Is this low cortisol and AF? What to do next?
I got these results back recently from a saliva and blood spot tests:
Estradiol: 2.5 (Range 1.3-3.3)
Progesterone: 128 (75-270)
Ratio Pg/E2: 51 (100-500)
Testosterone: 15 (16-47)
DHEAS: 6 (3.9-11.4)
Cortisol Morning: 4.9 (3.7-9.5)
Cortisol Noon: 1.7 (1.2-3.0)
Cortisol Evening: 0.9 (0.6-1.9)
Cortisol Night: 0.4 (0.4-1.0)
TSH: 1.3 (0.5-3.0)
Free T4 1.8 (0.7-2.5)
Free T3 2.5 (2.5-6.5)
TPOAb: 110
Iron and Ferritin came out low too. I do not have the units of measure for those. B12 and Vitamin D are high according to labs ranges, but perfect for me.
I tried the pupil test and mine could not stay constricted at all. Not even for 5 seconds. They kept fluttering.
I have lots of symptoms. Chiefly it's extreme fatigue, inability to tolerate exercise or heat, constant coldness, low body temperate (average is 95.8), midsection weight gain, new allergies, low sex drive, dizziness, anxiety, waking at 3am, and often waking at 3am either very hungry, very anxious or nauseous or all three, shortness of breath, lots of water retention, paradoxical reactions to meds and supplements, dark circles under my eyes, puffy face, puffy EVERYTHING, brain fog and memory problems.
I consulted with Dr. Lam and a few others. I don't tolerate most of what they suggest I try. DHEA gave me anxiety and then I had a sudden sleep attack. Licorice and all the herbal adaptogens give me anxiety or even straight up panic attacks. L-tyrosine gave me the worst panic attacks of my life and I've been having panic attacks for 25 years. That's really something. Dr. Lam thinks my body is rejecting all these approaches and believes NB will help. It feels like whatever I have is too severe for some nutrition. Of course, replacement hydrocortisone has been repeatedly suggested but that's a last resort for me. I really need the definite affirmation of having low enough cortisol and adrenal function to justify that.
I haven't tried ACE or pregnenolone yet. I figure it'll be more of the same. I tried some cortisone cream and felt a bit wired and then very sleepy. I was told I had Hashimotos due to the high TPOAb and poor T4 to T3 conversion. I was started on 1/8 grain of dessicated thyroid and had intolerance symptoms -- headaches, edginess, mild nausea. So I went off it.
I do not know where to start with this. There's few knowledgeable doctors in my area that don't either charge a fortune or have a 6+ month waiting list. I don't really want to wait 6 months and go into debt to get my life back.
I suspect I've had adrenal/thyroid problems all my life. It certainly would seem so and I have had what I believe are adrenal crashes multiple times in my life (I'm 31). My last crash was 9 months ago, thanks to a low carb/low calorie diet and overexercising. I think my chronic low iron has something to do with it too. I had been teetering on the edge since I was diagnosed anemic over a year ago -- I thought a "good" diet and exercise would help!