Welcome to my blog! You can start by getting to know a bit more About me or for a more detailed explanation of how I was diagnosed, have a read of my posts The Journey to Cushing's Syndrome and Part II the saga continues. Bienvenue sur mon blog! Vous pouvez commencez par decouvrir Mon Histoire avec Cushing's

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Hormones, dating and other facts of life

Well the news since the last post regarding my health, is that I underwent the Insulin Stress Test (IST) and got my results. The IST is a test during which you are placed in hypoglycemia and blood samples are collected every 30 minutes for two hours, to check your body's hormonal response when placed under stress. It was a fairly unpleasant experience as anyone who has ever been hypoglycemic can relate to. The target was to get my blood glucose down to around 2.2 (Normal range 4-6) for the results to be valid. My blood sugar level dropped to 1.3!! No wonder I felt like shit!!

It appears that my cortisol levels lowered during the test, indicating that my body is unable to secrete cortisol in times of stress. This means that I still have cortisol deficiency and should keep taking my hydro (good news actually!). The report also states that there was no growth hormone secretion throughout the test and in fact, we already knew that my levels were low if not inexistent. What this means is that I will probably have to discuss growth hormone replacement as this might help alleviate the fatigue I've been feeling. Growth hormone is responsible for distribution of fat and brain functioning among other things. So don't think it's only important in kids, we ALL need it.