Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient production of thyrohormone by the thyroid gland. There are several distinct causes for chronic hypothyroidism, the most common being Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism following radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Advanced hypothyroidism may cause severe complications, the most serious one of which is...

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Adrenal supplement question?

franda123
franda123
Hi,
I had a doctor appt. last night and my doc wants me to try a supplement called PURE adrenal or I could have been prescribed cortef. She thinks the thyroid meds aren't getting in me. I had a saliva test and one of the levels was borderline low. Also Dhea is very low. She wants me to start that as well. Does anyone have experience with the adrenal meds, issues and Dhea supplements such as side effects etc?I'm nervous to start anything new as I dont want to feel worse. I'm pretty disappointed because I thought I would just be increasing the thyroid meds until I was at top of range but she wants to try this for a while.
Thanks,
Fran
MButterfly
MButterfly
If you have adrenal issues, they really should be addressed asap. It can be a really rough ride with thyroid med increases if you have adrenal issues, and can be somewhat dangerous.

We have a member here who white-knuckled it through thyroid increases while he had addison's disease...I think he'd tell you it was awful!

I don't have adrenal issues, but others here do. I'm sure they'll be glad to help.
22Lynn
22Lynn
I was Dx'd with both at the same time about 18 years ago. I can't remember what I heard about PURE, brain fog, sorry. I'll google it next.

I'm not a doctor, so I really can't say if you should go on the steroid, Cortef, or just do the PURE. What I can tell you is that if you start the steroids you run a good chance of slowly shutting down your adrenals and then you are on steroids for life. It really depends on if they think they can get your adrenals up and running again. My GI doctor took 9 months off work trying to rest and get her adrenals going again. It didn't work for her.

I've heard people feel much better on the DHEA if it's low. If the doctor said to take that I would.

Also go to stopthethyroidmadness.com and look at the symptoms. They cover both thyroid and adrenal. See if you have any adrenal symptoms big enough to worry you and then talk to the doctor and see what your options are. Addison's is a very serious disease to have. I would try really hard to stay off the steroids and try to get your adrenals back to functioning. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck.