Adrenal Fatigue Treatment | Miss Lizzy Thyroid Support

Hi my friends,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my medicine, and it’s been an interesting year! So I wanted to share what I’ve learned. First, I want to say wow – it’s all a big experiment! And that’s tough sometimes because I want the answer right now. But the only way to learn is try, test, observe and somehow be patient along the way. So my dear friends, keep at it and you will find answers too. Here is my medicine and general update…

Update on Thyroid Medicine

For a year I have been on the Thyroid compound prescription I special order from Collier’s Pharmacy (details below) in Arkansas. I continue to love it. On the new compound medicine, I take 180mgs day which seems like the right dose for me. On Naturthroid, when I raised above 130mgs I had super freaky hyper and hypo symtpoms. Yet on the compound I can take 180mg beautifully. Weird, isn’t it? So I am super happy to report feeling great now though on the compound. We affectionality call it “The Miss Lizzy Compound” — you can ask for it by name at Colliers. Neat.

Update on Hydrocortisone

The other super big change…I weaned off Hydrocortisone! This was a huge step. I started Hydrocortisone three years ago to help with low cortisol and adrenal fatigue. And Hydrocortisone definitely helped me. But I was always a little worried that the Hydrocortisone was causing some weight gain, and perhaps had something to do with hair loss, though I wasn’t totally sure. This summer I decided it was time to try weaning off Hydrocortisone. Here is what I did:

On STTM Janie felt she had avoided adrenal fatigue because of the high doses of Vitamin C she took daily. So I increased my Vitamin C to 2k mgs a day along with 1k mg Bioflavonoid (per Dr. Wilson’s suggestion). And btw — chewable vitamins really make it much more fun!
I started the process of decreasing my Hydrocortisone by 2.5mgs a week.
If I was stressed during the process, I would hold the dose, and then continue when I felt ready. The idea was to take care of my body and not cause shock.
If had I felt any adrenal fatigue symptoms, I would have stayed on the Hydrocortisone but luckily it seems my adrenals are really well healed now! YAY!!!

It took about 3 months to fully wean off the Hydrocortisone (long time, I know!). And I happy to report, I feel great. It was definitely worth it for me to be on the Hydrocortisone but it was time to try without. It’s been two full months, and so far I seem to be keeping my weight down with greater easily. Over the coming months I will be observing weight gain/loss and hair volume/regrowth to see if the Hydrocortisone might have be related. And of course I will share what I learn!

xxoo

Lizzy

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Here is the info for Collier’s. The pharmacist Rodney at Colliers is SO awesome. He gave us his direct phone extension for ordering the compound (479) 935-4336. Ask for “The Miss Lizzy Compound” and he will hook you up. (A doctor’s prescription is of course needed and he can explain what to do.)

Hypothyroidism is closely tied to Adrenal Fatique, and the symptoms overlap, so I found I needed to treat both conditions to reach an optimal health level. My one regret is that it took me 2 years to get there, so I really wish I had been more proactive.

From what I read on Stop the Thyroid Madness, its best to treat Adrenals first to strengthen the body so it can handle the Thyroid medication. Here is a summary for treating Hypothyroidism and Adrenals, but please research and talk with your doctor about what might work for you.

Thyroid Treatment

According to Stop the Thyroid Madness the commonly prescribed “T4-only” Synthetic Thyroid Medicines Don’t Work. And further explain why many patients, like myself, have returned to the medication that successfully used from the late 1800’s onward: natural desiccated thyroid hormones, more commonly known as Naturethroid, Erfa’s Canadian “thyroid”.

I use Naturethroid because of the good feedback from other patients. It took time and experimentation to find the right Thyroid medicine dose for me (I hear this is common) but I started slow. Here is what I do:

• 2.5 pills of Naturethroid a day

• One pill in the morning, another at mid-day, and a half pill before dinner.

• This part is critical: I let the pill dissolve under my tongue because it gets into blood stream faster. (Swallowing the pill means I have to avoid eating eating for hours, which is just a pain in the neck.)

Adrenal Fatigue

My adrenal fatigue symptoms included:

• Difficulty falling asleep at night

• Waking frequently during the night

• Difficulty waking in the morning, not feeling refreshed

• Bright lights bothered me more than others

• Startled easily due to noise

• Dizzy/lightheaded when standing from sitting or from lying down

• Took things things too seriously, stressed, anxious

• Difficulty copying with certain people or events

• Stress related nausea, panic attacks and shaking

• Extreme Fatique

• Taking days to recover from even minor stress

This was all due to low cortisol, which I have treated through Hydrocortisone/Cortef (a low dose steroid). I take 25 mg/day, and stress dose as needed. if you would like more resources please email me, or visit Stop the Thyroid Madness to read about:

Symptoms of Low Cortisol

Testing for Low Cortisol

Dana’s Story

Finding a Good Doctor

Read my full story about Hypothyroidism