Nate's Endo Tales

[nate3993]

SO I first saw my endocrinologist back in mo' fukin August. Cortisol high, and out of range. TSH low, and out of range. My FSH was also low, my prolactin high, but my endo focused on the TSH and cortisol. The prolactin wasn't out of range, so of course can't focus on that :rolleyes:, and even though my fsh was out of range, he wasn't gonna focus on that one either because my total t was fine:rolleyes:. BUT i will say that the things being out of range could all go back to the TSH. And when my prolactin gets high, my left nipple gets itchy, and I take some L-Dopa and P5P and that clears it up. Also, high prolactin will lower fsh, and I do notice a pretty big difference in my facial/ body hair growth when I don't have the itchy nip. I went on a tangent though.

SO, he asked me to do a bunch of cortisol tests, and another thyroid blood test to confirm the low thyroid.I was set to go back to him in 3 months. Yep, 3 months. He teaches and isn't at his office too often so sadly there's usually a long time between appointments. I put off the tests, and had to reschedule. BAM, anbother 3 months. No cancellations.

First appointment was August, and here we are in January. So i was scheduled to see him Tuesday. Unfortunately, it was the first day of my class, and the appointment was scheduled for when the class ended. I was gonna have to get my teacher to let me get out of class 20 minutes early so that I could make the appointment. I called my endo today seeing if there were cancellations and at first they told me there weren't and I possibly was gonna have to wait til march. AND THEN, i talked to someone, said there were 2 cancellations so today I go in to see him in less than 3 hours. FINALLY. 6 friggin months of waiting. Hopefully something positive comes out of this appointment.


For those who don't wanna read it all, long story short, after 6 months of waiting, I'm finally going to get to see my endocrinologist to see if tests confirm low thyroid, high cortisol. I will update this thread with what happens today and on.

[Grape Ape]

Best of luck here. I hope things are minor, but for whatever issues you have; I hope they get fixed quickly, and with simplicity.

[Jelisej]

Actually, your endocrinologist is right and you are wrong- prolactin is most likely side-effect of sluggish, treating prolactin is not a good idea and it can further slow down your thyroid, dopamine agonists are used to treat pituary tumors (which usually secretes prolactin), it also can be used in ageing folks and guys on TRT to lower prolactin a bit, it can be used as a part of PCT, but prolonged usage is not a good idea (IMO). As I said bazillion times so far, always fix in order: Adrenals, thyroid, sex hormones, growth hormone.
Anyway, Nate try to be sensible and stop self-medication, and fix your problems as they are serious.
Good luck!

[nate3993]

My endo actually didn't even mention my prolactin. I was having an itchy nipple, looked back at my test, and saw my prolactin was on the high end. Just 3 points below the very top of the range. I just use the dopamine for a few days when my nip gets itchy. Def not a nightly thing, but you're right. I'd love to not be self medicating. I wanna get these things fixed with thyroid meds, anti cortisol meds, whatever he says I should get. I'm sitting waiting for him right now. Will update.

[nate3993]

Well. All the thyroid tests came back normal. Way normal. So did the cortisol. I'm pretty sure I know what my issue is. All goes back to my Lyme disease. Lyme affects everything since it's a neurological disease, and mimics other issues such as lupus, Lou gherig's, etc. This is the 2nd year in a row that I've had an issue, went to a specialist, and nothing wrong can be found. Last year it was the urologist. They had no idea why after I would pee, I would still dribble, A LOT. I don't mean 3-6 shakes. I'm taking shaking and shaking and shaking. Like old man with prosate issue dribble. Ultrasounds of bladder and kidneys. Urine tests. And after all the tests and multiple visits. What did my urologist day? "Have no idea what's wrong. Could be neurological." Screams of Lyme disease. So now what's my issue this year? Thyroid looked low, cortisol looked high. Libido down. Bunch of tests later. And what's the verdict? Nothing can be found.

I've been taking a couple supplements for lyme that are immunity boosters. One is called Saventaro, the other is called silverbiotoc. Those have made me feel better. Sleep has drastically improved after being on them a couple weeks. Lyme is a crazy ass disease. Symptoms change, and come and go. This past year fatigue has really hit me, and sadly, come winter, symptoms get much worse. I'll go to bed early, eat right, and on multiple occassions I've woken up, had a meal, and iust felt so incredibly fatigued that I'll go back to bed and sleep for hours. yep, juat eating a meal fatigued me. I previously had trouble falling asleep, but never staying asleep. A month and a half ago, bam, it changed. I couldn't stay asleep. Would wake up 6-7 times a night. Not even a high dose of ketotifen, melatonin, and a natural sleep aid could keep me asleep. Now, after taking the immune boosters, some valerian extract, skull cap extract, and passionflower extract with melatonin has been doing fine. I've also been depressed these past 2 weeks. Not major depression, but a helluva a lot more than what I've dealt with in the past. It's usually a couple days of feeling meh, but it's been a couple weeks now. I've just felt so incredibly lost and unmotivated. The symptoms go on and on. Anxiety too. But they all come and go. And yes, most Lyme symptoms are every day things like a sore neck, minor joint pain, muscle twitches, cold hands and feet, but it all goes back to it being a neurological disease. So everything and anything can go wrong. What makes the case for Lyme is the symptom coming and going. You feel much worse in the winter. I also did test positive for Lyme, but even if you don't test positive, it doesn't mean you don't have it. It's a clinical disease and you go by symptoms, not tests. But I did in fact test positive. Lot of controversy behind the disease too unfortunately. I guess I just need to continue with treating the Lyme any way I can and hope for the best. I had my finger crossed he would walk in and tell me I had high cortisol. Tell me I had low thyroid. That way, something that was found could be treated and maybe I'd feel better. I had such a strong gut feeling though he was gonna walk in and tell me that everything came back normal, and he did. I was dreading it too. Cuz now it's more of, "shit. What the fuck do I do now." I've just been in a shitty place these past 2 weeks. And this didnt help.

[Jelisej]

Honestly, I think all your (recent) bloodworks are skewed as you are taking so many supplements, for example if you take bromocriptine your prolactin (and even TSH) could show smaller numbers for up to 2 months. Also if you are taking naturalthyroid supps that will affect bloodwork as well...etc... Lot of folks trying to help themselves, (and I cant blame them for that)- and constantly getting bunked test results and they continue to chase their own tail. Other thing is numbers do not always represent situation at cellular level. Wheter Lyme disease is responsible for all the issues? Possible, but at this point there are probably other issues as well- and worse of all is that it you start to affect you mentaly and you are becoming very insecure. Get off all the medication for a while and get another set of tests, go to clinic that specialise in Lyme and other thick-borne diseases, and try not to make yourself more insecure- at that is harder to treat than anything else.
Do it right man, you're young and there is whole life in front of you.
Good luck!

Pee/dribble issue could be caused by prostate/high estrogen, neurological or even mental state- but also is very common side effect of stimulants like caffeine etc...

[Scope75]

Jelisej is right you need to get off all your SELF prescribed herbs and meds and then get your bloods done.
Also did you tell your endo about all the things you are tsking and why your taking them??

[nate3993]

wasn't taking any supplements when the bloodwork and tests were done per request of my endo, and even before the test, i was only taking a multi vitamin. AFTER i had the tests done is when i went a lil supplement crazy. i agree with you fully. had i been taking a boat load of supps bfor and during the tests, then definitely that could skew the results, but i wasn't. i kind of wish i was, cuz then we could say it was prolly the supps, and i could retest and hopefully it would show something. i did cut down on the supps drastically right now. i'm pretty sure my endo was gonna inform my dr that i still had the fatigue issues, bodyweight stayed the same, etc. when I go to my doc, i could lie to him, and tell him that i was taking a bunch of supps when i had the tests done and would like him to retest to see if the supplements didn't skew the results. and i would go off all supplements for a while. i just don't know if that'll really do anything because pre test i was just taking optimen multi, and during tests, i wasn't on anything. as to the dribble, prostate was checked and is fine, estrogen has been checked and was fine, and rarely take any kind of stimulant. very rarely. and of course the dribble comes and goes. it's usually there, but some days its worse than others. and no, it's not on days i take a stimulant that it's there becuase 95% percent of the time i dont take any stims

[Infamy]

I don't know from your posts whether you are on melatonin but you know that stuff lowers lh so I'd really steer clear of that. It may, note the "may" also add to signs of depression.

High cortisol also reduces tsh so it's no surprise that was low when cortisol was high. But it looks like cortisol is in range now do no thyroid issues.

Lymes disease may be the cause of many problems no doubt but don't forget that bouts of feeling down and out of sorts is normal. Everyone goes through it. If you are standing next to a warm bath with a kitchen knife in your hand though that's a different matter.

I'm going to take a punt here and ask whether you work inside all day and how much sunlight exposure you get. I don't know if you've heard of SAD syndrome but essentially links lack of uv light to depression. Sounds like more holistic nonsense right but there is some good scientific and real world studies backing it up. Have you thought about trying to increase your uv exposure (in a safe way I hasten to add!)? Many people have it and go undiagnosed.

By the way, I'd get your prostate checked just to be on the safe side.

[nate3993]

i will stop the melatonin then. had no idea. when there's sunlight, i make sure to go outside and get some sun. an hour's worth. my prostate was checked multiple times when i went to the urologist and pre going to the urologist. i'm feeling much better this week. i had stopped taking fish oils, some places say it helps with depressions others don't, and am taking doxycycline for the lyme. i also upped my saventaro, immunity booster, and silver biotic, another immunity booster and have been feeling better. school started again and i'm glad to be back. so feeling much better this week.

[markam]

Never knew that about melatonin. Until quite recently I was taking 1.5gms a night. Was just taking a break from it and using passion flower, but I'll definitely cut down a lot, now.

[Infamy]

Most people don't realise that about meltonin. It makes sense when you think about it as melatonin is the body's "hibernation" hormone which signals the body to slow down its processes so no wonder it lowers lh - why produce lots of test if you are going to be sleeping and being inactive.

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Maybe you were just having a bad couple of weeks?



i will stop the melatonin then. had no idea. when there's sunlight, i make sure to go outside and get some sun. an hour's worth. my prostate was checked multiple times when i went to the urologist and pre going to the urologist. i'm feeling much better this week. i had stopped taking fish oils, some places say it helps with depressions others don't, and am taking doxycycline for the lyme. i also upped my saventaro, immunity booster, and silver biotic, another immunity booster and have been feeling better. school started again and i'm glad to be back. so feeling much better this week.