Posted by blueberry on March 15, 2006, at 20:14:39
In reply to Re: What Kind of Pattern Is This?, posted by Racer on March 14, 2006, at 20:17:45
Racer, it really does feel like a physical thing. I mean, it shows itself as psychiatric, but it just feels physical.
I have had my cortisol tested. Morning, noon, and early evening were all about half of what normal levels should be. Very low. The only time it was even close to normal, and then only borderline, was at about 10pm.
I think if this is the problem, it is way out of the ballpark for my GP. I called an endocrinologist specialty building, but they only take doctor referalls, so I'm going to ask my GP to send me there. From what I understand, they treat it with low dose hydrocortisone for a few months and then try to taper off and see if the adrenal glands have rested enough to take over. But then again, I think they can do tests to determine whether the adrenals even have the capacity to come back.
I can't help but think that 5 years of prozac and zyprexa did the damage. Prozac being a cortisol/adrenal stimulator, and then zyprexa with its weird metabolic effects throughout the body, who knows.
It's one thing to know what a problem is, but then it's another huge hurdle to find someone to take it seriously and fix it.
> You know, that sounds like a physical thing, at least enough so that you would probably do well to have physical causes ruled out, before going to psychiatric treatments.
>
> That pattern looks a lot like what diurnal cortisol patterns look like. Cortisol, known as the "stress hormone," rises in the morning to help us wake up, and then decreases in the evenings, so that we can go to sleep. We need cortisol, because it is necessary for our sleep/wake cycle, but if it's out of whack, it can lead to anxiety and disturbed sleep.
>
> So, if I were offering advice, which I guess I am, I'd say go see your GP, and ask for a cortisol test. There's are a couple of different tests, and you want to check the variations throughout the day. Make sure you're not having extremes for some reason. If your GP doesn't know what to do, get a referral to a good endocrinologist.
>
> Good luck, whatever happens.
poster:blueberry
thread:620334
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060315/msgs/620749.html