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Thyroid (Expert Forum)
adrenal-florinef treatment
Answered by
Mark Lupo, M.D. - Thyroid Nodules, Thyroid Cancer, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, Thyroid Ultrasound
Thyroid & Endocrine Center of Florida
Sarasota - FL
Questions in the Thyroid forum are answered by Dr. Mark Lupo. Topics covered include goiter, graves disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, hyperthyroid, hypothyroid, thyroid cancers, thyroiditis, and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).
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adrenal-florinef treatment
by tina999, Sep 08, 2005 12:00AM
Hey you guys,
My endo was going to put me on prednisone yesterday but I suggested the florinef instead. He was very apprehensive but said he was at a loss as to what else to do. He gave me the 0.1 mg dose and I took it and 12.5 ug of levoxyl. I can give it a tentative thumbs up. We'll give it a few days and see how it goes.
Another interesting site I found is a yahoo group called adrenal recovery. They are mostly people with CFS or who are having problems discontinuing glucocorticoid therapy, however I threw up a post sort of outlining what we have been going through (sorry for any errors) and I had a couple of people pop up and say that they couldn't tolerate thyroid meds without a low level hydrocortisone dose.
I am confused about what is going on here. If this is such a rare thing-none of my endos recognize it-then why do I keep finding people on the web who are having problems with it. Are the docs who see it just ignoring it? How many people leave the drs and are like Juanita, suffering through hell till thier own system kicks in. I am alomst lucky as I get to go to the ER, otherwise I am afraid they would tell me just to "keep taking the meds" and "that I'll get used to it" when there in a seriuos problem underlying the whole ordeal. That was the approach of the first endo I went to. She could have killed me given the severity of the symptoms I was showing.
Just ignore the problem till it goes away?
I actually got a littlewebpage but it isn't set up yet. We only have a mac at home and the yahoo site builder works on PCs.
I'll keep you guys updated
My endo was going to put me on prednisone yesterday but I suggested the florinef instead. He was very apprehensive but said he was at a loss as to what else to do. He gave me the 0.1 mg dose and I took it and 12.5 ug of levoxyl. I can give it a tentative thumbs up. We'll give it a few days and see how it goes.
Another interesting site I found is a yahoo group called adrenal recovery. They are mostly people with CFS or who are having problems discontinuing glucocorticoid therapy, however I threw up a post sort of outlining what we have been going through (sorry for any errors) and I had a couple of people pop up and say that they couldn't tolerate thyroid meds without a low level hydrocortisone dose.
I am confused about what is going on here. If this is such a rare thing-none of my endos recognize it-then why do I keep finding people on the web who are having problems with it. Are the docs who see it just ignoring it? How many people leave the drs and are like Juanita, suffering through hell till thier own system kicks in. I am alomst lucky as I get to go to the ER, otherwise I am afraid they would tell me just to "keep taking the meds" and "that I'll get used to it" when there in a seriuos problem underlying the whole ordeal. That was the approach of the first endo I went to. She could have killed me given the severity of the symptoms I was showing.
Just ignore the problem till it goes away?
I actually got a littlewebpage but it isn't set up yet. We only have a mac at home and the yahoo site builder works on PCs.
I'll keep you guys updated
Doctor's Answer
by Mark Lupo, M.D., Sep 08, 2005 12:00AM
, Sep 08, 2005 12:00AM
It's not clear what your question is. Adrenal fatigue is not currently recognized in traditional endocrine, only adrenal insufficiency. The treatment is steroids - if you are truly adrenal insufficient, you cannot live without glucocorticoids (prednisone, hydrocortisone, etc). The florinef is a mineralacorticoid ("salt steroid") that may help in cases of dizziness with standing or in cases of fainting that are not directly related to adrenal. Patients with destruction of the adrenals also need florinef. The reluctance to treat adrenal fatigue is putting a patient on steroids when they do not absolutely need it and in turn risking complications of chronic steroid treatment. This tendency may change, but I don't see anything in western medical literature that makes me think we will anytime soon recognize a "subclinical adrenal" disorder in the same way we do thyroid disorders.
I don't know if you came onto the forum after my post about the Mary Shomon "Quality of Life Survey" of thyroid patients but let me repeat that info again because is very revealing. In 2003 results were released and nearly 1000 patients submitted the following results; Despite treatment and having TSH ranges between 0.05 to 2.0, these percentages of patients still had the following symptoms; Fatigue/Exhaustion-"91.74%", Joint Pain, Aches, Stiffness-"50.81%", Depression-"45.35%", Mind Fog-"58.26%", WeightGain-"53.02%", Loss of Sex Drive-"57.91%", Difficulty Losing Weight-"64.53%" etc........
The above survey tells me that a large number of thyroid patients on replacement, retain symptoms to varying degrees. It could be that mild adrenal insifficiency or other endocrine embalances, are interacting with thyroid med, causing decreased effect or even aggravating other hormonal imbalances. Regardless, we need the replacement meds, or risk much worse consequences. It is not the Dr's fault or the thyroid med-makers fault, it is just a very complicated problem. You would never believe there are possible problems though, when reading many of the websites about thyroid replacement, they simply state to the effect; "Once on thyroid medication, you will feel better within a few weeks." I just don't believe it is that simple for many people!!
If you go to "www.thyroid.about.com" and type in "Quality of life Survey", in their search bar at top page, you can read that entire survey results. It shows we are not alone!!
I'm glad you found a Dr that's at least willing to try and admits there might be another way to treat this problem. I guess this problem is not that uncommon but we can only guess, I wish researches would undertake more research on this arena. It'd help us all.
Anyway, good luck with the florinef, let us know how you feel and thanks for the article!
Cat
The reason the aches and pains go away when you dont take your Armour is your cortisol level comes up and the demand for support is gone. I read this in Dr. Lowe site on Adrenal. As a patient was blaming Armour meds for the pain she was having. Dr. Lowe said it was decreased cortisol level causing the aches and pains. Juanita
"Do you believe me now?"