Hello All! First - much thanks to all of you who have responded to my postings. I know that some of you I have yet to respond to. I'm trying to keep track and have printed all replies. I should mention that if you'd like to reply to me, we should keep in touch through email. I check email more frequently than the message board. Many of you have asked me questions regarding my condition. The CAH, being mild and somewhat non-existant in my life, doesn't affect me really, but after being re-acquainted with an Endo after 7 years (all the while staying on the same dosage of Prednisone since High School - 1.5 daily, my levels of 17-Hydroxy were checked at an alarmingly high 2,593. I was put on 1.5 of Dex daily which dropped my levels charply downward to a wopping.......17, no, not 170, but rather, 17. I'm told under 200 is normal. Meanwhile, over the first initial month that I was on Dex, I gained 15 lbs and was CONSTANTLY EATING - I mean, I'd gorge myself at mealtime and still want to eat more, and I'd be hungry an hour later. My eating habbits have ALWAYS been normal until now - I'm like a crazed animal in the fridge. I literally cannot stop eating. It IS out of control. After telling my new Endo this 2 weeks ago, he told me to cut back to 1mg daily. Guess what? - this hasn't made any difference. Plus, now I'm experiencing pain every day in my, well, my butt (to be honest) - My right buttock has sharp pain every day. It's unexplained and un-accounted for. No - exercise has not done this. In reading some of the side-effects, muscle soarness is one of the side-effects. I will be contacting him (probably even today) to tell him I've got to get off this Dex. I understand it's got my levels down, but we need to either go back to a higher dose of Pred or Cortisone. Plus, Dex doesn't have any salt-retaining properties, which has caused my renin level to climb to 7.8 (last blood work not long ago) which my Dr. thinks is a little high. Pred and Cort DO have salt-retaining properties, it's just that you may have to take the med 2 times per day. That wouldn't bother me if it meant that I could go OFF the Dex. I received a very intersting email from Tonya, who has an 8 year-old son who was diagnosed 5 months ago with exactly what I was diagnosed with at age 9 - Non Classic, Non-Salt-wasting CAH. My Pediatric Dr. noticed that I was growing at an alarming rate at a young age and had precocious puberty - developmentally, I was WAY above my age, and hormones were really there, although I didn't understand WHAT it was I was feeling. I was confused most of the time with how I felt. I had to start shaving early in life, but not THAT early. I can't remember when I started shaving, but it was at least middle school or High School. Facial hair wasn't that bad - pubic hair however, and being developed down there WAS a problem becuase I refused to shower in elementary school and middle school. My gym teacher couldn't understand why and after episodes or crying and refuseing and even getting in trouble, my Mom was finally called at home. It was especially tough in elem school becuase I looked like I was in HS - not elem school. I was by FAR the tallest kid in school and had muscles and was even considered the "bully" eventhough I was not. People were scared of me. I ran the fastest, lifted the heavest weights, and people were always watching me on Fitness Day when the whole school did track and field events. I did NOT have a beard in 3rd grade, but I did have very severe growing pains in my legs late at night that I still remember at 28 years-old. Yes, I did have acne also - VERY BAD for a few years, due to the hormones of an older teen in a young boy's body. The Cortisone that I was taking by liquid form at the time did nothing with the acne. Didn't make it worse or better. The main thing was, yes, my self-esteem and "worrying about how I looked" . I was teased a little here and there, but the main thing is that when I was in elem school, I was considered a "giant" but as soon as Middle School came around, I had completled all my growing and was down to less that 1% per year. At one point during elem school, I grew 5 1/2 inches in one year. But now, in Middle School, everyone was staring to go through puberty and starting growing. I was stopping. They grew right passed me and eveyone was like "Hey Steve, what happened to you?" So I'm only 5 4" today - short throughout Middle School and HS and since. This is it - this is what you get - my total height. I have short legs and I'm just........well, short! But that has never been a problem for me - it was just tough going through things backwards as a kid growing up in school. So - other than that, CAH never played a huge role in my life, other than needing an injection of Cort before surgery for wisdom teeth,etc. Also, I hated going to the Dr so often (Pediatric Endo) and having blood work. I didn't feel sick, so I cound't understand what was so wrong with me that I had to have blood work done every 6 months and evey year all through my youth. And now that I've taken 7 years off, I'm back with it - having blood work done frequently now to make sure my levels are OK. I've already had it taken twice in the last two months and now have to go back and see if dropping my DEX down to a total of 1mg daily has made my levels climb above 17 - which seems like overkill to me. PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU'D LIKE TO RESPOND.....BOZFOZZIE@AOL.COM. I do look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for reading this. I wish you all the best in health. Sincerely, Steve Boz