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Health problems defined
May. 22nd, 2013 08:42 pmIs this that emotion you humans call cope?
Between the HCl and the wake-up grapes, I feeling pretty amazing. I had a really stressful week at work, something that would previously have consumed my life and required a ton of processing. And now... it was stressful, I didn't like it, but it seems smaller and far away. And there is a lot of power in having the worst thing that could happen happenand still being fine.
For a more controlled experiment: my HOA president is an ass in certain very predicable ways. He criticized me in a way he's criticized me before. Last time I got super worked up about how unfair it was. This time... fuck it. He can't actually make me change, and until he cooperates with me he's just making more work for himself.
The last time I had this abundance of resilience was when I was on cortisol. There are three really definitely valid* treatments for hypoadrenia, of which cortisol is the most severe. It makes a certain amount of sense- "you don't have enough cortisol, here, have some", but it's also the kludgiest, because it limits your body's control over its chemical balance. If the problem is your body *can't* control your chemicals, possibly because it has been attempting to do so for so long with so few resources and is now completely burnt out, it's the best option, but there are side effects. Weight gain, insomnia, facial and chest hair in women*, diminished immune response, etc. I went off cortisol even though I wasn't fully better because I was well enough that the side effects weren't worth it.
The one-step-removed treatment is DHEA, which your adrenal glands make into cortisol. This is an excellent solution if the problem is DHEA deficiency (I don't know what causes that) and your adrenal glands are healthy enough to use it. Because your glands are still in control, it's far less likely to lead to cortisone excess, but it's not sufficient for real hypoadrenia. I've been on and off it a few times, and it was helpful for a while and then it wasn't.
The even-more-removed option is to consume raw animal adrenal glands (they make nice sanitary little pills of them). These contain a small amount of all the coritsol precursors plus the exact proteins that make up the adrenal glands themselves (well, the exact proteins that make up cow adrenal glands). The idea is that it provides targeted support to help your body repair the adrenal glands, and the cortisol it contains is a fringe benefit.
I've had lingering hypoadrenia symptoms ever since I went off formal treatment, but really did not want to restart it. Cortisol was right out, and even DHEA and raw adrenals just didn't feel right. Until ~5 weeks after I started the HCl tablets. I really felt like taking Iron and Raw Adrenal. 3 or 4 weeks after that, almost immediately after I started breakfast in bed. DHEA started seeming like a good idea, so I'm giving that a shot.
*As in, the have obvious mechanisms that explain why they are helpful, and may even have had studies done, as opposed to random plants that are shaped like adrenal glands.
**which has persisted even though I'm no longer on the drugs. Whoo hoo!
Between the HCl and the wake-up grapes, I feeling pretty amazing. I had a really stressful week at work, something that would previously have consumed my life and required a ton of processing. And now... it was stressful, I didn't like it, but it seems smaller and far away. And there is a lot of power in having the worst thing that could happen happenand still being fine.
For a more controlled experiment: my HOA president is an ass in certain very predicable ways. He criticized me in a way he's criticized me before. Last time I got super worked up about how unfair it was. This time... fuck it. He can't actually make me change, and until he cooperates with me he's just making more work for himself.
The last time I had this abundance of resilience was when I was on cortisol. There are three really definitely valid* treatments for hypoadrenia, of which cortisol is the most severe. It makes a certain amount of sense- "you don't have enough cortisol, here, have some", but it's also the kludgiest, because it limits your body's control over its chemical balance. If the problem is your body *can't* control your chemicals, possibly because it has been attempting to do so for so long with so few resources and is now completely burnt out, it's the best option, but there are side effects. Weight gain, insomnia, facial and chest hair in women*, diminished immune response, etc. I went off cortisol even though I wasn't fully better because I was well enough that the side effects weren't worth it.
The one-step-removed treatment is DHEA, which your adrenal glands make into cortisol. This is an excellent solution if the problem is DHEA deficiency (I don't know what causes that) and your adrenal glands are healthy enough to use it. Because your glands are still in control, it's far less likely to lead to cortisone excess, but it's not sufficient for real hypoadrenia. I've been on and off it a few times, and it was helpful for a while and then it wasn't.
The even-more-removed option is to consume raw animal adrenal glands (they make nice sanitary little pills of them). These contain a small amount of all the coritsol precursors plus the exact proteins that make up the adrenal glands themselves (well, the exact proteins that make up cow adrenal glands). The idea is that it provides targeted support to help your body repair the adrenal glands, and the cortisol it contains is a fringe benefit.
I've had lingering hypoadrenia symptoms ever since I went off formal treatment, but really did not want to restart it. Cortisol was right out, and even DHEA and raw adrenals just didn't feel right. Until ~5 weeks after I started the HCl tablets. I really felt like taking Iron and Raw Adrenal. 3 or 4 weeks after that, almost immediately after I started breakfast in bed. DHEA started seeming like a good idea, so I'm giving that a shot.
*As in, the have obvious mechanisms that explain why they are helpful, and may even have had studies done, as opposed to random plants that are shaped like adrenal glands.
**which has persisted even though I'm no longer on the drugs. Whoo hoo!
