Just over two years ago in May 2012 I came down with a serious asthmatic episode. I have tended to get these about every 3years, I am 65 years old. I had asthma a lot when I was a baby and up to the age of 14, it then returned with a vengeance when I was 28. That then sparked my interest in natural or so called alternative medicine and therapies. I used a variety of remedies to get out of the crisis each time it occurred. Visits to hospitals where luckily and studiously avoided.

 

On this occasion 2 years ago, due to age and weakening or constitutionally weak adrenals/adrenal hormone output; a hospital visit was only just averted. I was in an asthmatic crisis for about two weeks and visiting my acupuncturist for treatment. Normally, the last few years I have been able to get out of these severe episodes using Gerald Greens Asthma and Bronchitis herbal formula, but it can take a few weeks to work drinking it 3 times a day in serious/elderly cases. I had made an improvement , but suddenly deteriorated with the addition of infection like symptoms (later I learned that very low hydrocortisone levels could leave one susceptible to, and with a poor competence for dealing with, infections). My acupuncturist warned that unless I take ‘steriods' (cortisone patented derivatives such as prednisolone) I would most likely have to be admitted to hospital. He also revealed he was a lifelong asthma sufferer since childhood and had nearly died several times and had frequent trips to hospital in the past. He had found by using a low dose prednisolone via inhalation he had managed to keep the asthma at bay for many years without side effects. (Although one could see he was not totally free of histamine excess) This combination of information made me decide to take a week's course of steroids that I had studiously avoided in the past due to fear of sliding down a lifelong slippery slope of dependency and more.

 

The local doctor duly obliged with the standard treatment for asthma; a week's course of high potency prednisolone. I only took them for 3 days and by that time had come out of the asthmatic and immune crisis, although I was left with marked weakness and fatigue for weeks (another symptom of adrenal hormone inadequacy). A few weeks later I read about the use of physiological doses of cortisol (bio-identical hydrocortisone) and began using it to stop the ever lurking asthma from taking hold and also to help reduce the mild fatigue I have had most of my life. I remained on bio-identical cortisone at high physiological doses of around 30 mg daily. Each time I tried to reduce the dose the asthma would begin creeping back. I also found that I had to eliminate all wheat from my diet completely and this reduced the tendency to mild breathlessness.

 

It was about 18 months after that asthmatic episode that I had another one even though I was taking hydrocortisone at around 25 mg daily. Understanding from the detailed information from the world's leading authority on the use of hydrocortisone, Professor William Jefferies Safe Uses of hydrocortisone (second edition), that much higher doses are needed during times of stress including infections or major physiological changes I increased the dose to around 60 - 80mg a day. My lungs were tightening and acute asthma symptoms where occurring with great difficulty in breathing. It became obvious that my body was producing loads of histamine as the end result of an overactive immune system. I kept changing the dose but never going very high due to cautionary fears. It took me a month to find out that I needed to raise the dose to around 120 to 150mg daily (equivalent to 30-38 mg daily prednisolone) for two days to shut down the immune/histamine storm. Using fairly high doses of 80 mg a day in the situation I was in could never could win the battle. Later I found out that histamine and hydrocortisone fight each other directly so moderate amounts of hydrocortisone were neutralizing some of the histamine but not enough and the longer the histamine was allowed to inflame the lungs the more the immune system wanted to attack them with more histamine!

 

So I had learnt that at the first sign of any asthmatic relapse I had to quickly take high doses for one or two days then reduce gradually each day to try to get down to regular physiological amounts, otherwise various side effects and over dependency may develop. I found it difficult to reduce the dose to physiologic levels in a few weeks, even getting down to 60 mg daily mild asthma was present. I began to wonder if my body was producing so much histamine on a regular basis that maybe it was neutralizing hydrocortisone to the point that my physiological needs where much higher. However, I could find nothing about this in the literature. I also thought about the possibility that hydrocortisone resistance may be an issue, but that did not answer my question. Would continuing at doses above the regular physiological doses of 30 mg a day would eventually create problems?

 

I had been monitoring my blood pressure regularly, as this can indicate how much hydrocortisone one needs to some extent. Generally, even while I was taking hydrocortisone my blood pressure in this period was on the low side with some postural hypo-tension. Then I had one of those rare "ahh!" moments. I realised that need to keep liquorice dose low (around 1-2g daily) as in some people it can cause high blood pressure could be exceeded provided one monitored ones blood pressure. Reading up on this issue it almost immediately became obvious, as discussed above, that aldosterone was an important issue, and for those with adrenal insufficiency and low blood pressure, restoration of aldosterone levels (or at least mimicking the effects of adequate aldosterone) and hydrocortisone at the same time could be a winner. So I began to take liquorice at equivalent of 3g three times a day. The first night I experienced a great sensation of healing and the overall feeling of well-being increased every day. All signs of remaining mild lung inflammation disappeared (I also began to take quercetin 1 capsule three times a day after a few days on the liquorice and this seemed to remove the final bit on inflammation from the lungs) My blood pressure improved up to typically optimum levels (average around 120/80) and I reduced the hydrocortisone from 80 mgs daily to zero in 11 days, this after taking hydrocortisone for two years and wondering if I could ever get off it.

 

The actual feeling of the effect of one's optimal dose of liquorice is far superior to hydrocortisone alone. So I may not need to use hydrocortisone again. I have been taking DHEA 40mg daily for a few months and Pregnenolone 50mg daily for about 7 months now and see no reason for not continuing these adrenal support hormones that we tend to need as we age.