I was wondering how much our adrenal disorder effects our moods.
I for one tend to be rather high strung. One doctor said it
may because I have an artistic nature and it comes with the
territory (I've been a part time musician and composer), but
I seriously doubt that.

For me, it may be the inability to predict how I'll feel on
a given day, i.e. either too exhausted, or too anxious, or
too unmotivated. Ours is supposed to be a physical (biochemical)
problem that influences our moods. I'm not sure how this "influence"
works, but it's certainly disconcerting to try to live a normal
life when your body is calling the shots regarding how we feel
from day to day.

Not all of us are like that though, from the poll we recently took.
Could it be that having polycystic ovaries causes the biochemical
imbalances to be that much more intense?

What is it that causes some of us to feel almost dysfunctional?
I know there are no answers written in stone, so maybe if we
discusses these issues we could find solace if not actual help
in dealing with it.

Feel free to join in. This could turn out to be an intersting
discussion.

I'll be getting tests back that I recently took for adrenal
functioning and insulin levels. Maybe that will lead to ideas
on how to solve this ongoing problem. Has a cortisone type
medication helped any of you in this particular area?

I feel like sittin' down and writin' a Come Monday Mornin' Blues
number right this very minute. :-)

NEXT TOPIC -- an article I found at ABC news:

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/stress_aging990920.html

Stress May Add to Aging
Study on Rats Shows Stress Hormones Affect Brain


W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 20 - Stress
hormones could hold one big key to
staying sharp in old age, researchers
said today.
Tests on rats showed that blocking stress
hormones revved up the production of brain
cells in a part of the brain, the hippocampus,
which is important in memory, Ronald
McKay and Heather Cameron of the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke said.
Writing in the journal Nature
Neuroscience, they said their study may
eventually lead to a drug that could help
people become less forgetful as they get
older.
Several studies have shown that stress
hormones-specifically
corticosteroids-are linked with memory
loss. And corticosteroid levels are known
to go up as people age.
"Older people, they are kind of
forgetful," McKay said in a telephone
interview.

Stress Hormones Evident
"But there is a group that seems to have
memory loss because of high stress
hormones. The memory loss they show is
hippocampal. This set us to wondering."
McKay's team also knew that one of the
few places in the brain where cells keep
growing is in the dentate gyrus, the doorway
into the hippocampus.
"Although neurons are replaced in the
dentate gyrus, this gets slower as animals
get older. We wondered if the explanation
could be entirely elevated corticosteroids."
So they took away the hormones in old
rats, by cutting out their adrenal glands,
which produce corticosteroids. Then they
looked at their brains.
"When we take out the adrenal glands in
the rats, the rate of neuron replacement goes
way up," McKay said. "It's not that we get a
little effect-we get a huge effect."
It is not possible to do the same in
people. The adrenal glands are extremely
important, and corticosteroids control the
functions of many organs.
"Stress hormones are actually good for
you," McKay said. "As you get older, they
are probably doing all kinds of beneficial
things for you."
People whose adrenal glands do not
work properly develop Addison's disease,
for instance-which starts with dizziness
and is marked by very low blood sugar, an
inability to fight of infection, weak muscles
and other symptoms.

Negative Effects Could Be
Blocked
But McKay said it might be possible to
develop a drug that could block the "bad"
effects of corticosteroids in the brain while
allowing the good effects to continue. It
might be similar to breast cancer drugs that
block the cancer-promoting effects of
oestrogen while allowing the beneficial
effects that keep women healthy, he said
"If you could develop a drug that would
block corticosteroid action, even if it took
some time and some expense, it would be
rather cool because it is a reversible
effect," McKay said.
First, scientists need to see if the effects
of corticosteroids are similar in humans.
McKay's team did not look at the
behaviour of their rats, to see if their
memories actually improved.
Instead, he said he was hoping to look at
people who have been given corticosteroids
as drugs. "One effect of publishing this
study is that I was hoping to get phone calls
from people testing people who are being
treated with corticosteroids for one reason
or another," McKay said.
He would like to measure their memory
function.


TTFN,

Deb

P.S. If you write a new message to the group without copying
an old message, just click NEW MESSAGE an address it to
CAHwith3BetaHSD@onelist.com. That way, the message won't have
the content of someone elses message in yours.

I just took Klonapin and feel much more relaxed than I felt
all day. Puts me in a somber, relaxed mood so that I don't
see life being such a stressor. Anyone else? Opening up'to the group
may give us some insight that may not apply to others with CAH
of other times. I'm all ears. :)

Deb (signing off for now)