Adrenal fatigue & abdominal pain

[winfong]

I am almost to 4.5 mgs pred and think I'm starting to experience some adrenal fatigue. I seem to be having symptoms like fatigue, a little weight loss, dizziness, mood changes, loss of appetite, aches & abdominal pain

That last one seems to be the worst. Seeing as I've also got IBS and diverticular disease, however, it's really hard for me to sort it out.

Has anyone else had that? Mine's just a real sharp pain in the gut that just never seems to go away. It's starting to really interfere with my sleep.

[Raewynne]

Don't ignore the gut pain.I had diverticulitis and since being on prednisolone I have a perforated bowel. Very serious .I had all your other side effects too.

[winfong in reply to Raewynne]

I had the same

[SnazzyD]

For me the adrenal abdominal pain was generalised except when I had diarrhoea with it when it became more crampy. By that point it was a crisis. With some weight loss and persistent abdominal pain I would not just leave it at assuming it is low cortisol. Your history muddies the water too so medical opinion would be an idea. If you have these symptoms every day from adrenal insufficiency the GP might want to do a cortisol to confirm.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Digestive issues can be a sign of adrenals struggling… but as you also have IBS and diverticular disease do monitor carefully - which I’m sure you are..

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It isn't adrenal fatigue - it is adrenal insufficiency. The first doesn't exist, the second is real and due to long term pred as you know, the boiler is a bit slow to wake up.

However - do not assume that these symptoms are due to your adrenal function lagging behind, they are also red flag symptoms that need to be checked up on and other things ruled out.

[montebello]

I'm at 3.5 mg, down from 60 mg over 2 years ago. I also have pain in the lower left abdomen. But as with you, there are other complicating factors such as possible prostatitis, IBS, and an inguinal hernia surgery in FEB which left me with pain in that area. My PSA readings were okay. They just did a CT scan to diagnosis the hernia pain, so I'm thinking they'd have seen diverticulitis if that was the problem. Who knows....

[BarbB]

I did a long slow taper (2 yrs to go from 5 mg to 0) and with every decrease once I got below 5 mg I had all the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency including abdominal pain (esp after eating), weight loss, fatigue, orthostatic intolerance (starting to black out upon arising to a standing position), and heat intolerance. I had a cortisol stim test after I was completely off it and my cortisol level after receiving the stimulus shot was in the normal range.

I toughed it out with each decrease and did not proceed further until symptoms were resolved, which took 2-3 weeks each time. I figured there is no way out but through when it comes to allowing your adrenal glands to wake back up.

I have been off pred completely for 2 years now and my adrenals are functioning normally and my PMR has not returned. My digestion is great. I do have residual high blood sugars though, so I now eat a low carbohydrate diet + metformin to stay in the “pre-diabetic” range. Endocrinologist told me long term pred use can permanently damage the pancreas ability to make insulin, which of course nobody ever tells you.

Good luck!