Low Cortisol, Low Testosterone-pain Management - Pain Management Message Board

moon8466 · 08-11-2004, 09:08 PM

I was going to a pain clinic late last year and up until recently. I have had 2 bakc surgeries and they want to do more. At the pain clinic, I received several steroid injections and was placed on methadone. 6 months later, I found that I had no cortisol and little testosterone. Never had the problem until I went to a pain clinic. There has to be a better way to deal with pain. Alternative methods are good to talk about but help very little. Has anyone found a better way to deal with pain?

I am backing off the methadone, even though I was only on 10 mgs. I am now at 5 but plan to stop all together. The steroids shut down my adrenal glands. I asked the doctor before he gave me the injections about aving too many too close together. He was not concerned. Now, I'm having to deal with the results.

I can only hope that the problems I'm having with low cortisol and low testosterone are only related to the steroids and methadone. Anyone have any similar experience or know of any other approaches to dealing with pain?

Thanks

Mike

Kissa · 08-11-2004, 10:03 PM

Unfortunately you are often times limited to 3 choices:

Medications - proven to work but often come with side effects that can be undesireable, they also lead to tolerance and sometimes addiction. Very costly in nature and sometimes difficult for some of us to even find a doctor who is willing to help.

Surgery - sometimes and option, sometimes not. It depends totally on the situation and the surgery. The more surgeries you have in a given area the more likely you will have osteoarthritis down the road as well as complications. To me this is a very last resort.

Holistic/Natural/Vitamins - Some vitamins can be effect but not all and certainly not to the degree of prescribed medication. Learning biofeed back, meditation and visualisation can help you get through rough periods but for severe CP it's not as effective. Holistic "medicines" or homiopathic (sp) can work but I've never seen it work truly. I think honestly it's all a pschological thing and about as effective as a placebo.
I guess you could throw exercising and therapy and massage into this one as well.

Those are my personal thoughts. Steriodal injections are not an option for me and others, it's a personal thing.

Sometimes we have to make difficult choices. You have to ask yourself, are the side effects worth having reduced pain or is the extreme pain worth it to not ever have side effects? Only you can decide that for yourself.

Tony111 · 08-13-2004, 02:13 PM

It's not uncommon to have the testosterone suppressed by long term opaite use. It happens to both men and women(estrogren decrease). My doc had sent me to a Endocrinologist and he ran some other tests on FSH and LH hormones and also a brain scan to check the pituitary gland that regulates all of these hormones. If no problem with the pituitary gland, then he put me on Androgel 1% cream(testosterone) you rub on your body. After several months he checked my testosterone levels again and they are going up. I also have been feeling much less pain, fatigue, depression and sexual desires have increased.

Maybe a check up with an Endocrinologist would shed more light on your problem...if any, other than the suppression of testosterone by the opiates. Decreased testosterone over long periods may cause osteoporosis.

Hope this helps.

Tony