Adrenaline glands?

[Hunter134]

Hello I was just wondering if my adrenaline glands are low.I managed to taper to 7 mgs aft four years.Within 3 days iam very tired and more anxious.Do I just push through?My first time getting pmg it was easier and quicker to taper.Advicefrom the more experienced would be helpful!!!

[piglette]

I stopped tapering for several months as the deathly fatigue was deathly!!

[Hunter134 in reply to piglette]

Thank you for getting back to me.I ll stay here for a couple of months.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Sounds very much like it - this gives a bit more info -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

Your comment - “My first time getting PMR it was easier and quicker to taper” may indicate it was too fast, so slow down on that.

To accommodate adrenals it needs to be slow tapering, small steps, and yes you do need to keep reducing, but ‘not just push through!’ It won’t do any harm to stay on current dose for a month or so to give adrenals a chance to catch up.

[SnazzyD]

In my experience and from what others report here, Adrenal glands don’t just switch on like a light. Quite often they flicker a bit like a dodgy lightbulb then seem to work a bit. All can be well but then all it needs is a bit more stress or physical challenges and suddenly the adrenal glands appear unable to produce the extra cortisol you need. Sometimes it doesn’t take much extra.

For me 7mg was particularly difficult dose area regards fatigue. My hunch (my Endo agreed) that it was still too high for the adrenal glands to fully get the message but too low to satisfy every day cortisol needs. Until I got to about 5mg I felt vile, physically and mentally. Our bodies change, circumstances change and we get older so we have to expect some variation of how we react or cope.

From 7mg I reduced 0.5mg by introducing it in over 4-6 weeks but I also tried to avoid doing extra things so my life was very dull for a bit. After 5mg I took even longer with the longest period being 14 weeks.

[DogAgilityObsessed in reply to SnazzyD]

Did you get referred to an endo on the NHS?

[SnazzyD in reply to DogAgilityObsessed]

Yes, by the GP who was being proactive and requested a Synacthen test. However, a Synacthen test wouldn’t have been done until I was at 4mg or less. Finding that adrenal function is low at 7mg is no big surprise and not very helpful. It doesn’t really help tell whether function will return or not after the glands have been challenged to work by reducing. Reducing very slowly is the only way to do this and even with a lowish result at 4mg I was told to keep reducing. Sure enough by 1.5mg things had improved. It was not easy and I felt pretty rubbish a lot of the time.