Hormone Levels Ridiculously Low

[mschmidt]

I just got some blood hormone test results back, and I'm freaking out.  My TSH is extremely low, progesterone and testosterone are POST menopausal levels.  I'm 39, how is that even possible??  My total cholesterol is high, even though my LDL and HDL are normal.  My hemoglobin and hematocrit are slightly low but, my iron levels are completely normal.  My carbon dioxide is low as well.  Can anyone shed some light on this for me?  My adrenals aren't fatigued, they have officially CRASHED!!:shock:

What's crazy is…other than feeling crazy, I feel pretty damn good, and am shocked at how low my hormone levels are.  Shouldn't I be feeling bad?

Maria

[Kim]

Hey Maria,

I'm going through the same exact thing with new lab results.  My whole endocrine system is shot.  All along we've been treating hypothyroid, but according to these new results, appears my adrenals are fried too.  I have no TSH (0.04) and the free T-3-4 are also very low.  I just know the thyroid meds are not cutting it.  My total cholesterol is through the roof because the LDL is very high (145), but my HDL is so high and triglycerides so low that my previous doctors were not too worked up.  High LDL (out-of-sync with the others) is a Lyme sx.  My estrogen, progesterone, testosterone are all so low they are not even measurable. 😯

Another interesting piece of the puzzle for me is I just got the result of a food-allergy test and it shows I'm highly allergic to eggs and dairy. 😯  Who knew???  With osteoporosis, I had been eating yogurt and cheese daily for the calcium and since I'm not a big meat-eater I was eating eggs for the added protein.  Now I can add no dairy and no eggs to my gluten-free diet. :doh:

I have an appointment with my functional medicine doc today to go over some of this stuff and come up with a new game plan.  It really is all relative because, like you, I'm feeling so much better from my sickest point that I'm not complaining about this level of fatigue, but it is encouraging to know there is lots of room to really feel normal again……..if I can even remember what that feels like. :roll-laugh:

Take care…..kim

[JBJBJB]

Maria,

My mom, a MD, told me everything was related and it likes a chain reaction….I am expecting to have same results, too. Just during past two years, it seems everything was emerging…… swelling hands/feet, cold feeling, then raynauds, thyroid, eye problems, extreme fatigue, in addition to all the joints and muscle pain.  

I hope a functional doctor will help me to restore my body to its default. I am going to give a shot to this Iowa doc. He seems to be more of nutritionist…… but I'd hate the thought to give up the pasta. I cannot live without pasta. :crying: I hope he will help me to restore my health.

I hope you will figure it out what is the trigger which caused this chain reaction. You sure don't want to have an induced early PMS.

Hugs,

JB

 

[Donna RA]

JB,

You can try brown rice pasta, it's gluten/wheat free and really good if cooked according to directions.  Also, for those of you who like to have a beer, I found a Gluten free beer, it's called Bards Beer, so if nothing else, we can drown our sorrows without giving in to Gluten! :):)

Donna RA and Lyme

[Fran]

JB-  Let me know how it goes with that Iowa Doctor (I'm assuming you are talking about the doctor from Muscatine) you are going to try.  I looked at the website that you posted earlier and the clinic looks interesting.  When's your appointment?

[louris]

Apparently all of this hormone stuff isn't just a problem for women. My doctor found (at the beginning of August) that my adrenals were also severely taxed/fatigued (he brought up Addison's Disease). He also measured my testosterone level. He said that my levels were that of a 90 year old man. I'm 36. Great.

[mschmidt]

Kim,

I think I read somewhere about the high LDL being related to Lyme disease, too. I just can't believe how good I feel, despite all this.  I have zero fatigue, which is shocking.:shock:

Sounds like we're in the same boat…my TSH is <.01, testosterone is .3 (0-15.0 is normal), Estraidol is 31 (27 and below is normal), Free T4 is barely normal at .9 (.8-1.8 is normal), and my T3 is high at 4.8 (2.3-4.2 is normal...it was actually at a 7 in July!)  Logically, my cortisol levels should be through the roof but, I'm Murphy's Law so, mine are normal, but LOW.  I guess this would fall under the Lyme “cascade of adrenal fatigue and hormone inbalance.”  Hormones…what hormones??  I'm going to see a bioidentical hormone specialist this week, and will let you know what he says.  He almost fell out of his chair last week when he looked at my testosterone and thyroid levels–and told me I was lucky to be alive with such low levels.  (nothing like scaring me with that statement) Maria

[Randy]

[user=977]mschmidt[/user] wrote:

Kim,

LDL….

…my TSH is <.01, testosterone is .3 (0-15.0 is normal), Estraidol is 31 (27 and below is normal), Free T4 is barely normal at .9 (.8-1.8 is normal), and my T3 is high at 4.8 (2.3-4.2 is normal...it was actually at a 7 in July!)  Logically, my cortisol levels are normal, but LOW.  I guess this would fall under the Lyme “cascade of adrenal fatigue and hormone inbalance.” 

I'm going to see a bioidentical hormone specialist this week, and will let you know what he says.  He almost fell out of his chair last week when he looked at my testosterone and thyroid levels–and told me I was lucky to be alive with such low levels.  (nothing like scaring me with that statement)

Maria

Hi Maria and Kim,

Two questions come to mind here (maybe Ritchie can jump in?):

 

1.      Do you think that AP does not[/b] help AI associated thyroid complications?

2.      Is it possible that AP contributes to or causes thyroid problems?

 

By the way, here are my associated values:

 

* My TSH (normal 0.27-4.20) is High, 5.42, and has been mostly high since Mar 09

* My Free T4 has stayed normal

* My T3 has been normal except once

* My Thyroid Peroxidase ABS has been high for a while, now in normal

* My Thyroglobulin ABS has been normal

* My Testosterone has been normal

 

What are your Thyroid Peroxidase and Thyroglobulin ABS values?

 

Lastly ? Maria, be careful about jumping into the hormone stuff without interfacing with Dr. F.  Does he have you using DHEA cream (He has me on it, and he had Rebecca A. on it as well); I wonder how her thyroid levels are? Rebecca are you out there?

 

Randy

Diffuse SD since Apr '07
AP since Feb '08
100mg Mino twice daily
Stopped Clindamycin IVs Aug 2019
"No one should profit over someone else's illness"

[mschmidt]

Randy,

Based on everything I've read about hormone levels (particularily thyroid), I think it just comes with the territory–once one system is off, the rest tend to follow.  (not suggesting that everyone goes thru this)  Being sick, and fighting off an infection/disease in your body puts stress on the endocrine system and adrenals.  As far as AP helping AI associated thyroid issues, I don't know how it would contribute to it, nor do I think it causes it.  I don't believe any disease is a one-system punch, I think that illness is a multi-system disruption, and also that treatment needs to address the body as whole, ie. heal the leaky gut, balance hormones, remove any heavy metal toxicity, parasites, infections, etc. 

Don't worry Randy, I don't do anything without first talking to Franco–it seems like I talk to his nurse weekly.  He does have me on 15 mg of DHEA, and my levels have gone up significantly the last 4 months.  Regulating the thyroid with Armour Thyroid takes some time, and the dosage needs to be adjusted frequently at first-my dosage has changed 3 times the last 4 months. 

Both the Thyroid Peroxidase ABS and Thyroglobulin ABS are indicaters of Hashimoto's disease, which can happen with autoimmunity. 

My Thyroid Peroxidase ABS is 15.9 (normal range is 0-36.0)

My Thyroglobulin ABS is 19.24 (normal range is .12-75.0)

I guess the thyroid can wax and wane, go up and down frequently with AI diseases before it decides what it's going to do.  (this can also happen quickly or over years)

Maria

[Kim]

Maria,

After my doctor appointment today with the functional medicine doctor it's official, I have NO hormones either.  All this time we've been focusing on my thyroid, but she said it's coming from higher up, probably the pituitary and the whole HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis).  She said my adrenals are fried and not producing anything and wants me to see an endo for further testing on this.  I left with new scripts for bio-identical hormones and a  script for a compounded equivalent of Armour thyroid.  I'm excited (in a pathetic sort of way :?) that the tests showed there is a lot of room for improvement, and hopeful I can get some much needed energy back.

Randy,

I don't think AP helped or hurt my thyroid condition.  I just think it got caught up in a whole systemic crash and that our bodies just get worn out from fighting everything gone awry.

Take care…..kim

[m.]

[user=977]mschmidt[/user] wrote:

I just got some blood hormone test results back, and I'm freaking out.

[m.]

[user=290]louris[/user] wrote:

Apparently all of this hormone stuff isn't just a problem for women. My doctor found (at the beginning of August) that my adrenals were also severely taxed/fatigued (he brought up Addison's Disease). He also measured my testosterone level. He said that my levels were that of a 90 year old man. I'm 36. Great.

Remember to test with saliva! 🙂

[m.]

http://www.westonaprice.org/askdoctor/highcholesterol.html

My MD had me go over this article, and we looked at my cholesterol numbers together with these ranges.

[m.]

[user=40]Kim[/user] wrote:

Hey Maria,

I'm going through the same exact thing with new lab results.

[Kim]

[user=732]m.[/user] wrote:

Hi Kim, my husband had a GI panel done a couple years ago. He showed antibodies to gluten and eggs. His MD explained to him that he needed to give up gluten, and attempt to heal his gut.

We asked about the eggs, and the MD said that in his experience, gluten tended to be the main culprit. If his patients gave up gluten, and took other steps to heal the gut (probiotics, less sugar, etc.), the antibodies to eggs and/or dairy went away too.

So, my husband gave up gluten, but continued to eat eggs. We haven't had the eggs antibodies retested since the baseline test, but I suspect gluten was the main offender.

As far as bone health goes, John Lee has written quite a bit about the role of progesterone in bone health. Again, you need saliva testing to get an accurate picture of what hormones levels are in the tissues, not serum testing telling you what is bound up and floating around.

Diagnos-Techs also has a bone density test, a home kit. I have it on my shelf, but haven't taken it yet!

Thanks, m., all good information. 

The info on the cholesterol ratio makes me feel better because it's just my LDL that is bad, the HDL and Trig are off-the-charts good, bringing the ratio down to “no risk”.

My doc agrees on the saliva/vs blood testing for hormones.  My most recent test was Diagnos-Techs and the one I had a year ago was also saliva with Genova Diagnostics.  The findings were consistent on both tests and show I have NO hormones.  She also ran the adrenal stress/cortisol test which made her conclude it's the whole HPA axis that is a mess and needs more testing.  We were so wrapped up in Lyme tx a year ago that the hormone deficiency didn't get the proper attention.  I will get John Lee's book.

The food allergy test was a blood test and has me scratching my head because my previous Enterolab test showed a gluten allergy and OK on dairy, but the recent food allergy test (Meridian Valley Labs) showed acceptable levels of antibodies to gluten and gliadin…….a contradiction, and a strong dairy allergy……another contradiction. :headbang:  She said it's not the one she would typically use for gluten, it was just included in this test.  I've been gluten-free since January and can't tell any difference.  This new test showed dairy and eggs maxed out the score.  My new doc says to eliminate them completely for about 8 weeks and then reintroduce at intervals and in very small amounts to see if I react.

Osteoporosis, a big problem for me.  For the last month I've been taking an Ortho-Molecular product, Pro-Bono, that is supposed to be excellent, and at $90/month I would hope so. 😯  I didn't know there was a home test kit for osteo. Starting today, I will be adding the progesterone cream to my routine and will be very happy if I can finally stop this from getting worse.

Thanks again for your post. 🙂

Take care…..kim

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