Just curious how much Cortef (Cortisone) everyone is on

[cloud2]

15mg/day for both the female tiny dancer under 100 lbs and also for the male over-6' chunky brute? Yes, I'm purposely driving to extremes in order to show that different people would absorb and use different levels. Other factors include residual capacity of the Adrenals, intestinal permeability, stress in one person's life vs. another, etc..

Bottom line, I do agree with Orion that 15mg/day for the average person, and to remain wary of any overdose dangers. But doctors and their patients need to determine how "average" any given patient is. Right from the start, the doctor is going to consider his/her patient "average," whereas the patient will consider himself/herself not average, inciting a built-in tension.

p.s. I'm right at 100kg, taking 25/15/5 = 45mg... and just barely making it from day to day. Yes, I read the dutch study about men on 45mg more prone to osteoporosis and therefore had a scan last year. My last point is... I'm at 45mg and do not have any of the symptoms of having too much cortisol. Not that I want to get there... just want the optimal level for me and for how my body is behaving right now. Others might be taking half of what I take and for whatever reason it is too much for them in their case and they end up meeting Cushing.

The better part of wisdom is to know when to trust a single number and when to broaden the range, keeping ever aware of what might happen if you're too high or too low. Don't adjust based on the number only. Adjust based on what your body is telling you, within a reasonable range of the number.

[orion]

Good points Cloud2. I believe the calculation for cortef dose is weight x 0.11 mg/lb; so an average 150 lb person would take about 15 mg/day.

Unfortunately, all the factors and more that Cloud2 mentioned make a specific number impossible to calculate. Cortisol levels fluctuate hourly, daily, weekly and monthly in a "normal" person, so all we can do is approximate what our bodies need...taking more during stress times.

It is probable that osteoporosis is not only related to higher cortisol dose but also the subsequent lack of DHEA due to adrenal shut down. DHEA is a steroid that acts to build bone and muscle and the fact it is missing in Addison's helps promote bone loss.

I should note that osteoperosis is a long term effect and has no symptoms until bones break.

[Melk86]

I take 25 for the cortef and i think 0.5 of the florinef.

[rumpled]

Carolina - sorry I did not see your post before. I saw oh boy, about 10 doctors in NY/NJ and not sure that so many of them are so good around here so while I saw many doctors, It took going to Los Angeles to get diagnosed and treated. Now I can get more respect but it was a very hard road and now I fight for other patients. I would suggest trying some of the larger hospitals but that is also where at first I did get a lot of resistance so all I can see is that even though you least feel like battling, unfortunately, you have to battle the most.

[fernan1]

just wanted to give you my dosage, 30 in the am, 10 at noon and 10 in the pm. i am 260 lbs and according to the formula i should be on 30 mg total. i was on 20-10-10 but was not feeling well. but since changing i am feeling better, though i am experiencing bouts with high blood pressure, can't seem to make everyone happy but do i pay peter or pay paul?