Aa
info on Growth Hormone Replacement
I have a damaged pituitary and Hashi's. My Growth Hormone blood test is 0.03 [0.01-8.00] I'm a 49yr old female, abnormal on all sex hormones. What is the normal for someone my age? I asked the doc if I need replacement GH and he says he doesn't know. When I called the ins. company about coverage, they asked for a diagnosis and treatment code, and I don't know these. Are there tests that you have to take in order to prove that your pituitary can't be stimulated to make this? How do I proceed, as the doc isn't pursuing this?
Any info would be appreciated!
Any info would be appreciated!
There is actually a breed of cat that has 6 toes - and it is a genetic not um inbred thing, but an actual trait. I know my one cousin only wants 6 toed cats and only gets them! They are manx (so have no tail as well) and so somewhere in your cat's catting around, she hooked up with a manx...
I don't know how to crochet. I do some chain maille - so I knit metal.
My cats just lay around where I don't want them (they have somehow thought the dining room table makes the best bed and I put the cloth there just for them to play, sleep and chew on - rat b@$tard$. But they are cute and keep be company.
I don't know how to crochet. I do some chain maille - so I knit metal.
My cats just lay around where I don't want them (they have somehow thought the dining room table makes the best bed and I put the cloth there just for them to play, sleep and chew on - rat b@$tard$. But they are cute and keep be company.
the report said my hiatal hernia was small, too---but it gives me horrible problems. i can't even lean over to make my bed, sometimes, without whatever is in my stomach coming up. Spicy foods don't bother my hernia at all, but i don't eat very many spicy foods, either. The worst part for me is when my food gets stuck.
I don't feel like I do much either--I just kind of sit in my rocking chair and feel guilty that I'm not doing something----I feel better about sitting if I have a crochet project to work on......I water my flower pots--but I do my best to ignore the cats. We just got rid of all but 2 of our cats----and the momma got fixed. She has deformed front legs and kept having mutant kittens----somewhere back in the years, when we lived out of town, we had a 6-toed cat, among our numerous cats---and I think they got a little too inbred-----the six-toed thing took on a life of it's own........
I
I don't feel like I do much either--I just kind of sit in my rocking chair and feel guilty that I'm not doing something----I feel better about sitting if I have a crochet project to work on......I water my flower pots--but I do my best to ignore the cats. We just got rid of all but 2 of our cats----and the momma got fixed. She has deformed front legs and kept having mutant kittens----somewhere back in the years, when we lived out of town, we had a 6-toed cat, among our numerous cats---and I think they got a little too inbred-----the six-toed thing took on a life of it's own........
I
I had those tests and the radioactive egg sandwich too... I have a bit of a slow empty. The food was gross. In the end, all my tests were borderline. It was awful. I have a small hiatal hernia it only bothers me if I eat really spicy food and I don't do that often at all. Or stress.
I don't feel like I do much at all - I water my plants, weed - harass my cats...my tomatoes are dying and my cukes are starting to die too - I tried to pickle for the first time!
I don't feel like I do much at all - I water my plants, weed - harass my cats...my tomatoes are dying and my cukes are starting to die too - I tried to pickle for the first time!
I have a hiatal hernia. I carried a set of twins when i was 28 and that is when I started having the pain from it. My hcest would hurt really bad, all the way through to my back, up to my neck, and it would even make my teeth hurt sometimes. I did not know what was causing it at first, but one of my docs finally figured out I had reflux.
Before the reflux, I used to get a stabbing pain in my gut, my doc said it was either gastritis or that I was getting an ulcer. I was treated with a PPI for it and it went away. The reflux problems came some time after that,
I had suspected for years that I probably had a hiatal hernia, but had never been told that I did----i finalla got a copy of all my records from the surgeon a couple of years ago---and read in the report that he said I had a small hiatal hernia. i sure the pressure pussing up on my diaphragm when I carrried my twins caused it.
The surgeon tried to tell me 15 years ago that i needed surgery, but I didn't want to do it, so he gave me the medication. He told me that as young as I was and as bad as my symptoms were, it was just a matter of time before I would have to have the surgery. I remember him telling me that esophageal cancer is a bad way to go.
I have had two shotzsky's rings that had to be broken during two different esophgeal dilation procedures. the last time i had a dlilation, i just had really bad esophageal reflux---but I also had a lot of eosinophils in my esophagus.
I do get some stomach pain sometimes, but it seems to be getting better. Usually, it is firts thing in the morning. I take that first deep cleasning breath---and it feels like a knife stab in my gut, but seems to go away fairly quick. I know low cortisol can cause stomach pain, Hydrocortisone can also be hard on your stomach. i'm not sure which one of the two has caused my pain. Since it is getting better, I'm leaning toward thinking it was the low cortisol causing it---I'm not taking a PPI right now. My cortisol has been raised to 30 mgs a day---and I usually try to take food with it---or eat something shortly after I take it.
Gastroparesis is actually what it sounds like, paresis, which is paralysis of the stomach muscles. You sound more like you have delayed gastric emtying. Erythromycin is also given to help with delayed gastric emtying. It does not have the orential side effects that reglan does.
If it were me, I would go ahead and have the delayed gastric emtying tests done. I would want to know if it was really my stomach that was causing the slow digestion---or if it is something further down the line causing things to back up---which can cause or worsen reflux. Ex-lax won't do anything to help the stomach digest---it is just an intestinal stimulant to make the muscles in the intestines contract to move food waste out---however, the effects should not last for 3 days---sounds like something else happened after you took it.
My daughter once wrote a story about her "radioactive egg sandwich". She was nauseated all the time, had really bad reflux and diarhhea. They gave her an egg sandwhich with whatever the contrast material was, cooked into it. She ate it, then they took an x-ray every so often to see if her stomach was emtying at a proper rate----it was no big deal.
My daughter actually had celiac disease, as does her identical twin sister and my next daughter down.
I have two suggestions you might think about with your stomach and reflux problems. You could try taking digestive enzymes if you feel your digestion is slow. i don't take them---but I have heard that alot of people feel like they help. You could also try taking pro-biotics to make sure you have the proper bacteria in your gut and intestines.
The other suggestion is that you get tested for celiac disease. It is actually much more common than they used to think. But, you need to make sure you have the right tests done. You need to have a total IgA serum test and a Ttg IgA test. Ttg stands for tissue transglutaminate. If a person has celiac disease, their Ttg levels will rise according to the amount of intestinal damage they have. It would be HIGHLY unlikely to have Ttg antibodies in your system unless you have celiac disease. The other things that can cause them are pretty rare------like having had an organ transplant, for one.
You might also have a scope done with biopsies to see how bad your reflux esophagitis is, whether or not you have eosinophils and whether or not you might have esophageal thrush. They could also biopsy your stomach for gastritis and eosinophils and your small intestine for inflammation, eosinophils, and celiac----although celiac damage can be patchy and not always show up with a biopsy.
I'm not sure what to think about having all hormones replaced at once---sometimes correcting one problem will take care of another problem and less medication is needed. i know my doctor has said that I have to be patient. He said it can take up to two years to balance the endocrine system. Once it is balanced, quite often the amounts of supplements and hormones can be lowered and he likes to keep prescription medication to a minimum.
Also, There are alot of other things that need to be tested besides hormones that can affect how well your endocrine system is balanced. I have had tests run on me that I have never heard of. Some of the tests are done on a cellular level. One example---instead of just testing my magnesium, he tested my magnesium RBC---red blood cell. It tells him what is actually going on, magnesium-wise, in the blood cell itself, not just in the whole blood serum.
Also, some of the vitamins and nutrients we take either work synergistically and need to be taken together, or they compete for absorption, and need to be taken at different times.
gotta run and get ready for church!!
Before the reflux, I used to get a stabbing pain in my gut, my doc said it was either gastritis or that I was getting an ulcer. I was treated with a PPI for it and it went away. The reflux problems came some time after that,
I had suspected for years that I probably had a hiatal hernia, but had never been told that I did----i finalla got a copy of all my records from the surgeon a couple of years ago---and read in the report that he said I had a small hiatal hernia. i sure the pressure pussing up on my diaphragm when I carrried my twins caused it.
The surgeon tried to tell me 15 years ago that i needed surgery, but I didn't want to do it, so he gave me the medication. He told me that as young as I was and as bad as my symptoms were, it was just a matter of time before I would have to have the surgery. I remember him telling me that esophageal cancer is a bad way to go.
I have had two shotzsky's rings that had to be broken during two different esophgeal dilation procedures. the last time i had a dlilation, i just had really bad esophageal reflux---but I also had a lot of eosinophils in my esophagus.
I do get some stomach pain sometimes, but it seems to be getting better. Usually, it is firts thing in the morning. I take that first deep cleasning breath---and it feels like a knife stab in my gut, but seems to go away fairly quick. I know low cortisol can cause stomach pain, Hydrocortisone can also be hard on your stomach. i'm not sure which one of the two has caused my pain. Since it is getting better, I'm leaning toward thinking it was the low cortisol causing it---I'm not taking a PPI right now. My cortisol has been raised to 30 mgs a day---and I usually try to take food with it---or eat something shortly after I take it.
Gastroparesis is actually what it sounds like, paresis, which is paralysis of the stomach muscles. You sound more like you have delayed gastric emtying. Erythromycin is also given to help with delayed gastric emtying. It does not have the orential side effects that reglan does.
If it were me, I would go ahead and have the delayed gastric emtying tests done. I would want to know if it was really my stomach that was causing the slow digestion---or if it is something further down the line causing things to back up---which can cause or worsen reflux. Ex-lax won't do anything to help the stomach digest---it is just an intestinal stimulant to make the muscles in the intestines contract to move food waste out---however, the effects should not last for 3 days---sounds like something else happened after you took it.
My daughter once wrote a story about her "radioactive egg sandwich". She was nauseated all the time, had really bad reflux and diarhhea. They gave her an egg sandwhich with whatever the contrast material was, cooked into it. She ate it, then they took an x-ray every so often to see if her stomach was emtying at a proper rate----it was no big deal.
My daughter actually had celiac disease, as does her identical twin sister and my next daughter down.
I have two suggestions you might think about with your stomach and reflux problems. You could try taking digestive enzymes if you feel your digestion is slow. i don't take them---but I have heard that alot of people feel like they help. You could also try taking pro-biotics to make sure you have the proper bacteria in your gut and intestines.
The other suggestion is that you get tested for celiac disease. It is actually much more common than they used to think. But, you need to make sure you have the right tests done. You need to have a total IgA serum test and a Ttg IgA test. Ttg stands for tissue transglutaminate. If a person has celiac disease, their Ttg levels will rise according to the amount of intestinal damage they have. It would be HIGHLY unlikely to have Ttg antibodies in your system unless you have celiac disease. The other things that can cause them are pretty rare------like having had an organ transplant, for one.
You might also have a scope done with biopsies to see how bad your reflux esophagitis is, whether or not you have eosinophils and whether or not you might have esophageal thrush. They could also biopsy your stomach for gastritis and eosinophils and your small intestine for inflammation, eosinophils, and celiac----although celiac damage can be patchy and not always show up with a biopsy.
I'm not sure what to think about having all hormones replaced at once---sometimes correcting one problem will take care of another problem and less medication is needed. i know my doctor has said that I have to be patient. He said it can take up to two years to balance the endocrine system. Once it is balanced, quite often the amounts of supplements and hormones can be lowered and he likes to keep prescription medication to a minimum.
Also, There are alot of other things that need to be tested besides hormones that can affect how well your endocrine system is balanced. I have had tests run on me that I have never heard of. Some of the tests are done on a cellular level. One example---instead of just testing my magnesium, he tested my magnesium RBC---red blood cell. It tells him what is actually going on, magnesium-wise, in the blood cell itself, not just in the whole blood serum.
Also, some of the vitamins and nutrients we take either work synergistically and need to be taken together, or they compete for absorption, and need to be taken at different times.
gotta run and get ready for church!!
I'm so sorry for all your pain! Like Kevieb, you are a very strong person to be able to do all that you do. I'm pretty much, non functional and barely leave home, can't even push a sweeper and my motivation is not there any longer. Very little sleep and food, the pain have done me in. I believe if I could get the digestion and sleep in order, I'd be a new person. I will have not given up in getting the right treatment, though. Just don't do much else.
Keep hanging on!
Keep hanging on!
Wanted to let you know that I am reading how perimenopause, other hormonal imbalances can be the cause of the digestive upset. So, hopefully once the hormones are balanced, it will stop. I'm going to go to another source, away from the Endo, to get help with my hormones. I can't tolerate waiting years, one hormone at a time, do be find relief. This place does saliva testing to treat with bioidentical hormones, all them replaced at once, and go by symptoms to adjust them. They do cortisol and thyroid too. I will be working with one of their doc's.
I'm so sorry that you feel so crappy. You are very strong to be able to manage your big family and all that goes long with it. The lack of sleep alone could knock someone off their feet. Your esophagus issues sound just awful! I hope you get the help you need. If you aren't keep looking elsewhere.
I'm so sorry that you feel so crappy. You are very strong to be able to manage your big family and all that goes long with it. The lack of sleep alone could knock someone off their feet. Your esophagus issues sound just awful! I hope you get the help you need. If you aren't keep looking elsewhere.
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