do you take hormone meds for the estro, testost?
I am on 20mg pred for a year and just went down to 15mg few weeks ago.
I stopped taking my HRT because i thought the estrogern was messing with
the prednisone in in the liver. I read some where that the estrogen makes it harder
for the prednisone to convert to prednisilone . I was IMAGINING maybe that I felt worse
whe Idid take the estrogen. I am so messed up. do you take HRT
I read about cortisol level being low for both FMS and ME/CFS patients.
Mine cortisol was below close to -0- even at peak hours when I first had it checked. I've developed full blown Addison disease 6 yrs ago. I have both diseases.
Some doctors do recommand low dose hypocortisone (I take Cortef) for FMS, ME/CFS.
My levels were low, but I only know that from looking at my labs from Aug. when I was being tested for Addision. I guess it is not anything to be concerned about, the Endo never mentioned it.
My doctor strongly suggests testing DHEA levels. Many people with low levels of cortisol and other hormones also have low levels of DHEA - the building block of all hormones. Mine, to my surprise, was "0" - but not a surprise to my doctor. He is finding more and more Fibro patients w/surprisingly low DHEA levels. I take 100 mg/day, much higher than recommended at health food stores, but it did the trick for me in bringing my DHEA up to proper testing levels.
I don't have my blood test in front of me but cortisol was below normal, also estrogen, progest and testosteronews very low. I am taking prednisone 15mg a day for over a year now and can't get off of that. It's a mess. everything is short circuiting.
What was your cortisol level ?
Since FMS isn't considered an immune disease (at least this is the thinking of most physicians) nor inflammatory disease, I don't believe steroids would be given as an off-label treatment. I haven't heard of anyone taking this for their FMS, unless they also had another disease like RA or Polymyalgia rheumatica (where inflammation is indicated).