The ACTH test was AMAZING!!!   

I wasn't sure what to expect, but figured it was sure to unpleasant considering I was being injected with a major stress hormone.

But, within about 20 min after getting the ACTH shot I noticed that something incredible was happening to my body... I could "feel" the cortisol starting to surge and exert it effects. My ice-cold hands started to warm up, that horrible breathless-nauseous-shaky "feel-like-I-just-got-punched-in-the-gut" feeling that is always there the past month or so started to dissolve away. I felt this warm energy going all through me... my heart rate dropped from 120 to 85, and my blood pressure went up from 90/60 to 120/80... they were close to normal for the first time in months! Another half hour later I felt 100% normal, my head felt clear (for the first time in months I didn't feel like I was in a brain fog) and I was full of energy!

OMG, I can't describe how incredible it was to feel soooo good...   It made me realize just how crappy I have been feeling for the past couple of months. I saw that it WAS possible to feel good again... and I was soooooooooo excited!!!! I was thinking how I couldn't wait to get back to my doctor and ask her for a prescription for ACTH (if that's possible) and if not, for cortisol... 
 
And then it hit me...  

If I was having such a massive cortisol response (and there's little doubt that I did -- apart from just "feeling" better, the drastic change in blood pressure and heart rate are physical evidence of a cortisol response -- the blood tests results won't be in a for a week) it means that my adrenal cortex is working just fine. Normally that would be great... but in this case it's not good news....  
 
It means that my low cortisol problem is due to something wrong with my pituitary. And this is almost always due to some sort of brain tumour (click HERE to read more about it).

I have an "emergency appointment" with an endocrinologist -- next Thursday!!!  
 
Meanwhile... I'm really scared. 
 
Indigo 

Hmmm... just came across this (relevant to my earlier entry and that doctor's comments when she dismissed my concerns about cortisol because I didn't have the unusual 'tan'):  
"Symptoms [ of secondary adrenal insufficiency -- i.e., what I have had all along!] are nearly identical to those of primary adrenal insufficiency [i.e., Addison's], but can be differentiated by lack of hyperpigmentation [i.e., lack of unusual tan!]."