About Us
Name: Chris
- Username: Chris Jackson
- Postion: Moderator of the Hypopituitary forum
Hi, I'm Chris and I live in St. Louis, Missouri. You may have seen me on Yahoo groups under ChrisHollyJackson and MSN groups under Chrisgj. That picture on the left is what I looked like the first day with the doc that helped me (sept 03). The pic is to small to give impact, but I looked pretty bad. Here is a link to my story on the supplement site. http://www.geocities.com/chrisgj@sbcglobal.net/My_story_page_1.html This also has links to more recent pictures of me. I look a lot better today.
It only took 2 years to find this doc (practises environmental medicine). I had seen my primary, gastro, neuro and two endos first. Don't be shy, go ahead and post a question, someone has to go first.
A little background on me. I got hypopit from a head injury when I was 1 yr old. It took until I was 36 to figure out my life long problems are from the the head injury (car accident, hit face into dashboard, problems started soon after).
I have been found to be very low in ACTH, TSH, LH and FSH. I also have hyporeninemic (low renin) hypoaldosteronism which is what those with secondary adrenal insufficiency tend to get (primaries will have high renin).
I treat my thyroid (over 2 1/2 years now) with Thyroid-S (I started with Armour). For cortisol replacement methylprednisolone (2 1/2 years), dexamethasone (added a little starting Feb 06, really helps). I take Florinef (2 years) low aldosterone but I get potent glucocorticoid effects, so it replaced some of the Methylprednisolone (1 in 20 get some glucocorticoid potency from florinef, 1 in 40 get significant or full potency), DHEA (off and on the last 2 1/2 years, currently taking 6 mg), For about a year treating with Testosterone Cypionate and HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, is very close in stucture to LH, helps stim testosterone production). I figured out I could use HCG alone and found I do best with without the Testostonerone Cypionate added in.
By the time the environmental doc gave me Medrol and Armour, I had learned so much over the previous 9 months when I had figured out my problems were hormonal, I was poised to treat myself. Luckily I had that in me because I couldn't afford to continue seeing this doc. I even borrowed 2500 from my parents to help me see him. He was great. If you live in or near St. Louis, send me a PM from the forums and I'll give you contact info for him.
I've spent in my best estimation over 750 hours over 3 1/2 years researching the hormones I take and how to self treat all these hormones and probably another 750 hours over 3 years studying the whole of endocrinology including the pancreas, pineal and thymus glands from a large library of endo med books I've accumulated. This is besides all the hours I spend learning from others on support groups. I've probably posted 12000 times on support groups over the last 3 years. Add to that all the postings I've read and I've spend an enormous amout of time on the groups. Holy Moly!!
I confess I've recently got burned out on all the posting and reading. I am on a couple of dozen groups that I was very active on and several others not so very active. I've cut it down to just the groups I moderate and boy does that take a load off of me. It is amazing to me how much time I've invested in all this hormone stuff and helping others.
Since treating my thyroid I have lost 25 pounds and of course along with other hormones is slowly letting me get my life back.
I'm not a doctor and I don't pretend to be one. Take any advice as just that. Do your own research on any advice you consider and consult your doctor.
Ok, now it's your turn, go ahead and ask your questions and I promise I will answer you.