Hi Kat,

Actually, your question speaks exactly to the point that I was trying to get at in my second post:  

Which is that the "good" and "acceptable"levels that we are trying to get at (500-1200 17-ohp, etc.) are about the same, if not even somewhat higher, than some untreated people with LOCAH.  In theory, this should mean that those people who have these levels naturally don’t need any treatment and don’t have any health problems, right???

Well, sadly, we know that that isn’t at all true!  All we need to do is witness the numbers of people with LOCAH who have had these mildly elevated 17-ohp and androgen levels for years and years....to realize that they have hardly  gotten off scott-free!  They just have DIFFERENT problems, which sometimes don’t surface for many years. 

So, it kinda becomes a guessing game which problems are worse and which we’d rather live with--the problems that come from  a lifetime of somewhat elevated 17-OHP and androgen levels, or the ones that come with "normal" hormone levels, but higher levels of steroids.  To me, it’s a bit like picking your poison.  

Again, please don’t get me wrong: I am not suggesting that we go back to how things used to be, which is treating to achieve lower, "normal" hormone levels (we ALREADY know there are problems with that!)  And I really don’t know which is better....treating someone with LOCAH or leaving them be.  There are good arguments both for and against (hence, the situation that Natalie is in, where she is being put on treatment just as some of her kids are being taken off!) 

For the time being, I think all we can do is steer between a rock and a hard place, as best we can.