HC Libido

[brandO]

Has anyone found HC(cortef) to lower libido?

[hardasnails1973]

most likely other factors are involved with this issue.

[brandO]

like what HAN? my libido seems to be a bit down, more than usuall since startin cortef

[garcia]

Has anyone found HC(cortef) to lower libido?

Yes definitely. When I started cortef my libido dropped to the lowest its ever been, which was one of the things which got me thinking about TRT (not that I want a libido per se, but just taking it as a possible indicator of androgen deficiency).

[brandO]

i have found this to be somewhat common in men who start HC is a drop in a libido...

did your libido eventually return?

[pmgamer18]

How did you start on the cortef if you started at a BIG dose this can happen. I started with 2.5 mgs and went up every 5 days 2.5 mgs so the first 2.5 to start was in the morning then the 2nd at noon when I went up to the 3rd. it was at dinner always take it with food. Every 5 days I added 2.5 mgs until I was doing 5 mgs 4x's a day never lost any libido.

Today I do 10mgs at 5am then at 9am I do 5mgs and at 1pm I do 10mgs then at 6pm I do 5mgs. For a total of 30 mgs a day.

I am secondary and my brain does not tell my adrenals to make cortisol. I tired 20 mgs for a good 6 months with my armour but did not feel all that great so we went up to 25mgs this helped but when we went up to 30 mgs that did the trick.

[JanSz]

How did you start on the cortef if you started at a BIG dose this can happen. I started with 2.5 mgs and went up every 5 days 2.5 mgs so the first 2.5 to start was in the morning then the 2nd at noon when I went up to the 3rd. it was at dinner always take it with food. Every 5 days I added 2.5 mgs until I was doing 5 mgs 4x's a day never lost any libido.

Today I do 10mgs at 5am then at 9am I do 5mgs and at 1pm I do 10mgs then at 6pm I do 5mgs. For a total of 30 mgs a day.

I am secondary and my brain does not tell my adrenals to make cortisol. I tired 20 mgs for a good 6 months with my armour but did not feel all that great so we went up to 25mgs this helped but when we went up to 30 mgs that did the trick.

You doing your 30mg/day as every 4hrs:

10+5+10+5

what is the reason for having second dose 5mg
I think more often I have seen:

10+10+5+5


Is this schedule a
doctor advised
experimentally found as giving better results

??

[brandO]

i started at 10mg.

[researchin]

most likely other factors are involved with this issue.

1 thing i suspect is:

His brain hasn't started pushing down his own cortisol production a bit at the times he takes it. so when he takes the pill it spikes his cortisol massively temporarily, pushing down testosterone


?

cortisol can push down T

[brandO]

if this is true, will things rebalance ?

[pmgamer18]

As you know I am retired and still wake at 5am so I do my meds and T or HCG shots at this time. I then go back to bed and get up at 8am doing this I feel much better when I get up the 5mgs at 9am with food is to hold me over until lunch at 1pm. Yes this was my Dr.'s idea.

Starting at 10mgs is to much and can make you feel like crap if you have a thyroid dump. You need cortisol to carry the thyroid hormone out of the blood into the cells if your low on it and take 10mgs to start this can dump a lot of thyroid into your cells.

I never heard of anyone taking HC and having it add to there own cortisol. If you have AF taking HC slows down the ACTH much like T slows down LH and your adrenals don't work as much this helps them heal and rest.

My Dr. has me take my morning 10mgs in the morning before labs to be sure I am not doing to much.

You doing your 30mg/day as every 4hrs:

10+5+10+5

what is the reason for having second dose 5mg
I think more often I have seen:

10+10+5+5


Is this schedule a
doctor advised
experimentally found as giving better results

??

[researchin]

I never heard of anyone taking HC and having it add to there own cortisol. If you have AF taking HC slows down the ACTH much like T slows down LH and your adrenals don't work as much this helps them heal and rest.

but, how long does that take to happen?

Provided it can take up to a year for the ACTH to wakeup after dropping cortisol, I can only assume it's going to take some time to push the ACTH down.

What if "thyroid dumps" are just this, the body having too much cortisol?

[Matty]

From my experience on HC, it slammed by DHEA to the floor (wasn't great to begin with but...). Without supplementing DHEA (while on HC), could this not foreseeably lead to lesser sex hormones?

[researchin]

From my experience on HC, it slammed by DHEA to the floor (wasn't great to begin with but...). Without supplementing DHEA (while on HC), could this not foreseeably lead to lesser sex hormones?

Good find, maybe that's it.

Speaking of HC. Are we basically the only 2 people who've taken it and gotten off?

Reading other forums where HC is more often used by members, I can't recall even 1 person successfully get off of it.

[brandO]

i agree researchin, im finding out a hard time finding people go off HC.. it seems like unless your not seriously changing your lifestyle, your adrenal fatigue will just come back once you wean off...

but actually libido has returned somewhat today..

im going to switch to 7keto DHEA and TD DHEA

[researchin]

i agree researchin, im finding out a hard time finding people go off HC.. it seems like unless your not seriously changing your lifestyle, your adrenal fatigue will just come back once you wean off...

but actually libido has returned somewhat today..

im going to switch to 7keto DHEA and TD DHEA

Correct.

My experience of getting off cortisol is night and day with others stories. I can see they are going to crash again very soon. I believe the reason was my diet change to be more hardcore, and remove bread for long periods of time, but honestly who knows...

Of note, my libido and morning woods happened more frequently once OFF cortisol.

I bet if I did a saliva test today, I'd need cortisol it would say, but my scores are likely much better than they were before starting. The lower scores may also be attributed to my ACTH being weakened my prolonged HC usage.

[brandO]

how long were you on HC and at what dosages?

what was your ATCH, whats the protocol for weakened ATCH?

why do you think morning woods returned once going off HC?

[researchin]

how long were you on HC and at what dosages?


almost 1 year, at 10mg a day. 5mg morning, 5mg noon.



what was your ATCH?


Never tested. I know, bad idea. But, I did Saliva testing, and I basically had no cortisol, near highest or highest stage severity, BEFORE starting.



why do you think morning woods returned once going off HC?

good question. something triggered, definitely, once off of it.

HC is great stuff, I wish I could be on it rest of my life, but it definitely is just a bandaid and likely has detrimental effects of some sort over long periods of time. Look ASAP into why you need it and correct whatever the root cause is while you have time.

DHEA or how it plays with Testosterone may be a factor.

[wondering]

can you provide ANY evidence whatsoever that a dose this low has ANY negative effects over a year, two years?


almost 1 year, at 10mg a day. 5mg morning, 5mg noon.



Never tested. I know, bad idea. But, I did Saliva testing, and I basically had no cortisol, near highest or highest stage severity, BEFORE starting.



good question. something triggered, definitely, once off of it.

HC is great stuff, I wish I could be on it rest of my life, but it definitely is just a bandaid and likely has detrimental effects of some sort over long periods of time. Look ASAP into why you need it and correct whatever the root cause is while you have time.

DHEA or how it plays with Testosterone may be a factor.

[researchin]

can you provide ANY evidence whatsoever that a dose this low has ANY negative effects over a year, two years?

yes, I can. the evidence is myself

hahaha

really, I can't be convinced otherwise (that cortisol is somehow harmless) after experiencing it

[brandO]

research how much thyroid medicine u on? and are you on hcg yet?>

at least you were able togo off cortef, but from what i heard is most people 10mg does nothing and most males need closer to 30mg to allow the adrenals to heal

[chilln]

Good find, maybe that's it.

Speaking of HC. Are we basically the only 2 people who've taken it and gotten off?

Reading other forums where HC is more often used by members, I can't recall even 1 person successfully get off of it.

You can't get off HC (hyrdrocortisone) or Cortef until you either:

a) reduce your physical and/or mental stressors
or
b) boost either your GH (growth hormone) or your T (testosterone) to the level which will heal the amount of daily damage you want to do to your body.

Make your choice and live with it.

[brandO]

In our world, choice: A; seems to be extremely difficult unless your a millionaire and can sit on a sandy beach all day.

[pmgamer18]

Chilln is on the money about this if your suffering AF and catch it soon enough going on a life change in most will fix this with out HC. But if you need HC doing 10 mgs for most makes it worse. You need about 5 mgs 4 times a day to support your adrenals. Change your life style and in 6 months wean off it to see how your feeling.

I need to be on this for life being Hypopituitary but of all the men I have talked at the Thyroid forum never heard of any getting ED from Cortef most have ED before finding out about AF and Thyroid and fixing this with Cortef, Armour and changing there way of life there ED went away.

Problem most have AF for so long before finding it out that they can't be fixed and need HC for life.

[brandO]

PM so your saying 10mg willl do nothing and you need at least 20mg maybe for 6months to try to wean off?

Have you tried weaning off before?

[Matty]

In our world, choice: A; seems to be extremely difficult unless your a millionaire and can sit on a sandy beach all day.

That's not true.

Depends on where you 'were' at in life when your adrenals took a collapse and where you 'are' when you go off HC. In terms of lifestyle...

I will give you an example - I had a crazy lifestyle that led to my complete adrenal collapse. No sleep, no eat, drugs, alcohol, vigorous exercise skateboarding, etc… my adrenals went down, so did my thyroid, etc. I tried changing my lifestyle over the next few years, sometimes very aggressively with diet, rest, routine, etc. Nothing worked, if anything I was getting worse.

I found being on HC for 6+ months helped me kickstart both the adrenals and thyroid however. Not anywhere near back to 100%, but far better than I was without it. After going off both, I didn’t crash because I had a jump on the new lifestyle, and when push comes to shove my adrenals did get some rest and my thyroid symptoms weren’t half as bad as they were.

My point is sometimes hitting bottom of the barrel means you can’t kickstart the adrenals on pure lifestyle changes. But HC combined with lifestyle changes is probably your best bet to move forward. And you don't need to be rich, you just need to be conservative, routine, eat, think, and sleep with your health in mind. LIke we should have to begin with. :)

[wondering]

this is contrary to what Dr. J has often posted.


Chilln is on the money about this if your suffering AF and catch it soon enough going on a life change in most will fix this with out HC. But if you need HC doing 10 mgs for most makes it worse. You need about 5 mgs 4 times a day to support your adrenals. Change your life style and in 6 months wean off it to see how your feeling.

I need to be on this for life being Hypopituitary but of all the men I have talked at the Thyroid forum never heard of any getting ED from Cortef most have ED before finding out about AF and Thyroid and fixing this with Cortef, Armour and changing there way of life there ED went away.

Problem most have AF for so long before finding it out that they can't be fixed and need HC for life.

[wondering]

that isn't evidence.


yes, I can. the evidence is myself

hahaha

really, I can't be convinced otherwise (that cortisol is somehow harmless) after experiencing it

[Matty]

this is contrary to what Dr. J has often posted.

10MG in the morning if needed. Otherwise broken up into smaller amounts.

I used to do 10/5/5/5/5 - 10 as soon as I woke, and 5 every 2 hours thereafter or spreadout accordingly for a longer day.

I did a saliva lab on that protocol and it turned out to be a perfect rhythm in fact.

Prior to HC my saliva lab showed flatlined across the 4 intervals of the day.
So the protocol I mentioned above seemed to work great for me.

[pmgamer18]

No I can't I am Hypopituitary but in the hosp. when I come out of ICU they forgot to give me my Cortef by the 3rd. day I was shaking so bad I could not feed my self. My wife asked the to show her the meds they were giving me and found they messed up on them and I was not even getting my T shots.

Some did ok on 10 mgs 1cc did it but most don't you need to take enough to support your adrenals so they can rest and heal.



PM so your saying 10mg willl do nothing and you need at least 20mg maybe for 6months to try to wean off?

Have you tried weaning off before?

[JanSz]

In our world, choice: A; seems to be extremely difficult unless your a millionaire and can sit on a sandy beach all day.

I think you have made assumption that you are supposed to own the beach before you are able to enjoy it.

.
.

[JanSz]

No I can't I am Hypopituitary but in the hosp. when I come out of ICU they forgot to give me my Cortef by the 3rd. day I was shaking so bad I could not feed my self. My wife asked the to show her the meds they were giving me and found they messed up on them and I was not even getting my T shots.

Some did ok on 10 mgs 1cc did it but most don't you need to take enough to support your adrenals so they can rest and heal.

One of these days I will make a dog tag with my daily and EOD routines.

Anybody knows of reliable place to make such a dog-tag?

[pmgamer18]

You should have a Medic Alert bracelet from medicalert.org
for things that are to save your life.

Toll free number in the USA is: by phone 7 days a week, 24 hours a day: 888-633-4298
209-668-3333 from outside the U.S

The above is from this link.
http://www.cushings-help.com/911.htm

I also keep a card with me on all the meds I take.


One of these days I will make a dog tag with my daily and EOD routines.

Anybody knows of reliable place to make such a dog-tag?

[researchin]

that isn't evidence.

I'd say it definitely is

I've read in pubmed and other places horror stories about cortisol, and seen psychological changes in others, but I realize since I don't have the links that I have to rely on my own experience.

Plain and simple, it's not like Testosterone or Growth Hormone.

While someone can have a bad trip on TRT because it may turn into Estrogens or whatever, Cortisol shouldn't be doing the same.

We're to expect someone taking cortisol should definitely feel better and not get worse in any way, as long as their dosage is low.

However, with myself, getting off cortisol and seeing many factors improve and also realizing the state of mind off cortisol is superior to being on cortisol leads me to believe with little evidence (although it's still evidence), that cortisol usage over time has some definite cons to it unless you're "Hypopituitary " like pmgamer.

I notice that pmgamer doesn't exhibit any of the phenomena in myself or others I've seen use cortisol when not "Hypopituitary".

Perhaps I should've qualified my statement with "and I don't think I'm the only one based on internet forum observations".

[researchin]

research how much thyroid medicine u on? and are you on hcg yet?>

at least you were able togo off cortef, but from what i heard is most people 10mg does nothing and most males need closer to 30mg to allow the adrenals to heal

I'm on 1.5 grains now.

Since my adrenals have healed, I've needed 1 grain less to achieve the same thyroid blood test scores. This correlates perfectly to Matty's story. Sometimes I wonder if we have the same root causes ? I also did marijuana, stayed up late, extreme exercise, didn't eat properly for a few years.

Anyway...

I don't take HCG yet, but I probably should. My LH & FSH are near 0. In fact, FSH is undetectable now :/

[brandO]

research my case is very similar yours and mattys.

[researchin]

research my case is very similar yours and mattys.

hmm, we should keep an eye on each other and see what works/doesn't work on us

[brandO]

im on 2grains armour and just started HC 10mg..

im going to try Dermacine for TD DHEA...

theres a chance i'll begin HCG, go up to 2.5grains armour and go to 20mg Cortef