Low Cortisol, Subclinical Hypothyroidism And Ketarosis Pilaris

Bodhi

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
248
Age
47
Location
Netherlands
Hello my name is Bodhi i'm a 38 year old male from Holland....

2 Years ago i suddenly had rashes on both my upper legs when i Googled what it could be i came to the conclusion i had Ketarosis Pilaris ...

Allot of information on the internet say that this condition is Genetic and occurs with young adults and usually fades when people get older, so why did i get this on my 36th?

There is a website in the Netherlands (the Hormone factor) wich deals with hormone inbalances and there i read there could be connection with this condition and the Thyroid....

So i went to my doctor to check my Thyroid, the averige results (from a 2 year every 3 months blood test was)

TSH 5
T4 13
Anti TPO Neglectable

As far i can remember i always had dry skin especially my legs , and i always considered myself as a high sensitive person, but never thought there could be a connection with my hormones...

After seeing my doctor i told him i suffer from KP, being overwhelmed easily, have dry skin and lack motivation often, he said i could try 0.25mg of Thyrax wich is the lowest dose to see how i go...

When i got home i started to do some more research on Thyroid health and the more i read about it the less eager i was to try the Thyroxine medicine, i learned that allot of people on Synthetic t 4 only medicine stil had allot of health issues so i decided to educate myself a bit more..

The first thing i tried was a OTC Thyroid Glandular supplement for two weeks (i heard about this form an experienced fysician ) who told me to take this for two weeks and see if my Basal Body temp would rise.
My averige body temp has been constant around 36.3 Celcius since i have been monitoring my body tem. for two year now.

So that did not work for me, the next thing i tried was Kelp i took that for 6 months and nothing happend, after that i gave up gluten for 4 months including an intense detox with colonics for 11 days, no clearing up of my skin and blood test still the same...

After more an more studying i came to the conslusion that it could be my adrenals, because suddenly i remembered i had been a part time vegetarian trying to avoid fats since puberty..

So lets say about 8 months form here ago i started a Conscious Low Carb diet with lots of veg. and Fish and Gluten Free... And really focusing on getting good fats, like Ghee and Coconot oil, and broths etc..

Still not feeling or seeing my skin improving i went to a Famous hormone doctor in Holland called dr Mussarella. (Before i went to him i had an extended intestinal check up , with no parasites or bacteria found and a good flora balance, good PH, good Imune response etc. No candida)

He tooks some blood and i got to do some urine tests and Cortisol /DHEA saliva test
Results :

Low Magnesium
Low Selenium
Low Zinc

Free T3 3.19 (ref. 2.1-4.2)
Reverse T 3 0.40 (ref. 0.14-0.54)
Anti thyroglobuline 122 ref. should be under 60

Cortisol (8Hours) 5.7 Ref (7-25)
DHEA 378 Ref 140-530
Testosterone 30 Ref 7-25
Pregnenlone 1.94 Ref 1.17-7.72
Aldosteron 1.9 Ref 2.8-30

So according to this doctor i suffer from Low Cortisol an my Thyroid Anti bodies might be elevated due to high iodine intake.
The treatment plan :

Keep on going gluten free
Take Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium.
Give up iodine (to see if Thyroid Anti Bodies wil go down )
Take herbal adrenal supplements (contain the B 's for adrenals) plus Adrenal glandular tablets to increase Cortisol..
I also take high dose of vit C, Celtic sea salt water, Fish oils, B-12 (High dose sublingual)

I have been taking the above for 2 months.. the only thing i'notice is that i'm quite clear,high energy wise but is still feel extremely overwhelmed when is go shopping, the light, the colours, the noise etc.
Ans my skin is still dry and KP like...

My doc. said that if this wont help we will try Pegnenolone...


My questions to you are:

I read allot about Adrenal Glandulars is it true that you van treat Low Cortisol with them and why do allot of Adrenal fatique suffers use them with succes while allot of people say you should use Adrenal Cortex to treat Low Cortisol????

If my Cortisol levels increase will my Reverse T3 Fall and then will my T3 be better absorbed by my cells an thus decrease my TSH levels???

How is it possible to have good DHEA levels and even a high Testosterone level and such low Pregnenelone???

I mean u need to have Cholesterol to make Pregnenelone right? And from Pregnenelone , DHEA, Testosterone is formed, now my cortisol and my aldosterone is low...

I'm afaid that if i will take Pregnenelone that my Testosterone will get to high, is it possible to use Preg. to increase Cortisol and Aldosterone Without affecting my DHEA and Testosterone???

Thanks you so much for your advice !

Hope to find a solution to my :

Dry skin, Ketarosis Pilaris
Bad short memory
Hard to focus and concentrate
Lack of motivation
Feeling stressed and Overwelmed easily...

Note:

Im have good body weight
Warm hands and feet when sleeping an waking up, bit more coldduring the day but not bad..
No hairs falling out, good nails...

Regards

Bodhi
 

marsaday

Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
481
Pregnenalone is good to use, but i may be tempted to try progesterone first. 20mcg transdermal. It really improves thyroid function. It is made from pregnenalone and then breaks down into aldosterone and cortisol. It can also raise testosterone.

Your aldosterone is low. Do you pee a lot ?

I would google progesterone for men.

If these hormones dont help i would then look at using some T4 or T3 thyroid medication.

Iodine can aggravate thyroid antibodies and then set off hashi's illness. The japanese consume a lot of seaweed which is high in iodine and they have very high levels of hashis.
 
OP
Bodhi

Bodhi

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
248
Age
47
Location
Netherlands
Yes I pee allot, but i also Drink allot...

You said Progesterone can raise Testosterone this is wat i'm not aiming for since my Testosteron is allready high....
 

arinryan

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Messages
47
If its really keratosis pilaris, I would try sun bathing. I get it every winter (I am 39) on my arms and it goes away after a month or so of going out in the sun with sleeveless shirts. Then, the next winter, it comes back...:(

I think pregnenolone has definitely had a calming, desensitizing effect on me. Also on my husband. I think its best to take early in the day, it helps best with sleep to dose that way.
 

HDD

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
2,075
So according to this doctor i suffer from Low Cortisol an my Thyroid Anti bodies might be elevated due to high iodine intake.
The treatment plan :

Keep on going gluten free
Take Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium.
Give up iodine (to see if Thyroid Anti Bodies wil go down )
Take herbal adrenal supplements (contain the B 's for adrenals) plus Adrenal glandular tablets to increase Cortisol..
I also take high dose of vit C, Celtic sea salt water, Fish oils, B-12 (High dose sublingual)"

Are you still taking iodine and fish oils?

You might want to read this article-
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fishoil.shtml
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
:welcome Bodhi

I have no experience or special knowledge about KP. But I have some ideas. In general, I think it is usually good to make sure you have a reasonably sound nutritional basis before getting too carried away with hormonal supplements. Sometimes the food is enough to make a difference in itself, but it is needed anyway to support good use of supplemented hormones. Sometimes dealing with general metabolism sorts out specific issues, so that's what I'll comment on.

Making sure you are getting B vitamins, Mg, Zn, Se all seem like a good idea, though some formulations have a lot of unhelpful junk in them. Getting as much as you can from food is good, but sometimes it's hard to get enough that way, and supplements sometimes help.
Vitamin A also seems to often be implicated in skin issues.
Oysters are one of the richest sources of zinc.
Orange juice and well cooked greens and coffee all supply Mg.
Fruit in general also brings with it soem potassium, which is necessary for good blood sugar metabolism.
Seafood from the sea tends to have selenium. Avoid oily fish and go for non-oily fish and shelll fish. (Inland farmed fish and shellfish is likely to not have as much of all the minerals as sea grown.)
Beef or lamb liver is one of the richest sources of vit-A and copper, as well supplying lots of other goodies.

Peat usually recommends fairly high calcium intake, and more calcium than phosphorus, for many reasons including helping to keep hormones in a good balanced. Milk is a good source unless you have particular difficulty with it.

I hope you have started to eat a reasonable amount of carbs again? If you are not eating enough carbs, then that could contribute to many problems.
Are you getting a reasonable amount of protein, eg at least 100g?
And a reasonable amount of overall calories, eg about 3000?

For me, getting the timing right to avoid blood sugar dips helps a lot with concentration and memory, etc.

I second arinryan's suggestion to try sunbathing. If there is not enough sun, see if you can get some strong red light from artificial sources, eg strong incandescents on as much of your skin as you can for a while every day.

According to Peat, the fish oil is likely to be destructive. I'd recommend his article on it: http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fishoil.shtml. In general, the lower you can get your intake of polyunsaturated fats, the better, both omega 3 and omega 6. Peat has other articles on oils too, which I'd recommend if you haven't already read them.
Peat also tends to recommend to salt with NaCl as pure as possible, avoiding naturally grey or pink salts as well as salts with other additives. He uses and recommends a pure pickling salt.

It's usually fine to drink according to thirst, but if you are peeing clear or having to get up in the night much it is probably too much. Some people do well with more salt. Eat as much salt as tastes good to you.

There are more things you could try if you want, but that's quite a few. :)
 

schultz

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Messages
2,653
I used to have keratosis pilaris but it went away when I started eating liver regularly. It hasn't come back since.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
schultz said:
I used to have keratosis pilaris but it went away when I started eating liver regularly. It hasn't come back since.
Nice.
 

lebanesegirl

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Messages
13
I have the exact same symptoms as you OP, I resonate and identify with every single word you wrote, and coincidentally also had a 3 year period in my formative teen years when I was a strict vegan.

"Dry skin, Ketarosis Pilaris
Bad short memory
Hard to focus and concentrate
Lack of motivation
Feeling stressed and Overwelmed easily."

I don't take any supplements, I never have so I don't really know what to start with and haven't had any blood tests done. If you've experienced any improvement I'd be incredibly grateful to hear about it. Wishing you good health!
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom