Posted 2/16/2019 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Echoing the suggestion for further testing of pregnenelone, DHEA, salivary cortisol at multiple times in a day, and all sex hormones. Your body manufactures sex hormones from pregnenelone, so that being low is bad news for your other levels. These infections can ravage your HPA axis, and one of their nastiest tricks is cranking up cortisol to make the other hormones from it - so your cortisol looks normal but you will function as though it's low, because it's being diverted for other needs. To fix this, people do the normal stuff everyone should do anyway (sleep, eliminate stress, move, eat cleanly) plus eliminate stimulants and add adaptogens and/or adrenal glandular supplements. If those things don't work, then some people move on to bioidentical hormones or steroids.
(Adaptogens include licorice, eleuthero, holy basil, rhodiola, ashwagandha. Start low and slow and find one that feels good to you, like one drop of a liquid extract to start. When your adrenal system is out of whack, a little poke by one of these can swing out up or down a surprising amount.)
The weight thing makes me wonder about your gut microbiome. (I am a strong believer in weight neutrality and never would give someone weight loss tips, so please don't think of what I'm about to say as in any way condoning weight loss simply for its own sake. All bodies are good bodies! Moving on....) After a year of being very sick from Lyme and co-infections, my thyroid tested fine but I'd barely been able to eat in a year, yet I hadn't lost weight, which seemed odd to me. I had gained about 20 pounds during a short stint on an SSRI a few years back, and the weight stayed. My doctor had ordered a GI Effects stool test which found gut dysbiosis, even though I had no gut symptoms aside from lack of appetite (which was neurological, from dysautonomia, not technically gut-related). When I began taking herbs for the gut dysbiosis, that 20 pounds flew off in a month. In case it's helpful, I was taking a blend of olive leaf, artemesinin, berberine, wormwood, and black walnut, and at other times of day taking high doses of probiotics and eating lots of fermented foods. Those gut herbs are serious, so once again, if you go that route, start low and slow! Gut issues can cause fatigue and brain fog, too.