Dana’s Story

I was diagnosed with Hypo-Thyroidism back in Feb. of ’04, put on .100 Synthroid and told to come back every 6 months for a check-up. I started to feel somewhat better but still had hair loss, depression, gained weight easily and had severe Arthritic and FM symptoms. I suspect that I have been hypo for many, many years. I also have a severe form of Interstitial Cystitis and have been on pain meds for 3 years now.

Because I was still suffering from hypo symptoms, I did research and luckily found this wonderful site! I went on Armour soon after. I steadily raised until I got to 3 grains and held for many months. I thought I was doing ok, except for some weird symptoms that were creeping up on me. You see, I was in BIG DENIAL and I had a BIG FEAR of Adrenal support. I was always one of the first to jump in on Adrenal questions because I myself was afraid to accept my own Adrenal symptoms…..I now know that denial and fear are actually Adrenal symptoms! Please forgive me for my denial all these months and I hope that I did not delay anyone’s Adrenal treatment by my own actions……I hope that some of you may be helped in reading this because that is my goal.

I was out of work for 2.5 years due to my severe physical complaints. But, in order to not lose our house, I had to go back to work in August. I noticed that almost immediately after going back to work my symptoms became much worse. My worsening symptoms were:

top of head hurt-(not a headache but a weird pressure type pain)
legs felt very weak
feet hurt (from standing on the job)
brain fog worsened
became very sensitive and emotional
knee pain worsened
fatigue worsened
almost total loss of appetite
felt dizzy
felt faintish
headaches
carpal-tunnel symptoms
tingling/numbness in arms and feet
heartbeat skipping
Blood pressure became low (112/56 was one reading)
constant red face and rashes

I am sure there are more complaints but cannot think of all of them! I started to suspect my Adrenals were suffering but I still was “afraid” to address it! I didn’t want to have to start over on my Armour and was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to function at work at all if I started down the Adrenal path. When I started to almost faint at work, I knew that it was serious. The other problem was that I could not afford the Adrenal Testing. It was all we could do to pay our mortgage and feed our family at this point so I decided to start on Isocort.

Now, I do not suggest anyone to NOT get tested before starting on Adrenal support. It is important to do so you can see how severe your Adrenals are….that is my only regret because I still don’t know how bad I was. But, according to my symptoms and the self-tests, I was BAD. I suspect I was at stage 6-7. All because of my denial and fear all these months!

As soon as I started on Isocort (I also dropped down to 1 gr. & .025 T4) I noticed that my body craved more! It was like my body was saying, “Don’t stop now, give me some more!” lol But, it also caused me to have to stress dose almost immediately and with Val’s constant guidance (thank you Val!), I had to tirate up a little quicker than most. I stayed on Isocort for about 3 weeks. I did not get much relief from it so I went ahead and ordered Cortef/HC. I started on HC and noticed a difference right away! I never had a Thyroid dump because I lowered my Armour down quite a bit.

I have recently stablized on 25 mg. of HC. During this process I did become severely hypo again so had to do a quick raise to 30 mg. and after 4 days I am feeling better. I know now that I will finally be able to raise my Armour enough to rid myself of ALL of my symptoms…..Alot of my complaints were actually Adrenal symptoms and I cannot believe that I suffered for so long, in denial! My hope is that my FM pain will also go away as I have suffered from FM since age 22. (now 40) Here is another list-

face redness/rashes-almost gone
top of head pressure-gone
excess sweating-better
leg weakness-gone
heart skips-gone
carpal-tunnel-gone
feet pain/knee pain-gone
depression-better!
appetite-better!
blood pressure-better
brain fog-better
tingling/numbness-gone
dizziness-gone
fatigue-better
headaches-better

As you can see from this recent list, almost all of my Adrenal symptoms are gone or are much better! If you still have some symptoms that have not gone away with Armour, do yourself a favor and get your Adrenals tested! Don’t suffer in denial and fear like I did……Yes, it was not an easy road to optimize on HC but, it is worth it! You deserve health and happiness, just like I do…..

Dana 12-06

Important notes: All the information on this website is copyrighted. STTM is an information-only site based on what many patients worldwide have reported in their treatment and wisdom over the years. This is not to be taken as personal medical advice, nor to replace a relationship with your doctor. By reading this information-only website, you take full responsibility for what you choose to do with this website's information or outcomes. See the Disclaimer and Terms of Use.