Posted by MarkinBoston on November 1, 2000, at 17:23:37
In reply to Re: Endocrine causes for depression(Mr Boston), posted by noa on October 27, 2000, at 6:39:52
> Go for the endocrine evaluation! As I have been saying lately, "leave no stone unturned."
One annecdote from when I went through endocrine evaluation:
I was given 1 mg. of dexamethasone to take at 11pm and then have a blood draw at 8AM the next morning. This is the short DMT (dexamethasone suppression test) used to screen for a primary cause of Cushing's Disease, where your cortisol level remains high and the feedback system isn't working. Dex is a cortico-steroid that looks enough like cortisol to your hypothalmus that it cuts back on signals to make the real thing, but not close enough to fool all the receptors in your body.
Bottom line: I felt GREAT that day - energetic, cheery, and social! Unfortunately, it and other drugs in their class, like prednisone are undesireable consequences for long term use. No MD has been able to explain why I felt so good, but a Pubmed search revealed a couple things: 50% of melancholics are DMT suppressors, and the other half not, and that melancholics supress less beta-endorphin than non-depressed people when given dex.
Hey, shouldn't this experience be some sort of clue to a MD?
Oh, and thanks for nickname - same as that old bottom shelf liquor and mixology guide. I'm honored :-)
poster:MarkinBoston
thread:47316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001022/msgs/47945.html