52 Years Old and Dying, Literally

Pharma TRT
21

Thanks to everyone for the responses, first I can say without a doubt it’s not withdrawal from painkillers. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with my thyroid and there are just several other thing contributing. I took the clomid for several weeks and was actually feeling worse so when I called to talk to the urologist about starting the T shots like he said we would , his nurse tells me he doesn’t feel comfortable giving me T because my E2 is already high.

I’m like yea I know that’s one reason I feel like crap and there are ways for you to deal with that, and he says he wants me to see an endo. I asked him why didn’t you tell me that before I wasted another month, so I have had to go back to my PCP to try and get a referral and after almost 3 more weeks she still has not even found an endo I can go see. There’s not even an endo in my town so I’m going to have to go somewhere else when she finds one.

I ordered some iodoral to start replenishing, and cjackson25 I’ll have to research about the flaxseed and milk thistle I had never heard of those making somebody feel like crap. I’ll tell you this healthcare crap is making it almost impossible to do anything if you don’t already have a Dr you are seeing. If there is anyone in the N Georgia area that knows a good Dr I would be all ears, I’ll tell you this is about to get the best of me. Again Thanks to everyone.

22

sorry to read your story - im 37, but in a similar situation as yours… ive been one painkillers for almost 7-8 years now from a back injury. mine, although not as severe as yours, was bad in some ways because it wasnt “bad enough” to warrant corrective surgery. ANYWAY - painkillers basically cost me almost everything i care about. im still high functioning, in the sense i can get up and goto work everyday, but it cost me the only relationship i ever really cared about, and most of my social life, and most of whatever drive i use to have. i was always very active, and now i cant be bothered to do anything aside from what i need to. so im sorry you are going through this

first thing - you need to spend some time on some painkiller forums. there is a lot of good info floating round there. i was at one time taking a few hundered mg’s of morphine sulfate each day - and it wasnt until i read other peoples horror stories of failed surgeries and from people that were bed ridden that i realized i was taking more pain killers than they were… its VERY easy to let the dosage get away from you, esp with oxycotin because its pretty short acting (only about 6hrs i think) i took those for only a few months and i felt like a drug addict cause it seemed i was constantly taking pills all day. morphine sulfate lasts about 10 hours i think, so i felt more comfortable with that for a few years…

second, i hope you have a good pain management dr, as im not really sure why you be taking BOTH oxycotin and oxycodone because as far as i know, they are basically the same things. every side effect you have listed is due to these pain killers, id hate to tell you but theres really no easy way around it without getting off them, weening down to a low dose, or at least switching back and forth to different meds which for now anyway, might be your best choice. ive been on testosterone replacement for about 10 months and while my levels were very low at the start, i felt great for like the first month of starting, and even now when my levels are 1000, or 800 i still dont feel like myself. if you havent been there yet, you may experience this a lot while starting and stopping different things. i would feel great for a while, until my body gets use to whatever the new trick is, and then slowly things go right back to where i started.

i would definitely advise doing some research on your dosage. snoop around and see what other people are taking on forums and see if things make sense for you as its very easy to take too much and let your dosage get away from you. understand that addiction and dependency are 2 completely different things, because you will see a lot of stuff posted from people taking these drugs recreationally and not because of injuries.

if you feel that your life is really suffering where you are right now, and trust me i know what thats like - i would first suggest trying to cut your dose as much as possible because people say that oxy is not one of the worst drugs to ween down from. after you get yourself down, IF you can - talk to your pain dr, or find a different pain dr that works with suboxone or subutex to treat pain… switching to this made a HUGE and IMMEDIATE difference in my life - for probably a year or so until it caught up with me. this drug works different that others and my life and sex drive came crashing back in a matter of days or weeks. although its technically only approved as use for treating addiction issues, it has been used as long term pain management for like 20 years in europe. its VERY powerful, long lasting and comes in a film form. its a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. bupe is the actual painkiller, and the naloxone is a blocker that wont allow any other opiate based painkillers to have any effect when taken. another option is butrans - also buprenorphine but without the naloxone , which is a slow release patch worn weekly but im not sure your dose is low enough yet to consider - but ask your dr… another thing to ask about is a drug called Gralise - which i just started taking myself. its non-narcotic, originally used to treat nerve pain for people suffering from shingles, but is now being used to treat pain. you can also try epidoral - branch block injections, or a radio frequency branch block procedure ( i forgot the clinical name - but i tried all of these things)

right now, im taking a 10 microgram butrans patch and 1200mg of Gralise once daily. im hoping to be able to come off the butrans all together by weening down some more, but im not making any promises to myself as ive come so far in last 2 years. my side effects have lessened ALOT by weening and switching meds, and the Test is helping me feel a bit better and look better also - i go for injections every week and use Androgel and HCG. if you are looking to go for T - replacement which you should - i would suggest looking for a dr that specializes in this, or a sports dr that does it instead of an endo…

i had no idea my post would be so long, and honestly i didnt read all the posts on this thread - but i hope something in mine can help you… i just joined this forum myself. good luck.

23

Thanks Typhoon for the response and a lot of it makes sense, as far as Oxycontin and Oxycodone they are basically the same medicine just one is fast acting and one is time released so for different things kind of. I have tried most of the pain killers out there so I know how they are and a lot of people on here can’t get past saying symptoms are because of the pain meds. That’s what I did for so long blaming a lot of what was going on with me on the meds and the injury, and then realizing that if something didn’t change I was going to die. I started doing a lot of research and really paying close attention to different things happening to my body (which ironically I told the Drs all the symptoms) and realizing that my hormones are really screwed up. I have been trying to get an appt. with a doctor for several weeks and my PCP finally called me Thursday and said she finally found an opening with a Dr that will take new patients and I can get seen in August (ridiculous) and that is thirty something miles away in another state.

I am going back to the Urologist in a couple of days and I’m going to give him another try and see if I can persuade him to deal with this, and if not I’m going to see an Internist the next day and see where that leads. Now you see what I meant about having such a hard time dealing with Drs, blows my mind. In the mean time I will keep taking the the supplements( Vit D3, iodoral, fish oil, etc) because I’m sure anything I can do to help my Thyroid will be a plus. Thanks again for any insight that can help.

24

I had some more tests done anda couple of things jump out, my TSH is going crazy at 11.140 and my T went to 571 from 202. The only thing that changed is I take 5000 iu a day and I took clomid from 1-10-14 thru 1-16-14 and then 1-20-14 thru 1-29-14 and I don’t know if that was enough for a restart or if it just temporarily raised my numbers but I feel just as crappy as always. My E2 also went up some more so I’m sure that has a lot to do with the way I feel. Anyway here are the new numbers I have and any help would be great. Thanks again

2-28-14
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 233 <35 iu/ml *

2-19-14
Testosterone 571 250-1100 ng/dl
Free Testosterone 61 46.0-224.0 pg/ml
Bioavailable Testosterone 128.1 110.0-575.0 ng/dl
SHBG 44 10-50 nmol/l
Albumin Serum 4.6 3.6-5.1 g/dl
Estradiol, Ultrasensitive 44 <29 pg/ml

TSH 11.140 0.340-4.820 miu/ml
Free T4 0.83 0.59-1.17 ng/dl
Free T3 3.0 2.3-4.2 pg/ml
Reverse T3 LC/MS/MS 23 8-25 ng/dl

FSH 3.4 1.6-8.0 miu/ml
LH 4.6 1.5-9.3 miu/ml

Cortisol, Total Fasting 9.2 4.0-22.0 mcg/dl

Prolactin 14.5 2.0-18.0 ng/ml

CMP
Glucose 89 70-110 mg/dl
BUN 7 7-22 mg/dl
Creatinine 1.2 0.6-1.3 mg/dl
BUN/Creat Ratio 5.8 Calc
Sodium 144 136-145 meq/l
Potassium 3.4 3.5-5.1 *
Chloride 108 98-107 meq/l *
Carbon Dioxide 33 21-32 meq/l *
Calcium 8.2 8.5-10.1 mg/dl *
Osmolality 295.4 280.0-300.0 Calc
Total Protein 7.6 6.4-8.2 g/dl
Albumin 4.3 3.4-5.0 g/dl
A/G Ratio 1.3 0.9-2.0 Calc
Globulin 3.3 2.2-4.1 g/dl
Alk Phosphatase 108 50-136 mg/dl
ALT (SGBT) 49 30-65 u/l
AST (SGOT) 31 15-37 u/l
Total Bilirubin 0.7 0.0-1.0 mg/dl
GFR Caucasion >60 >60 ml/min/

LIPID PROFILE
Cholesterol 154 0-200 mg/dl
Triglycerides 74 0-150 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol 33 40-60 mg/dl *
LDL Direct 102 0-130 mg/dl
LDL Calc 106 0-130 Calc
Non HDL Cholesterol 121 <130 Calc
VLDL Cholesterol 15 Calc
HDL Risk Factor 4.7 3.0-5.0 Calc

WBC 7.4 4.8-10.8 x10^3/ul
RBC 4.91 4.70-6.10 x10^6/ul
HGB 14.3 12.0-18.0 g/dl
HCT 41.9 37.0-52.0 %
MCV 85.0 80.0-94.0 fl
MCH 29.1 27.0-31.0 pg
MCHC 34.1 33.0-37.0 g/dl
RDW 12.5 11.5-14.5 %
PLT 259 130-400 x10^3/ul
MPV 7.7 7.0-10. fl

25

Your carbon Dioxide is high. I believe this would point to sleep apnea. Apnea interrupts your sleep and you wake up very tired. Bad sleep throws a lot of other body functions out of balance. This may or may not be your primary problem.

You also have high/normal rT3 which binds up your T3 and can again make you feel very tired. Addrenal fatigue is what this is called. Most doctors do not even know about this, let alone treat it.

From what I have read on the Stop The Thyroid Madness posts, I think your high TSH is the big issue.

The high CO2 would be another big issue that should get attention. Even if you get your hormonal function restored if you have severe sleep apnea, you will always feel tired. Usually apnea is diagnosed by a sleep med doctor who is usually a pulmonologist.

Good luck

26

Your TPO is wildly high.

This is from the STTM website:
THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODY (TPO) test: Measures the thyroid antibody TPO, which will be above the normal level in the presence of Hashimoto?s disease. Generally, if this is above the range, you?ve got the autoimmune thyroid disease Hashi?s. It the result is below the ?less than? mark, or in the range provided, you may be fine, but you need to have done the other antibody test as well?the AB shown above.