What happens if your replacement hormones go too high? What are the symptoms?

Getting a diagnosis is step one. Relief you finally know what is wrong. Phew. Okay, now which hormones are out? That’s step two. Blood tests, insulin stress tests, glucose tolerance tests. These all give a picture of which hormones are deficient. It’s not the same for every woman. We all need to be treated as individuals. For me it’s thyroid, sex hormones and growth hormone. My cortisol is fine at the moment. Oh and did I mention that this can all change? My hormones can get worse, or they can improve. Why? We don’t know. It feels like Russian roulette. There’s hardly any research into us, so no one is any the wiser as to why their hormones improve or deteriorate over time or what will happen to them. And the big question, is there anything we can do to ensure our pituitaries regenerate rather than deteriorate?

Jenn and I have vowed to research into the women living with maternal pituitary conditions and find answers we all desperately need.

These are some of the symptoms you might experience if your hormones are deficient.

But what if your replacement hormones go to high? How will you know?

It’s hard to know when you experience unwanted symptoms which hormone is causing it. I wanted to shine a light on some of my experiences and those of our community, to help you pinpoint which hormone it could be.

When my thyroxine for my thyroid was over replaced, I experienced heart palpitations. Others have experienced feeling jittery, having an upset tummy after taking thyroid medication and weight loss.

When oestrogen is too high women report weight gain on the breasts and tummy and bleeding at different points in your cycle.

Others who have experienced over replacement of hydrocortisone (used to replace low cortisol) include swollen fingers and ankles, a “moon” face, a hump on the back of the neck and shoulders, bruising easily, feeling very alert, flushed face, feeling very brain foggy, jittery hands, hungry all the time, feeling thirsty and needing the loo a lot, difficulty sleeping, rapid weight gain and bloated tummy.

My growth hormone is too high as I write, and it took a while to work out what was causing some very distressing symptoms. The endocrine nurse was vague and didn’t quite know and this has this led to 8 weeks of frightening symptoms before they confirmed a couple of days ago that it is definitely excessive growth hormone. The symptom that threw them was déjà vu that I was experiencing. This was followed by nausea and headaches. I also have numbness and tingling in my hands and feet and weight gain.

So, step three. The step that I now find myself in, is balancing your hormone replacements. I am finding this stage challenging. A few months ago, I was exercising (see boxing photo!) and for the first time since my daughter was born in 2019, I actually felt like me again and that I was getting a piece of myself back. I am hoping that I can find that again in the next weeks and months as I adjust my growth hormone. I hope that I get a good run of feeling like me before a possible shift, a change, an imbalance happens again. After the turbulence, years of stability is the dream.

We’d like to compile a list of over replacement symptoms, so get in touch and share yours info@maternalpituitarysupport.org - thank you x