I saw my dr. yesterday (whom says I need to see a shrink) and asked him about my brown spots on my skin. They are small little tan spots. Well my question is he said that with Addison I would look tan all over. I would just get spots. Is this true????

He will not do a test on me because back in Nov. my TSH was normal.
I dont have the results in front of me yet but I will get them.

Please help me.

Bull pittooty.
I have spots and I have a tan. You can have one, or both, or neither for that matter.
TSH is not a factor. If he had said ACTH, maybe he would have had an arguement.
Find another doctor, please.

I started with a tan, Now I have spots

I just have littles spots here and there. I have also read to look in the folds of skin such as arms, legs...etc. I have little brown areas there too.
My bloods in Nov. showed 3.4 potassium (low) and 136 sodium (border low).
I'm confused cause in Jan. I had bloods again and all was fine.

I'm going tomorrow to new dr. and will hopefully get more bloods done.

Since my bloods are not consistant I'm guessing not Addisons.

You can vary and still be sick as if you did not, you would be severely ill. I for sure have it and my tests vary. What is definitive is an ACTH stim test and the ACTH and cortisol tests but the potassium and sodium tests like that are very indicative so they should be looking for the source of why they are dropping.

Dito on Rumpled. ANY MD willing to run the tests will do. Once you get the blood work and salive/urine tests run you have your ammo for diagnosis and treatment. you are dealing with the endocrine system. Glands and hormones flux. They are rarely steady freddy. In women in particular, fluxes occur monthly if you are still premeno. You need an MD willing to look into this further.. maybe an OB or and IM.. but someone you can get into and work with. I found my rare gem on the Armour thyroid physician locator database. everyone else had been a bust.

You can have a NORMAL TSH and still have thyroid issues. Thyroid is not the pituitary and definitely not the adrenal gland.. these glands are separate entities and do a wonderous variety of crud to you when out of whack. Whooow! Sorry. *steps off the soap box and pushes it to the center of the thread* NEXT!

MG

Mindyandy, I spent a day at the ER last week because my NORMALLY high calcium plummeted from 10.3 to 5.2 (8.5-10.2). They found my sodium to be 137 (135-145) low normal and potassium was low 3.3 (3.5-5.2). Also chloride was low normal 98 (97-108). I had another calcium test yesterday and an 8am cortisol. (My doctor surprised me with that and I was thrilled that she requested it without my pleading). I guess that is a start. I also take thyroid meds (Hashis). I do not know about the brown spots. I have some spots that I thought were bruises that just weren't going away, creases that are darker, some brown spots that I thought were age spots. I never thought much of it but will start to pay more attention. Good luck. What happened at the doctor? Hoppy

Well she is running a thyroid panel, magnesium, b-12 and some others I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure electolytes. I asked her about the brown spots and she said it they're not raised then its nothing??? She did say my thyroid was a bit prominent. If my bloods are abnormal then I will get a phone call on Monday. If they are normal then no phone call and she will mail me the results.

I'm not getting my hopes up because my bloods seem to fall within normal limits or they dont fall low enough for them to be worried. Potassium 3.4 was not low enough for them to worry. That was in November but in January my potassium was 4.4. So I dont know. My sodium flucuates also. It usually hangs around 1.36 but my last one in Jan. was 1.44 so I dont know.

I guess I will just have to hope they call me on Monday.

Thanks
Mindy