solarman
Excavating the truth
- Messages
- 14
- Location
- United Kingdom
Hi all
I've been following the forum for about a year and having tried almost everything that is suggested for CFS and AF out there, I have improved but have recently hit a brick wall and it's been devastating.
I have been using transdermal pregnenolone and for a while I felt really calm and high up in the clouds, great hair and skin but recently I read that my thyroid might not be metabolising well enough as sometimes I got spacy feelings, and so I have been using estrogen supplements such as DIM and zinc.
I have found that it has made my personality disappear from caring to apathetic and easily respond to people with aggression. This is particularly true with the DIM. With the zinc, I get a boost in energy, but I feel much too direct and un-compassionate. Very dry skin.
I have been trying to boost my cortisol and I thought that stepping down the hormone pathway to progesterone cream would help. On first use I felt amazing, but afterwards my skin has gone very dry and I look about 5-10 years older... It also makes me impatient,
I am always oversleeping and feel almost too numb and calm throughout the day, and now adding more pregnenolone is hit or miss - sometimes I feel spacey, others I get an energy boost. Progesterone now give me eye floaters. I have read that too much progesterone can actually switch off ACTH?
A key difference in symptoms is also that after exercise, particularly cardio, my eyes get VERY bloodshot, and I start to get very impatient.
I am thinking that messing with estrogen has shown up a key weakness with how my thyroid works. Blood test recently showed free T3 to be high though, but lowish T4. TSH was 1.78. I have also tested low for Testosterone (13.5 on a range 9 - 29) and I am only 26.
I feel that my cortisol on it's own with low total testosterone and now low estrogen is struggling to maintain thyroid capacity. Too much pregnenolone makes me spacy, too much thyroid makes me have low cortisol. I have a suspicion that my DHT is up due to all this, such as OCD obsessive thoughts, lack of thirst, etc. My hair seems to be thinner as well.
Although I have been sleeping very soundly I wake up unrefreshed, and I noticed when I used progesterone cream I got loose stools in the morning. I have also been having to sleep with the light and bathroom fan on as I find it stimulates me to sleep?!
In light of the low testosterone scores I tried oral DHEA and that improved my mood but made me slump and lethargic. I then tried DHEA cream and the boost in confidence is amazing but it makes me muscles tense up and doesn't seem to renew my more considerate personality.
I have really bad muscle and joint aches in the neck and shoulders, and muscle weakness in the core area. Finally, I have heat, rather than cold, intolerance.
So this is the stage I'm at, unsure of whether to go backwards or to just continue using the DHEA cream in the hope estrogen will rise. But it scares me knowing I might never be the same again this way.
I've been following the forum for about a year and having tried almost everything that is suggested for CFS and AF out there, I have improved but have recently hit a brick wall and it's been devastating.
I have been using transdermal pregnenolone and for a while I felt really calm and high up in the clouds, great hair and skin but recently I read that my thyroid might not be metabolising well enough as sometimes I got spacy feelings, and so I have been using estrogen supplements such as DIM and zinc.
I have found that it has made my personality disappear from caring to apathetic and easily respond to people with aggression. This is particularly true with the DIM. With the zinc, I get a boost in energy, but I feel much too direct and un-compassionate. Very dry skin.
I have been trying to boost my cortisol and I thought that stepping down the hormone pathway to progesterone cream would help. On first use I felt amazing, but afterwards my skin has gone very dry and I look about 5-10 years older... It also makes me impatient,
I am always oversleeping and feel almost too numb and calm throughout the day, and now adding more pregnenolone is hit or miss - sometimes I feel spacey, others I get an energy boost. Progesterone now give me eye floaters. I have read that too much progesterone can actually switch off ACTH?
A key difference in symptoms is also that after exercise, particularly cardio, my eyes get VERY bloodshot, and I start to get very impatient.
I am thinking that messing with estrogen has shown up a key weakness with how my thyroid works. Blood test recently showed free T3 to be high though, but lowish T4. TSH was 1.78. I have also tested low for Testosterone (13.5 on a range 9 - 29) and I am only 26.
I feel that my cortisol on it's own with low total testosterone and now low estrogen is struggling to maintain thyroid capacity. Too much pregnenolone makes me spacy, too much thyroid makes me have low cortisol. I have a suspicion that my DHT is up due to all this, such as OCD obsessive thoughts, lack of thirst, etc. My hair seems to be thinner as well.
Although I have been sleeping very soundly I wake up unrefreshed, and I noticed when I used progesterone cream I got loose stools in the morning. I have also been having to sleep with the light and bathroom fan on as I find it stimulates me to sleep?!
In light of the low testosterone scores I tried oral DHEA and that improved my mood but made me slump and lethargic. I then tried DHEA cream and the boost in confidence is amazing but it makes me muscles tense up and doesn't seem to renew my more considerate personality.
I have really bad muscle and joint aches in the neck and shoulders, and muscle weakness in the core area. Finally, I have heat, rather than cold, intolerance.
So this is the stage I'm at, unsure of whether to go backwards or to just continue using the DHEA cream in the hope estrogen will rise. But it scares me knowing I might never be the same again this way.
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