Chemman's log

[hardasnails1973]

I know you are excited but we need to take things slowly and not shot gun everything, but have proper evaluation with out creating more variables. Once you get vitamin D up your response to LH should also go up as well.

 

[chemman]

Agreed. Ruling out primary versus secondary hypogonadism is a critical first step.

 

[chemman]

Finished medrol dose pack today.

Some joint cracking.

Just that one floater left.

Had brief moment of anxiety and then it went away.

Tendonitis in ankle is coming back.

Swelling in knees is down.

Lump in throat feels better

 

[CubbieBlue]

Finished medrol dose pack today.

Some joint cracking.

Just that one floater left.

Had brief moment of anxiety and then it went away.

Tendonitis in ankle is coming back.

Swelling in knees is down.

Lump in throat feels better

So do you think you will get on HC for life after this then? It seems no one really believes that it can "heal" your adrenals anymore. At least I don't see people posting all the time "I am weaning off of HC this week but failed" like I used to all the time.

 

[chemman]

I am trying to avoid getting on hydrocortisone if at all possible. I'm hoping that the medrol dose pack helped get rid of enough inflammation to jumpstart my body.

Good news is that I was starting to feel a little better before the medrol dose pack. So I cannot attribute all of these positive indications to the oral steroids. I think getting my b12 levels up have helped rid me of some of the really troublesome symptoms I was having. Emulsified vitmain D seems to be helping lift my mood.

I really need to get my testosterone levels up so I will probably go on clomid in a few weeks depending on how I feel. I will at least do the clomid challenge.

 

[hardasnails1973]

Supporting the testosterone levels naturally will give his body the ability to cope with stress which will help his adrenals to recovery while identifiying looking into the cause.

 

[chemman]

Woke up today with ankle hurting again. Lower back is stiff and left knee hurts.

But I didn't care too much because I am feeling way better!

Residual medrol or am I breaking through on my own?

We'll know in a few days.

 

[chemman]

Supporting the testosterone levels naturally will give his body the ability to cope with stress which will help his adrenals to recovery while identifiying looking into the cause.

Cause of acute severe hypogonadsim and adrenal problems is most likely chemical stress (arimidex), physcial stress (extreme overtraining), and psychological stress (it is known that anxiety attacks and depression cause central (secondary) hypogonadism)).

But in order to bring my T levels up to a high range (not just low mid/mid or "normal" levels), I think we are going to have to look into other things. My chemical exposure from working in a chemistry lab for 2 years is WAY high. Also, I need to look into my nutritional profile because clearly I have nutritional deficiencies. So I would like to do a full nutritional analysis soon... BEFORE I get dropped from my insurance (graduating from college in a few weeks) that covers Dr. Overbeck and his prescriptions.

My goal is to get Total Testosterone up to around 700, which is a notch above where I tested last year. This is provided that this total T brings my bioavailable T to a high-normal range that is reasonable for my age. Hopefully this will kill my ED problems.

 

[hardasnails1973]

Sorry to come to realiity but its not the number that matters so much on testosterone but the bioavailabilty. A heallthy males at 25 are between 500-600 test but with e2 of 22 and shbg 18 -22 on average. The clomid should be enough to stimulate the response.we are looking far as well as looking into other aspects. Pm your address and I will ship out the nutra eval test if you do not have atena PPO insurance. This will give me all the answers I need, but you needs to find a place to have the blood drawn properly..May be at hospital or dr's office. This will show just how out of balance your detoxifcation systems are.

 

[chemman]

This is provided that this total T brings my bioavailable T to a high-normal range that is reasonable for my age. Hopefully this will kill my ED problems.

OK OK! This is what I really meant. Whatever total testosterone level accomplishes THIS goal. Good news is that my SHBG is 25. Please pm me my estrogen pathway numbers when you get them.

 

[chemman]

Felt pretty good last night. Finally made it out of the house on a Friday night.

Still having random periods of anxiety/depression mixed in here and there.

ED still prevalent.

Joints feeling better.

Muscles feel weak. I have definitely lost a lot of strength during this ordeal.

Tendonitis is improving.

Knee swelling is gone

Last medrol dose was 48 hours ago.

 

[chemman]

I'm also starting to make some connections to nutritional deficiencies.

I have a few "picas" such as eating ice that I think might be related to low iron (ferritin), etc.

 

[chemman]

Woke up today with a ton of anxiety.

I think I am having some problems coming off the methylprednisolone. I'm sure it suppressed my HPA axis quite a bit. Hopefully things bounce back here within a few days.

I'm also stopping vitamin b12 supplementation for a while. I think it's giving me a bad reaction. I might lay off the vitamin D drops for a few days too. Too many variables here.

I need to asses what my body is doing on its own.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Woke up today with a ton of anxiety.

I think I am having some problems coming off the methylprednisolone. I'm sure it suppressed my HPA axis quite a bit. Hopefully things bounce back here within a few days.

I'm also stopping vitamin b12 supplementation for a while. I think it's giving me a bad reaction. I might lay off the vitamin D drops for a few days too. Too many variables here.

I need to asses what my body is doing on its own.

If you read your previous posts, they speak a different tune. I thought you were under the care of a doctor and associate!

 

[hardasnails1973]

This was prescribe by GP..for another issue.
We are going to do a restart but have to wait for predisone to clear system before starting. This is one shot and do not want any other variables affecting it. Any medical professional would also have the same out look. Anxiety may be from coming off the predisone and may not the b-12 so one can really confirm. This why I hate when people change too many things or when they come to see a dr have multiple issues going on and expect fix them over night. Too many symptoms over lap when being medicated for something else.

 

[chemman]

If you read your previous posts, they speak a different tune. I thought you were under the care of a doctor and associate!

Let me clarify that I was prescribed a medrol dose pack by my local orthopedic for a wicked swollen ankle. He said that it was tendonitis and also wanted to see if my arthritic (and other) symptoms would respond to corticoids.

Looking back on my log, it appears that I was feeling better while on the medrol.

Was it the best idea to go on a medrol dose pack with an already shaky HPA axis?

Probably not is my guess.

 

[chemman]

Also, Dr. Scally, I am interested in your opinion on my case. My deep suspicion is that I have exercise/stress induced secondary hypogonadism. I will be doing the clomid challenge next week.

 

[chemman]

Feeling a notch better than yesterday. I guess it's steroid withdrawal but who really f'in knows at this point.

This shit never ends.

 

[chemman]

Doing better again today. Still feel a little strange but the anxiety is better.

Pretty sure coming off the medrol messed me up. It probably lowered my testosterone levels.

 

[chemman]

Once again, some improvement since cessation of the medrol. Anxiety and depression reduced. Joints feeling a little better.