Thyroidectomy/ACTH stim test

[Kimmydee2]

Hi Dr. Lupo,

I wasn't doing very well at all on the higher doses of Levothroid and its 3 months post TT.  I went from 125mcg to 137mcg and my symptoms worsened.  They quickly brought me down to 100mcg fearing Adrenal Issues and did an ACTH stim test.  This test made me really really sick by the way.  My random Cortisol prior to test was 7.5 at 10:00 a.m.  After stim results were 30.6 and 36.4.  Doc says my adrenals are okay.  They finally put me on 112mcg, but I am only feeling minimally better.  It has been about two weeks.  About how long will it take for me to feel normal once I get on the right dose????

[Kimmydee2]

Thats weird.....I thought I posted on Dr. Lupo's forum...Oh well, anyways.  You are already nervous about the test because of fear of the drug making you sick so that probably raises you cortisol.  Now, some people don't even feel the medication.  Some only have slight nausea with it.  The reaction is different for everyone.  The medication made me very very dizzy, nausea, abdominal pain and made my B/P go way up.  For days I was dizzy and felt horrible.  Awful anxiety attacks too.  They gave me IV fluids in the hospital to flush it out.  I drank lots of water for days after that.  It eventually got better.  It almost felt like after that, like the ACTH they gave me "rebooted" my adrenals and now I don't have that "death like" feeling anymore.  I still feel like poop though.  I don't know if there is ever a "right" dose of this fakey Levothroid stuff.........Everything I have been hearing is that no one feels right until they get on dessicated thyroid.  You can't replace all the hormones the organ does with just a T4 med and the docs just don't understand this.  If I could get myself off disability (three and a half months now) I am taking my cash, leaving Kaiser and going to an integrative medicine doc here in town that uses a compounding pharmacy for bio-identicals.  I have heard such GREAT reviews on these guys.  And they do saliva adrenal testing.  They also replace female hormones, thyroid, adrenals all at the same time......as it should be!!!!  Very good luck to you in your search for health again....Keep in touch.....

[froggy0936]

I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you. I had my TT Dec 09 and still not feeling well myself.

If you don't mind, could you please explain how the ACTH Stim Test was? I was to have one to check my adrenals..I had kidney cancer and have one kidney now..but a couple of people on the forum said you can get your adrenals checked by a 24hr saliva test and that's the route I'm going to go because I heard HORROR stories of how sick people get from that stim test. That's the last thing I need. My Endo wanted me to have that test done awhile ago and never mentioned it again. I've heard it's a terrible test that makes you very sick...what kind of sick?

Thank you. Also, this isn't the Dr's forum...but there are many people on this site who have experience in alot of thyroid, adrenal issues, etc. Hopefully, someone will chime in. Best of luck to you! Hopefully, we will all feel better one day!!!