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Some troubles after weaning off of hydrocortisone

lizw118

Senior Member
Messages
315
Hi everyone,
I was on HC for adrenal fatigue for around 5 years. I finally went off of all my HC around 4-5 months ago and I feel like my body had taken a big hit because of it. I feel like I have aged rapidly since weaning from the HC--my skin looks bad and my sinuses are inflamed, joints are sort of achey. I don't really want to go back on the HC, but I don't want to feel like this either, and I hope I am not throwing myself into an early perimenopause/menopause because of this disruption in my body (my hormones were off for a while but acupuncture seems to be helping). Does anyone have any advice? Should I stick it out? Is there anything I can do to prevent the aging? Thanks
 

xks201

Senior Member
Messages
740
If you are near menopause and having adrenal insufficiency issues - odds are your adrenal glands will not heal and you need to stay on HC. You need to check all the hormones - not just one. It doesn't get better if you wean and still have symptoms of hypoadrenalism. That is the whole point of weaning. If by the end of the weaning period you feel like crap guess what you still need HC.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
Hi everyone,
I was on HC for adrenal fatigue for around 5 years. I finally went off of all my HC around 4-5 months ago and I feel like my body had taken a big hit because of it. I feel like I have aged rapidly since weaning from the HC--my skin looks bad and my sinuses are inflamed, joints are sort of achey. I don't really want to go back on the HC, but I don't want to feel like this either, and I hope I am not throwing myself into an early perimenopause/menopause because of this disruption in my body (my hormones were off for a while but acupuncture seems to be helping). Does anyone have any advice? Should I stick it out? Is there anything I can do to prevent the aging? Thanks
How much HC were you taking?

How did you wean? i.e. how long did it take you?

Have you tested your cortisol levels since you weaned? Your sex hormone levels? How old are you?

How are your thyroid levels?

It can take up to a year or more for your axis to fully come back online after weaning and you have to be prepared to stress dose just the same as if you were still on steroids.

But your symptoms sound like they should be investigated further. It could be because you needed a longer wean or more stress dosing or it could because your adrenals are still not functioning up to par.
 

shah78

Senior Member
Messages
168
Location
st pete , florida
I used powdered licorice (Frontier) found in any decent sized health food store to be much more effective and soothing and easier to control and longer lasting than Cortef. You may have to take a lot ,but the alternative is to keep taking more and more Cortef. I took it for five years including an eighteen month taper. Freddd's methylation protocol excelerated the taper. If I had found Freddd earlier,I might not have ever needed any Cortef or licorice come to think of it....... So come to think of it. Try licorice if you want, but really try Freddd's protocol
 
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WoolPippi

Senior Member
Messages
556
Location
Netherlands
Does anyone have any advice?
supplement with one of the hormones earlier in the cascade of adrenal hormones so they have plenty to work with?

That would be progesteron or DHEA.
Then leave it up to the body wether it wants to convert it into cortisol or estrogen?
I think estrogens will help with your skin and feeling of aging but since it is a growth promoting hormone it may provoke all sorts of things... (hot flash, cysts)

I take bio-identical progesteron and I certainly need to supplement more if I lower my HC. Or vice versa. (search words: "npc", "utrogestan")

the other advice is the one you're probably tired of hearing: reduce cortisol-needs. Avoid stress, raw vegetables, noise, stupid people, worries, you know the list :rolleyes:

but did you know a lot of cortisol is used to make your stomach acid sour? You can aid a bit by acidifying your stomach acid (take diluted vinegar or lemon juice or HCL pill)
The other think cortisol gets sucked into is bloodpressure: take horizontal rests during the day. Especially when digesting a meal.