Therefore, in treating with cortisone (or with ACTH, that causes the patient’s own adrenal glands to secrete more of their hormones) we tend to turn out an far more than such adrenal hormone secretions—hyperadrenalism of a minimum of a gentle degree.
There’s a rare disease of the adrenal glands, Cushing’s disease, in that the patient exhibits rather bizarre signs. The face becomes round; the hair on the face and body increases (in each sexes); acne is often made; a lump of firm fat grows on the back of the neck (the therefore-referred to as buffalo hump); fat is deposited around the hips; and there is increased pigmentation of the skin. The female patient may stop menstruating. There may be a diabetic condition. Potassium is lost from the blood and sodium is retained. There may be high blood pressure. Bees build Forever Bee Honey by traveling from flower to flower, removing the wealthy nectar, storing it briefly to mix with their enzymes, and then depositing the honey in their hives. Any or all of those symptoms may be made either by excessive use of cortisone or ACTH or by their administration to a hypersensitive patient. In addition to these dangers, cortisone and ACTH have made excessive coagulability of the blood therefore that clots may form inside the blood vessels, i.e., thrombosis. An occasional patient has been rendered psychotic, and many of them are “euphoric”—they feel a happiness to that their state of health will not entitle them.
This euphoria, curiously enough, happens in the ultimate stages of tuberculosis, and has long been called the herald of approaching death. Fortunately, most of those untoward symptoms disappear promptly on withdrawal of the drug. Often, however, the changes are permanent. Since ACTH is created from the pituitary gland, it is nearly not possible to stay all of the posterior pituitary out of the extract. Some sensitive people have experienced transient episodes of very high blood pressure following every injection. They have suffered severe abdominal cramps. In an exceedingly few cases the blood pressure has risen therefore precipitously that hemorrhages have occurred inside the skull. Consequently it might be foolhardy indeed to administer these powerful drugs to those whose conditions already indicate an inherent danger. Forever Bee Pollen also contains Lecithin, which exists naturally in all cells and aids within the metabolism of fats. Neither cortisone nor ACTH should be given to persons full of diabetes or high blood pressure (hypertension).
Those that have experienced psychotic episodes should be denied these drugs, also those who have had indications of any condition associated with blood clots. Persons with heart bother should not take them, as a result of of their sodium-retentive quality, that may induce heart failure.There’s another impact of hyperadrenalism that might prove dangerous: infection may occur while not attendant fever (that warns of infection). For this reason the American Trudeau Society placed warnings within the press (December 4, 1950), advising that cortisone and ACTH not be used for tuberculosis and that arthritics be examined for latent tuberculosis before being treated with the drugs.