwatch is run by a psychiatrist with an ax to grind and who has lost defamation lawsuits over his pillorying medical professional helping patients

SBM is run by narrow minded and exceedingly arrogant doctors, one a pediatric oncologist and the other a neurologist, together with an ancient ex-military doctor who use outdated ingornatin to slam many treatments that I've seen in practice help a good number of patients. They are not experts in ME/CFS and related conditions and their overdependence on RCTs which do not take into account individuals genetic or environmental factors, sex, age, or other factors that can confound research. Quite honestly if these two sources are against something, I've found whatever it is might be taking a good look at (using other sources. Unfortunately, theyve dissuaded patients from treatments that can help

If one wants to find answers, it's best ti do ones own investigation, finding and reading go medical journal articles and discussing them with knowledgeable people in the context of one's own characteristics, symptoms, and testing, along with whatever treatments that one is already doing, as there might be synergies or risks involved.

Does cortisol boost the immune system?
It causes your body to produce greater levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In short spurts, cortisol can boost your immunity by limiting inflammation. But over time, your body can get used to having too much cortisol in your blood. And this opens the door for more inflammation,:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-when-your-immune-system-gets-stressed-out/

Steroids can suppress immune function.

According to the Cleveland Clinic:

Steroids reduce the production of chemicals that cause inflammation. This helps keep tissue damage as low as possible. Steroids also reduce the activity of the immune system by affecting the way white blood cells work.

 

[SWAlexander]

Learner1 I appreciate your input. I have learned over time that we must take every publication with a grain of salt - meaning, finding the motive behind the publication.

 

[thingsvarious]

Learner1 I appreciate your input. I have learned over time that we must take every publication with a grain of salt - meaning, finding the motive behind the publication.

I 100% agree. Most people take a single research paper and draw broad conclusions even though the context (and the study population) is often completely different.

 

[SWAlexander]

From

 

[SWAlexander]

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