Re: Trying to understand labs and fatigue

I'm sorry the doctor's appointment didn't work out as hoped. I find it hard to believe a doctor would say with many hormones out of whack we wouldn't feel bad. With just one hormone severely deficient of high it has a profound effect.
I'm reminded of some studies i came across a while back about suicide in women - over 80% of them tried to take their life around the time of menstruation when progesterone and estrogen are at their lowest.
I followed the rabbit down the hole and found more (government funded) studies relating chronic depression, suicide to be linked to deficiencies in hormones.
Yet mainstream medicine offer's SSRI's for these conditions.

It's completely irrational for the same institution to find such links to conditions and then go against it's own knowledge when it comes to treating these conditions.
It makes one come to the conclusion and stark realisation that it does seem to be about profits from meds than actually curing people.


Yet again it's the 'mainstream doctor mindset' that's causing such huge mis-diagnosis and folk on pharma drugs that they don't really need. It's a shitty system to be blunt!
Although she's 'integrative'...it just means she's more willing than most MD's to embrace a more natural route. Though i must say when you mentioned Weil...(i'm personally not a fan of him and question his motivations)...if she's studied through him it's no surprise she's dismissive of hormonal imbalances causing such havoc.

The lupus type sploches you mention on your face and chest seem to suggest lupus. I don't know a heck of a lot about lupus and i imagine, as is normally the case with most diseases, that the 'tell-tale' symptoms don't appear in a certain percentage of those afflicted, yet if you do have these rashes, perhaps it is an accurate diagnosis, despite negative antibody tests? Maybe, when you were tested it was at the early stages and there wasn't a significant immune response to it. Perhaps consider doing the antibody test again.

If Lupus is a part of your ill-health symptoms, i'm not sure how lupus interacts with hormones, or whether it can shift the balance and make everything go out of whack. If it does then treating the lupus should bring back balance of endocrine systems. This would require quite a bit of research into how lupus affects the body systems.

If you had endocrine symptoms way before the rashes appeared then i personally would consider the hormonal imbalances and treat them. Not that you should ignore the lupus if you do have it. Just treat the two seperately.

Good idea to have an appointment with your old Endo...i hope he's more useful. He should certainly know about the effects of Lupus on the endocrine system, if there are any.

I know the ideal scenario is to find the root cause and treat that...but sometimes finding that root cause can take years as we suffer with symptoms daily, so if daily tasks are a real struggle and you have a rough idea of imbalances, treating symptoms with herbs, supplements and bio-identical hormones, is something to do to bring relief.

it's a double-edged sword as the trouble with treating symptoms is that it can mask the underlying cause. So if you were to take progesterone for example, all subsequent tests would show good levels...which can then blur the true picture of root cause.
No-one wants to be on supplements, herbs etc for the rest of their life to just mask symptoms, because the true cause has never been found.

I have this dilemma myself...i stopped everything...all supplements, herbal hormonal support etc for 8 weeks before doing hormone tests....now i have the results which indicate the ' true' state of my hormone/adrenals/thyroid...and they're all way off...it's a mess really..and i need to find a doctor to take these results to 'who will listen'..in order for more tests to be done to narrow done cause. So i am still off of supplements etc...each day is very difficult...but i am persevering as the last thing i want is to change my 'true state' with supplements and herbs, hormones....and to be tested and everything to show fine because of this type of protocol.
I don't want to be on the protocol for the rest of my life while the true cause goes undetected due to me masking symptoms.

If your Endo will run labs again i'd go for it. It would be really interesting to know your Estrogen, Testosterone, and Progesterone. Also if you could get your ACTH levels drawn at the same time that'll help give more of a picture of adrenal health. As your DHEA is low, with normal cortisol coupled with your symptoms, it sounds like you're on the 'downcurve' of AF rather than the initial stress state of High cortisol coupled with high DHEA.
You say you feel better when ovulating and that's when there is a surge of Lutenizing Hormone coupled with progesterone and estrogen....so potentially if you feel crappy the rest of the time except for ovulation it seems to suggest a deficiency of Prog, Estrogen or even LH. If it's an LH deficiency then hypo-pituitary is a possibility.
If you're ACTH is low that could also suggest hypo-pituitary.

I really feel for you as it does sound like you have a severe immune response occuring, coupled with hormonal imabalance...each thing on their own are hell to live with, but combined must be a rollercoaster ride, so give yourself credit for not folding completely and keeping a hold of the reins...that takes an honourable amount of inner strength.
There's support here 24/7 even if doctor's won't listen, which is the situation most of us here are faced with, so you are not alone.

Epsom Salts and dead Sea Salt s are from different places...but i'd definately go for dead sea over Epsom! Great that you found a bucket of the stuff :-) Go easy with it at first if you add it to bath water...just add a cup initially and see how you feel afterwards.
I'm advising caution because i once vomited after an epsom bath. I'm not saying it was the Epsom, more likely my BP dropping too low but it's always wise to start with anything in small amounts and build up.
You should find them very relaxing due to the magnesium, and also any achy joints/muscles should feel soothed.

I have been to Houston, a change-over on a flight...the airport was full of real cowboys and i was fascinated! hahaa :-) The weather was really hot...so different to where i'm used to. I love the 'hugeness' of the US...such a vast country, beautiful places everywhere...changing climates.

I relate to the feeling of not being productive when relaxing...i too used to get this weird 'guilt' feeling, as usually i'm into something or another...never stopping...except to sleep! It's taken a few months to train my brain to accept down time and enjoy it...enjoy doing absolutely nothing! hahaa :-) I'm an avid reader and even have to make myself put a book down to rest my brain. We're rarely given the chance to rest the mind. It's something we have to practice doing, this modern life doesn't make it come naturally.

So far this year on my mushrooms hunts i've found Cep mushrooms, puffballs, Girolles: a type of chanterelle, and 'hedgehogs'...they have spines instead of gills, hence the name :-) Sometimes i find Oysters too, but not this year.

I really hope the Endo is more sympathetic than your OB, and the results are revealing.
It sounds like you're doing all you can with lifestyle changes etc...and to couple that with diagnostics help us further understand where we are at...and closer to finding the root cause.

Best of luck to you, keep us posted :-)

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