My adrenals are so bad. I knew it, but I didn't have specifics. I really needed an official adrenal test done, so I bought a Diagnostechs 4 point cortisol and DHEA test when it was on sale for $120.
I'm very low, very low, low, slightly high. According to Stop The Thyroid Madness, cortisol should be at the top of the range in the morning, upper part of the range at noon, middle of range in the afternoon, and at the absolute bottom at night.
The problem with this test is that I turned out to be abnormally exhausted - I actually fell asleep that night without herbs. That's normally impossible for me. I know that my cortisol is usually too high at night between what my doctor has told me and how I feel, but here it's only slightly high.
No, I refuse to take DHEA supplements. They might make me feel good while on them, but they will ruin my body's ability to make its own DHEA. It will mess me up in the long term. It also can convert into extra estrogen, which I do not want. Not worth it!
Stop the Thyroid Madness has a great page explaining the stages of adrenal fatigue. According to this I'm probably in about stage 5, despite my DHEA being so low. I have A LOT of healing left to do, but I'm better than I was 3 years ago. I was bedridden then!
The hardest part about taking this test was trying to recover from 3 days without supplements. It took me about 3 weeks to stabilize again. I was miserable, dropping everything, fighting insomnia, not able to form energy during the day, getting rashes and stomach aches, fighting brain fog... it was not easy. Acupuncture helped the most to calm me back down.
Life has also been really stressful! One of coritsol's jobs is to eat up adrenaline so that adrenaline doesn't do damage. I don't have enough cortisol, so I create adrenaline too easily and can't control it. This is why I have very little tolerance for stress: stress causes adrenaline that I can't control, and the adrenaline physically hurts. This week I had to work every day of the week (co-worker had the flu, so I was covering) when I normally only work 3-4 days a week, my husband needed to prepare for a business trip that required some complicated planning, and I had to file taxes. I had really bad insomnia the night before last, which left me very fried. I say "fried" because I seriously felt like I had electricity flowing through me. Totally frazzled! Last night I did sleep, but woke up at 5 am with the feeling of electric currents flowing through me again. The only way for me to sleep well again is to have a few days without any stress so my body can stabilize.
Adrenal fatigue is no joke! I have to manage it very carefully every day. I have to take extra adrenal supplements during stressful times, so I must be very in-tune with my body.
When I am very adrenal, normally mornings, I feel very tired with jello-like muscles, wired and on high alert, shaky so I drop things all the time, very clumsy, low blood pressure with high heart rate, hypoglycemic if I haven't taken care of myself to avoid low blood sugar, unable to take a deep satisfying breath, paranoid and anxious, irritated and extremely focused on one thing or unable to focus on anything, angry, and unable to escape danger. This list fits me really well:
As you can see, this isn't easy. It's very difficult to manage adrenal fatigue, and it's stressful to keep up with what I need to do to manage it.
What do I do to treat? Well what I have been doing has obviously been working since I've improved in the last 3 years, but it's working very slowly. I'm also worried I'm regressing. I would like to improve my protocol, but I'm not sure what is right for me. I simply just need to see my doctor in person. What I am doing is taking adrenal cortex (which adds coritisol to the body), high dose of vitamin b5, a few herbs like cordyceps, and licorice root (I have low blood pressure so I'm able to take licorice root.) I also have to avoid stress and caffeine like they're poison. I didn't work for a year and a half, and that's when I did my best healing. Since working for the last 2 years (even at 12-15 hours a week) I've stopped making progress, and I've had to drink some caffeine to make it through shifts. I also have to address my high night cortisol by taking tons of relaxing herbs to literally overpower my adrenals (I take about 12-15 pills a night.)
A support group with nurses and "experts" told me my cortisol is so low I should go on hydrocortisone, which would mean adding actual cortisol to my body. I know this works well for many patients, but it's not without risk. It also has to be prescribed, and I don't have insurance. They said if I continue to treat with adrenal cortex I'll need to raise my dose substantially - they said I'm not taking nearly enough to make a difference. That will get expensive. I don't know if they're right or not, but I do know that I need to change something so I can make progress while working. Quitting my job is not an option (unless someone would like to pay me to stay at home, but even then I'm good friends with my co-workers and enjoy the social aspect, which is important.)
I'm stressing myself out just writing this post! It's too much to deal with.
So I know there's a few posts that I've promised to write. Please be patient with me. I'm having a rough time. I expect that once spring arrives and I can go for walks outside again that I'll start to feel better. This has been a really rough stressful winter (36" of snow within two consecutive weekends!)
And, if you get time, please read this post written by a doctor with chronic illness: https://themighty.com/2017/02/doctor-with-chronic-illness-things-to-know/