Originally Posted by
thisAngelBites
Ok, so I've had a look at the bloods tests. The general impression is that her hormones are somewhat low. There can be various causes for this. Stress can cause the body do this or it can be a normal part of decline of hormones due to aging. I remember what you said about the stress in your wife's life, and at the end of the day, how people handle stress is important too - some people are very laid back, others are more anxious, and this changes the body's hormonal response. If you perceive things as stressful, they are. When you feel stressed, your body preferentially takes the building-block hormones and uses as much as it can to counteract the stress. This can leave you with low hormones everywhere else. You will have a better idea whether your wife feels the stress strongly enough that this could be causing a problem for her, as I don't know her. The morning cortisol is lower than where you would want it - one way to help try and get a better daily rhythm of cortisol is to try to live in sync with the daylight - the two most important things are getting out in the bright daylight in the morning so that your brain gets clear signals that it is daytime (and trying to avoid screens at night after dark), and the other thing is having breakfast first thing (this is another clear sign to your body after fasting all night that it is daytime). Anything to reduce stress would be good. Moderate (not intense) exercise is always good, for other people talking to friends or joining some kind of support or hobby group (people can provide each other with such good support, in many cases much better than medicine) that meets regularly. Meditation and deep breathing can be great helps too. Some doctors prescribe cortisol or methylprednisolone to people like your wife, but I am guessing most physicians are going to say her levels are not low enough for that (and I continue to read the medical research I am starting to think that is not a great idea anyway). If these were my results, I would try to live more in accordance with the daylight as I suggested, and going to bed earlier (people whose adrenals are not making the right amount of hormone seem to really benefit from early bedtimes - like 10pm), and trying to get as much support as I could, and incorporating anti stressful activities. As for the sex hormones and such, I would really recommend your wife speak to her doctor about it. Female hormones are much more involved than men's hormones, and you need someone who has treated many women, and knows how to make the healthiest recommendations so you don't increase any cancer risks. Having said that, you could try and supplement with DHEA, which is a hormone that converts downstream to the sex hormones (including testosterone, which you can see is quite low in the normal range, and which will affect libido along with stress!). She could consider a small amount (like 15mg), but watch, as she could get enough to convert to testosterone that she could get side effects like hair growth on the lip or chin. Another "building block" hormone you could try is pregnenolone (50 mg or so), because it also will contribute to the general hormone shortage. Probably the best thing to do is to speak to her doc, hear what he or she thinks and say you would like to take some of these precursor hormones for several weeks, and then retest blood and reevaluate how your wife is feeling, and if those are not enough you could raise doses or consider to directly supplement each hormone. Ask his view of such a plan. She's a little young for HRT (although I am all in favour of people living optimally, rather than suffering with low levels), and I wouldn't be surprised if taking this stuff, and actively trying to relax doesn't help things. Convince her to put the weight loss on the back burner until she gets this stuff in order. The body loves to hold on to fat when we are stressed, and the doc may consider another small bump in T3 once her well-being is improved, and it will probably work better then. This is what I would do if that was my bloodwork. I hope it's useful to you in some way!
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