The Hormonal Powder Keg

---

 Before the bile. Before the emboli. Before the coma.
There was this: a storm building quietly — inside Nicole’s body — and ignored.

In January of 2019, Nicole Henry presented to the genecology department of The University of Kansas Health System with the following symptoms:

• Severe fatigue
   
• Unexplained weight gain
   
• Anxiety
   
• Abnormal menses
   

Any one of these could have — and should have — prompted a basic endocrine workup, especially for cortisol imbalance or adrenal dysfunction.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead of testing cortisol levels or investigating adrenal function, physicians responded with:

• ✅ Hormonal IUD placement — adding synthetic progestin (Liletta) into an already dysregulated hormonal environment
   
• ✅ Venlafaxine (Effexor) — a known hepatotoxic antidepressant that can also interfere with the HPA axis
   
• ✅ Later addition of Adderall — despite clear signs of underlying adrenal insufficiency, making the stimulant dangerous
   

This wasn’t just inappropriate prescribing — this was fuel poured onto an undiagnosed fire.

The adrenal system doesn’t scream when it’s breaking down — it whispers.
Nicole’s body was telling them something was off.

Instead of listening, they silenced the alarms with medications that made things worse:

• Effexor’s potential for drug-induced liver injury (DILI) was exacerbated when Nicole was later put on an NPO rather than stopping the medication.
   
• The IUD’s hormonal disruption likely worsened underlying cortisol resistance or adrenal suppression.
   
• Adderall masked the exhaustion — but accelerated the crash.
   

They didn’t just miss a diagnosis.
They created the perfect conditions for everything that followed.

Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone — and a critical biomarker for:

• Adrenal insufficiency
   
• Hormonal imbalance
   
• Chronic fatigue, unexplained weight gain
   
• Anxiety

• Anormal Menstrual Cycle

• All symptoms Nicole presented with when she first went to gynecology at The University of Kansas Health System in January of 2019
   

A simple A.M. cortisol test — along with ACTH or a dexamethasone suppression test — might have prevented six years of hell.

Instead, they gave her a hormonal time bomb.

They thought the worst was behind them.
The records were written. The story was sealed.
Just another day of business as usual.

But beneath the surface, the damage was spreading—
quiet, clinical, and invisible… for now.

👉 [Continue to Act II]