Hydrocortisone - does it work and how dangerous is it?
Following on from some posts I read on here I spoke to my endo about prescribing low dose hydrocortisone to help with my adrenal insufficiency and general fatigue.
He’s recommended 10mg for 1 week to see whether I feel an improvement. Is this too much? Is this safe? Does it work?
Be great to hear your general experiences with hydrocortisone
I’m taking 20 mg of hydrocortisol a day for the past few weeks and it has helped me out substantially with my fatigue/malaise issues. If your doctor is recommending 10 mg, it seems likely that he wants to gauge a positive or negative response to this small dose. That’s a very small dose and you may even want to take 5 in the morning and 5 at mid day. If you feel any increase in energy level, you’ll likely go up to 20 mg.
10mg will prolly make you feel worse. I suggest starting with at least 20mg per day if not more. Dose it every 3.5 hours.
Thanks for your responses.
Moonman any reason why you think 10mg will make me worse?
Also do you both have mild adrenal insufficiency induced by propecia?
Other people have tried ~10mg and felt worse. I do too if I try. Its possible that 10mg is enough for your adrenals to think they can lower output (rest). The end result is that you end up with either the same amount as you had w/out HC or possibly even less. Same scenario as if you take too small of a dose of Testosterone.
My adrenal issues began with PFS, but I took Saw Palmetto and not Finasteride.
My only concern is whether 20mg is still safe due to lowered cortisol output?
Do you only have minor adrenal insufficiency?
Cheers
Do you have low cortisol? I’ve experience with hydrocortisone, and it tends to improve my symptoms, but it backfires pretty quickly. According to my experience, there’s something wrong with the connection between thyroid- and adrenal hormones. I’m suspecting CAH (or something that mimics the condition), an issue with deiodinase (conversion of T4 to T3) and growth hormone deficiency.
Anyway, if you’re going to experiment with hydrocortisone - I recommend that you take one dose (10 - 20 mg) immediately after waking up in the morning, to mimic the cortisol awakening response.
I’ve done a long synacthen test and they found I had mild adrenal insufficiency so my cortisol was lower than normal throughout the day. Symptoms wise I feel drained to greater or lesser degrees throughout the day and am in a semi permanent state of fatigue.
When you said you found it backfires do you mean energy crashes? Have you had any luck exploring deiodinase and DHEA routes any futher?
That’s interesting. Do you have the exact results?
When it backfires, it’s making all the symptoms worse. It affects the metabolism of thyroid hormones, and I’ve found that T3 may be used to relieve the symptoms.
I’ve been using letrozole for a while now, with some success. 2.5 mg a week. I’m planning to experiment with hGH, as it’s known to reveal issues with thyroid- and adrenal hormones.
I would be interested in hearing some of the dosing schedules that have been suggested by prescribing doctors, or that people have found worked.
Moonman1 has some extensive trail and error experience in this area.
10/5/5
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9156032
10/5/2.5
medscape.com/viewarticle/803204_5
Read about Plenadren too.
I recently changed to 5mg every 3 hours and have found it to be much more consistent.
Does anyone else get spacey at higher doses? Anyone know what to do about it?
spacey is likely low t3. Its a balance game. if you die in HC and t3 you will feel pre pfs besides androgenic things like libido. you basically feel assexual that’s healthy.
When i ised it i was on 32.5mg hc a day and 25mcg t3. its trial and error
I’ve done as little as 2.5mg daily and still saw a noticeable improvement in energy and cognitive issues.