Posted by Pfinstegg on April 8, 2003, at 8:48:21
In reply to Re: To Pfinstegg and all members of the cortisol c » jerrympls, posted by bozeman on April 8, 2003, at 0:22:03
I recently read a single article about how war veterans and rape victims with PTSD often have very LOW 24-hour cortisols. Their adrenal glands apparently become exhausted by the stress of their terrible experiences and can not produce a normal surge of cortisol in response to a "normal"stressor. Is this similiar to what you both experience?
Do you need to take the extra cortisone on a regular basis? I would be concerned that that would make your adrenal glands gradually smaller and less reactive over a period of years, so that you would become dependent upon the cortisone, and that you also might develop some of the major side effects such as osteoporosis. This can happen quite rapidly with regular cortisone use. I have seen a patient treated with 5mg. daily of dexamethasone (for an autoimmune disorder) develop 8 spontaneous vertebral fractures and a tremendous amount of pain and disability, after just five years. If someone absolutely has to take regular cortisone, they should probably also be taking one of the bone-protective drugs like Edronax.
I am unsure about what might be a better aproach, but was thinking along the lines of what people do when they have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I know that it is a very difficult condition to treat, but I'd like to get more familiar with some of the ideas which various people have put forth on the board here about CFS. Up until now, I haven't been reading those.
Pfinstegg
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:217030
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030407/msgs/217376.html