Addisons? Adrenal Androgens? Fatigue? HormoneMan?? - Addison's Disease Message Board

NOLA_gal · 04-07-2007, 12:41 PM

My new endo is treating my adrenal adrogen excess with dex. Dex does suppress my DHEAS which was twice the top of the normal reference range (434 with 220 being the top of normal). My 17-OHP suppressed to 15 so it doesn't seem LOCAH is the problem. I haven't had a stim test, at least yet. My morning cortisol was 15 which is 'normal' but I do have some of the tanning around my waist and under my breasts.

Longterm progressive fatigue is by far my most troubling problem though I have some moderate hirsutism, acne etc. I can no longer even attempt to exercise. I work full time (love my job) but spend most of my time at home lying down.

I have another appointment with my endo in a couple of weeks. He had my IGF-1 tested along with androstenione. (I'll get those results then. He wants to see if a growth hormone deficiency could be at the root of the fatigue.)

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be asking? Does a growth hormone problem seem likely? Does a stim test seem warranted? Can it be done while I'm on 0.5mg dex?

Thanks

NOLA_gal · 04-17-2007, 11:34 AM

Well, I'm still hoping someone might have some suggestions. I went in today for my follow-up and things are getting really confusing...

My new endo tested my baseline DHEAS and it came in at 118. In August it came back at 434 with the same reference range for normal of 25-220. Why would DHEAS fluctuate that much??

My cortisol came back at 6.8 (4.0-22.0 range for normal).

He had put me on dex (started after the blood work) which did make me feel better. Because he now has no basis for prescribing it, I'll have to stop for at least 8 weeks so we can start over with the tests. I mentioned the tanning but he didn't seem to think much of that. He hasn't given up but I'm worried.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!