Still not much different. 3rd shot this week too.
Why is everyone so against glute shots? Thats what my Dr recommended and they are pretty painless? What are the issues?
If you take cortef later in the day, you will not get to sleep. You have to work out these things for yourself.
Suggest 20mg in the AM and 10mg 2pm. Adjust to your schedule.
How do you feel with the three on one off schedule? Your AI dose may be too high and E2 might drop too low at the end of the month. How come I am starting to feel like I am talking about a womens cycle?
I’m on week 3, so no hcg yet. Those are next week, 3 injections of 500 iu’s.
I’ve read that people don’t repond to cortef, if they have thyroid issues? But i think my numbers look decent? Doc didn’t think there were any issues. Here are the labs as a refresher:
Total T4 7.1 (4.5-12.0 ug/dL)
Free Thyroxine Index 2.6 (1.2-4.9)
Free T4 .93 (.7-1.53 ng/dL)
T3 Uptake 37 (24-39%)
T3 Free 4.0 (2.0-4.4 pg/mL)
Total T3 132 (71-180 ng/dL)
TSH 1.82 (.35 - 5.50 uIU/mL)
rt3 225 (90-350 pg/mL)
Another set:
TSH 1.5 (.35-5.5 uiu/ml)
Free T3 3.6 (2-4.4)
What are the issues with glut shots?
One other thing i’ve noticed is my testes haven’t shrunk nearly as much as while on androgel?
Basically I’m 3.5 weeks into the plan (AI + T + hcg + cortef) and haven’t noticed ANY difference yet.
Thanks for the help.
bump
I don’t have any issues with glute shots. I hit them as part of my normal rotation. I believe that the thinking is there is no need to keep hitting them with a big-ass needle a couple times a week. It increases scarring/muscle damage. They are a bit awkward to hit. I’ve found it best to use a wall mirror so I can see what I’m doing. Don’t have to contort as much.
Still not feeling much from the HC. 15 - 10 - 5 is my dose.
Why would i not feel anything. The only thing I’ve found is low thyroid hormone, but my blood results came back ok?
this site has some good information on cortisol How Adrenals Can Wreak Havoc - Stop The Thyroid Madness
part of it could be poor absorption due to too low stomach acids or some sort of gut issue.
Anyone have thoughts on how to proceed, something to try different to feel better?
Just got a compounded DHEA (50mg)/ Preg (25mg) sublingual MLM formula so will be adding that instead of the oral DHEA and Preg.
Take 20mg when you wake up and 10mg mid afternoon. You need to let your cortisol levels drop in the evening. Otherwise you could have trouble sleeping. If you can do well with less, that can be better.
KSman,
I might have to give that a try. Would you be concerned with only 2 doses per day? Generally it is said to dose 4 times per day. If I woke up at say 5:00 am and then took another dose at say 2 pm, that would be 9 hours apart?
I personally dose my hydrocortisone as:
7.5mg 6am
5mg 10am
5mg 2pm
5mg 6pm
I started out at 5mg and then slowly increased by 5mg every other week. Increasing too fast brings its own set of risks.
I am waiting for another round of blood tests to see how my cortisol and free/reverse T3 look with the extra cortisol and the 40mg T3 only medication.
If you feel better with more doses per day, nothing else matters.
About the glutes. Hard to see what you are doing and hard to road map the correct location, swab it, then cannot see where you swabbed, then maybe touch the swabbed area, then wrong spot and hit larger blood vessels or cripple your sciatic nerve.
You can get the job done with 1" #25 in the vastus lateralis.
Read the protocol for injections sticky. [Docs really do not think very deeply about these things, inject at least twice per week [divided doses].
With glute shots, I haven’t really had any problems. It is a bit awkward to turn and inject, and the glute seems to be a bit uncomfortable for around 10 minutes afterwards (mostly if I were to sit down). I’ve only done the right side as it would be more awkward to inject left handed. I’ll try and get some of the syringes and try the quad and see how it goes.
Had my injection on Sunday, and actually felt a bit better than usual on Monday. Tuesday back to normal. I think it will try the biweekly and add in the hcg every week. Just frustrating that I’ve added in all this stuff and haven’t felt any better than before.
How does everyone feel about other remedies for adrenal fatigue, ie preg/DHEA, adatogens, licorice, glandulars, etc?
yes it can be frustrating, but it takes time to discover all that is wrong and to take the correct steps to fix it. half of what we try ends up not being right, but over time we can fine tune and get to the heart of the problem.
weekly or biweekly shot is not a correct step (in my opinion) and could continue to cause you problems regardless of what else you tweak or fix.
fluctuating hormone levels caused by weekly/biweekly shots will also cause cortisol stress as your system pulls more cortisol to deal with the excess T at first and then needs less and less as your T levels drop.
some people take pregnenolone to try and boost cortisol
some people take pregesterone to try and boost cortisol
some people find HCG helps boost their cortisol
some people take IsoCort an OTC supplement with approx. 2.5mg equivalent of Hydrocortisone per pill.
some people go on Hydrocortisone and work up to a replacement dosage of 20-35mg daily to give their system some time to recoup and then taper off to see if their system can pick up the slack.
I personally love my Ventrogluteal injections. No pain, no fuss, etc.
PureChance,
I meant twice weekly injections, not biweekly, sorry for the confusion. This make more sense?
At this point I’m also thinking of tapering off the HC. I really haven’t felt anything from it and don’t want to be on it if its not working!! I’m leaning towards trying and letting the DHEA/Preg, T, hcg, etc work. Any thoughts on this plan?
yeah, twice weekly is good.
if you are not primary, then HCG helps boost pregnenolone (and cortisol) as well as T production.
it takes time for HC to work and some people have to get on 30-35mg as a replacement dose. Before you stop, get an 8am cortisol blood test to see where your levels are at. You may simply not be taking enough. Also your thyroid needs to be in balance to work with the extra cortisol. and it takes a while to clear RT3 (if that happens to be an issue for you).
the sttm site has good information - have you read it?
also thyroid-rt3.com has some great adrenal info as well.
Get an 8 am saliva test while on HC? As in wake up and take a dose then test it at 8 am?
My thyroid numbers are (Dr didn’t seem to have any issue with them):
(late fall)
Total T4 7.1 (4.5-12.0 ug/dL)
Free Thyroxine Index 2.6 (1.2-4.9)
Free T4 .93 (.7-1.53 ng/dL)
FSH 11.1 (1.5-12.4 mIU/mL)
T3 Uptake 37 (24-39%)
T3 Free 4.0 (2.0-4.4 pg/mL)
Total T3 132 (71-180 ng/dL)
rt3 225 (90-350 pg/mL)
TSH 1.82 (.35 - 5.50 uIU/mL)
and latest test (new Dr in January):
TSH 1.5 (.35-5.5 uiu/ml)
Free T3 3.6 (2-4.4)
I’ll have to brush up on the sites, I read STTM a while ago and haven’t read thyroid-rt3.com.
thanks.
Leaning towards starting to taper down off the HC. Feel its not working and causing some weight gain and some blood sugar issues.
Something else i’ve noticed this week is periods of sweating. I’ll be laying in bed or just sitting around and start sweating profusely, and had the thermostat in the house at 68 degrees. Any ideas why? This has just popped up in the last week or so.
For what its worth, I had ridiculous amounts of sweat when I was taking HC…I naturally sweat a lot anyway and it was a particularly hot summer here in DC, but it still seemed excessive…I think the HC had something to do with it…
Interesting.
It’s not all the time. Seems to be mostly in evenings/night.
I’ll get up and walk around and pretty soon my forehead is soaking wet. And i really haven’t done anything. I’ll lay in bed and just sweat, and I have the AC on and set at 68. Weird.
On a side note. This week is the first time that I’ve actually started to feel a little better. Not much, but a noticeable improvement in the evenings. New supplementation plan maybe helped some:
Current supplementation:
ITI Energy Revitilization System
ITI Mineral Complex
ITI Greens
Pure Encapsulations GI Fortify
VSL#3
Ribose
Glutamine (gut)
Fish Oil
Rhodiola
Theanine
B-Complex
Vit C
Vit D â?? 10,000iu daily
Melatonin
Sleep Support â?? ITI End Fatigue Revitilizing Sleep Formula
ALCAR
Resveratrol
Co Q10
ALA
Digestive Enzymes, HCL, ox bile
DHEA/Preg MLM sublingual
Metformin (500mg day)
trt