After a two year long battle with ulcerative colitis I finally have it mostly under wraps. In remission with all lingering inflammation under control as far as I can tell. Targeted biofilms, major diet changes, the works. Currently have my diet down, loads of herbs, spices, and natural anti-inflammatory's.
It seems like I’ve got most of my issues squared away which were due to lingering inflammation that didn't show on CRP or ESR blood levels. However, I’m out of ideas on the things I'm dealing with now so thought I’d just get some thoughts. I know we have some incredibly knowledgeable memes like Stewie and others on here.
Current - suffering all the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency.
That's constant fatigue, no sex drive, poor sexual function, days to recover from workouts (from physical soreness but also from mental tiredness , ie lack of 'gumption'), couldn't wake up in the morning and had a hard time falling asleep at night. Just generally messed up sleep cycles. Muscle aches, more frequent urination, overly sore joints...those are the major ones.
I've exhausted docs and going to look into some naturopathic functional medicine providers but have already dished out a lot of $$ over this so want to be as specific as I can be.
Bloods - would have more but its been like pulling teeth to get them drawn and tried to go through docs because it was all free with insurance.
Pregnenolone: 29 (22-237)
DHEA-S: 200.1 (85-690) ------ previous draw 2 years ago 430
Cortisol (8am) - 7.7 (range 5.4-18.5) ----- previous draws 13.5 and 15.8 2 and 3 years ago respectively (down ~50%)
TSH:
3.504 uIU/mL (range 0.34-4.2) ----- previous draws from a were 0.813 and 0.931 (~4x as high)
Free T4: 0.84 (range 0.58-1.70 – doesn’t list value but assuming ng/dl) ----- previous draw was 1.22 (range 0.61 - 1.12 ng/dL - ~50% lower)
Free T3:
Free T3: 3.4 (range 2.50 – 3.90) ----- previous draw was 3.1 (range 2.3-4.2pg/ml)
Other random draws from a couple months ago were
Prolactin: 12.3 (range 2.6-13.1)
Copper: 61 (80-180)
Have been supplementing copper (no zinc). Zinc level was normal. Vitamin D, B, and folate are all at the high end of the range. CBC and CMP's are all normal. HRT is ~37.5mg TE and 15mg TP 5 days a week, so about 275mg. Estrogen runs high but haven't checked it super recently. No symptoms and have always felt like trash running an AI. Last estradiol (sensitive) 8 months ago was 99pg/mL (range <29). Felt great then and that was on about 350mg per week.
I added 25mcg T3 this past Friday after I got the thyroid labs because I suspected subclinical hypothyrodism and after about 3-4 days it helped my energy tremendously. I didn't feel like dI had tons of drive per se but I could wake up in the morning and didn't want to nap all the time. After 3-4 days though I was overstimulated/wired which I have never had happen with T3 before even at higher doses in my competing days. Doc actually wrote a script and gonna play with 15-20mcg per day. While the thyroid takes care of the energy problem to an extent its weird to have energy but not really feel like doing a lot. None of the drive to do things and the general alpha-male 'come at me' with life feeling that I have had most of my life. No general sense of well-being and motivation I guess.
At this point I have trialed/error-ed and recorded responses to a lot of things from caffeine, to DHEA, to amphetamine and other supplements trying to narrow things down.
- All stimulants make me feel wired and on edge whereas they used to make me feel great from adderall to coffee
- Pregnenolone makes me feel stimed out and wired (even just 10mg) even though it used to make me feel good/focused
- DHEA is unnoticeable entirely at any dose
- Holy basil helps some at night as far as sleep and waking up a little easier
- Melatonin (SL) works well with getting to sleep (until I added T3 and then doesn't work at all)
- Dianabol used to increase energy and sex drive but no longer does
- Cabergoline used to help but doesn't do anything noticeable and haven't used it in a while
- Yohimbine or DMAA don't help sex drive at all like they used to
- Maca does nothing
Have tried lots of other things but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. Just tired of low energy and zero sex drive at 26.
My next thought right is dropping the T3 for a few days and already have a lab to do a 4x daily saliva cortisol test to measure the rhythm. Then check progesterone probably.
Sorry, not really a TLDR. Will answer any questions I can about labs or symptoms. Any thoughts on next moves?
It seems like I’ve got most of my issues squared away which were due to lingering inflammation that didn't show on CRP or ESR blood levels. However, I’m out of ideas on the things I'm dealing with now so thought I’d just get some thoughts. I know we have some incredibly knowledgeable memes like Stewie and others on here.
Current - suffering all the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency.
That's constant fatigue, no sex drive, poor sexual function, days to recover from workouts (from physical soreness but also from mental tiredness , ie lack of 'gumption'), couldn't wake up in the morning and had a hard time falling asleep at night. Just generally messed up sleep cycles. Muscle aches, more frequent urination, overly sore joints...those are the major ones.
I've exhausted docs and going to look into some naturopathic functional medicine providers but have already dished out a lot of $$ over this so want to be as specific as I can be.
Bloods - would have more but its been like pulling teeth to get them drawn and tried to go through docs because it was all free with insurance.
Pregnenolone: 29 (22-237)
DHEA-S: 200.1 (85-690) ------ previous draw 2 years ago 430
Cortisol (8am) - 7.7 (range 5.4-18.5) ----- previous draws 13.5 and 15.8 2 and 3 years ago respectively (down ~50%)
TSH:
3.504 uIU/mL (range 0.34-4.2) ----- previous draws from a were 0.813 and 0.931 (~4x as high)
Free T4: 0.84 (range 0.58-1.70 – doesn’t list value but assuming ng/dl) ----- previous draw was 1.22 (range 0.61 - 1.12 ng/dL - ~50% lower)
Free T3:
Free T3: 3.4 (range 2.50 – 3.90) ----- previous draw was 3.1 (range 2.3-4.2pg/ml)
Other random draws from a couple months ago were
Prolactin: 12.3 (range 2.6-13.1)
Copper: 61 (80-180)
Have been supplementing copper (no zinc). Zinc level was normal. Vitamin D, B, and folate are all at the high end of the range. CBC and CMP's are all normal. HRT is ~37.5mg TE and 15mg TP 5 days a week, so about 275mg. Estrogen runs high but haven't checked it super recently. No symptoms and have always felt like trash running an AI. Last estradiol (sensitive) 8 months ago was 99pg/mL (range <29). Felt great then and that was on about 350mg per week.
I added 25mcg T3 this past Friday after I got the thyroid labs because I suspected subclinical hypothyrodism and after about 3-4 days it helped my energy tremendously. I didn't feel like dI had tons of drive per se but I could wake up in the morning and didn't want to nap all the time. After 3-4 days though I was overstimulated/wired which I have never had happen with T3 before even at higher doses in my competing days. Doc actually wrote a script and gonna play with 15-20mcg per day. While the thyroid takes care of the energy problem to an extent its weird to have energy but not really feel like doing a lot. None of the drive to do things and the general alpha-male 'come at me' with life feeling that I have had most of my life. No general sense of well-being and motivation I guess.
At this point I have trialed/error-ed and recorded responses to a lot of things from caffeine, to DHEA, to amphetamine and other supplements trying to narrow things down.
- All stimulants make me feel wired and on edge whereas they used to make me feel great from adderall to coffee
- Pregnenolone makes me feel stimed out and wired (even just 10mg) even though it used to make me feel good/focused
- DHEA is unnoticeable entirely at any dose
- Holy basil helps some at night as far as sleep and waking up a little easier
- Melatonin (SL) works well with getting to sleep (until I added T3 and then doesn't work at all)
- Dianabol used to increase energy and sex drive but no longer does
- Cabergoline used to help but doesn't do anything noticeable and haven't used it in a while
- Yohimbine or DMAA don't help sex drive at all like they used to
- Maca does nothing
Have tried lots of other things but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. Just tired of low energy and zero sex drive at 26.
My next thought right is dropping the T3 for a few days and already have a lab to do a 4x daily saliva cortisol test to measure the rhythm. Then check progesterone probably.
Sorry, not really a TLDR. Will answer any questions I can about labs or symptoms. Any thoughts on next moves?