Posted by Larry Hoover on August 31, 2004, at 8:47:21
In reply to HPA axis ?? SLS? Larry Hoover? (Dr Bob?), posted by Racer on August 29, 2004, at 14:21:20
> If one's HPA axis is in hyperdrive for a long time, and getting ramped up more and more, what effects will those wormholes cause in the fabric of the space/time continuum? (And what is the nature of the Q Continuum?) Man, I can't even ask the questions today. I guess what I'm asking is really this: how much chance is there that this whole nightmare, now lasting one year with The Agency Of Darkness and two years before that with the situational stressors that led to their involvement, has simply 'broken' that system? Will it leave me always more vulnerable to stress? Can it regenerate enough to compensate reasonably well? Is it possible that it has compromised my ability to respond to treatment for depression and/or anxiety?
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> Yeah, the whole gamut, guys. Am I broken? Can I be repaired? Can the doctor test for the effects to give me a more informed answer?
>
> Thanks for anything you have to offer. Even -- or especially -- if it's just reassurance.I didn't see this post right away. I don't come to this board so often.
Running your stress system at overload for a while does a couple of important and nasty things. One, it makes your immune system go weird. Some things it doesn't do so well (like fighting off a cold), while others it does too well (like autoimmune disorders). The second is that it plays havoc with your vitamins and minerals. During high stress, you kidneys just dump too much good stuff into the urine. I don't know why they do that, exactly, but they do. And it happens at a time when you most need the nutrients and minerals.
Supplements are definitely in order. You can go to any store selling vitamins and you're going to see stress formulas. They aren't available by fluke.
Are you broken? Not enough info from you, yet. The first part of the HPA to falter, usually (or at least, the most noticeable), is the adrenals. Usually, before they shut down, they sputter. You get reasonably good days alternating with some really horrible days. If this continues too long, they just shut down altogether (sometimes called a nervous breakdown, but I think there's more than one kind of nervous breakdown). Adrenal fatigue turns into adrenal exhaustion. Now, most doctors will not recognize either state. Just a warning.
To assess the HPA, most tests involve the adrenals. The hypothalamus is the master gland. It directs all the other glands on what to do. The pituitary is more specialized, actually carrying out the orders of the hypothalamus. The adrenals are the work horse of the trio.
Most HPA tests, then, measure adrenal response. Total cortisol (24-hour sample), or morning cortisol (there is a diurnal variation), but best would be a 24-hour sample, and at least four samples during the day.
Then, there are the stimulus tests, like the ACTH challenge. Adreno-cortico-tropin hormone is a pituitary hormone, and the immediate response to an injected bit of it tells a lot. So does an injection of the hypothalamic hormone CRH.
If you're going to get a thorough analysis of the adrenal, via this cluster of tests, it makes sense to test other pituitary hormones, like LH, FSH, (and sex hormones like testosterone and precursors like DHEA and DHEA-S, which aren't pituitary, but affect pituitary effects). You can have resistance to adrenal hormones, just like insulin resistance. High levels, but low effects. There are many different permutations.
Getting all that testing to happen, though, takes a doctor who thinks you might benefit from that knowledge. Easier said than done.
You can do a quick and dirty inferential test of adrenal function, by taking licorice root for a few weeks. If you feel better, I can interpret that for you. Do not use DGL. You want the glycyrrhizin (spelling?).
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:383709
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20040729/msgs/384619.html