Adrenal? Please help..

[ilprofeta85]

Hello,

I am 28 year old male, very active, work full time, but for the past few years my health has baffled me. it is beginning to ruin my life quite frankly! I am starting to really get down about my health and i need help, below are just some of the main symptoms I endure on a daily basis...

Waking up every morning with a dry mouth, almost desert like some days! I wake up in the middle of the night guaranteed no exceptions, and i find it difficult to fall asleep! this never used t be the case, i mean not at all! My lips are CONSTANTLY DRY i use lip balm 24/7! at work, home, wherever.

I am quite irritable these days too, when i stand up I wouldn't say i get dizzy just get a really intense feeling up to my head, my muscles feel overly fatigued and i get a pumping heart heart (not an elevated heart rate, just the pounding feeling) usually in the afternoon/evenings.

I self diagnosed myself with Candida overgrowth, and I am currently on a Candida diet, eating a lot of protein (zero sugars, carbs) this is helping a bit, but I don't feel that this is where the problem lies!

I asked my GP about adrenal imbalance/fatigue and i requested i had a blood test done for cortisol levels on the NHS last year which came back 'fine' but I have researched this, and alot of the time a blood test won't pick up hormone or adrenal problems until it gets really bad! I suspect I may have some kind of adrenal imbalance and i don't think that candida is the source of the problem.

PLEASE somebody must have some insight or experience on this? What i could/should do, anything would be MASSIVELY appreciated,if you need to know anything else just ask..

Many thanks,

J.D

[sporty333]

Hi JD

Ok, my advice then would be: go onto dr Wiksons website and do the comprehensive adrenal test on there. You'll be able to get a good idea there if you do indeed have adrenal issues.

If you suspect you do, then have an adrenal stress test done to confirm.... Then from there you can tailor a treatment programme.

It's a start!

Cheers

Simon

[greygoose in reply to sporty333]

Make that Dr Wilson. lol

[RedApple]

You haven't mentioned thyroid at all. Have you been tested to see if you have a thyroid hormone imbalance? Or are you already diagnosed and on thyroid medication?

[ilprofeta85]

Thank you for the prompt replies..

I should mention that my mother has an underactive thyroid and B12 defficiency, I had a blood test done a couple of weeks ago for everything (broad spectrum) and it came back fine, would a thyroid issue be visible on a blood test?

Thank you Simon, I will try Dr Wilson's website right now!

[RedApple in reply to ilprofeta85]

The symptoms you've described could most certainly be caused by thyroid hormone imbalance and / or B12 deficiency.

To check for thyroid issues, the blood needs to be tested for something called TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) at the very least. Often, the TSH number can be declared as 'normal' by the GP because it doesn't fall outside the reference range and the possibility of a thyroid problem is discounted. However, as many people here have discovered, the TSH test result does not always tell the proper story of what's actually going on.

I suggest the best thing you can do is to get in touch with your surgery asap to request a printout of the results from this 'broad spectrum' blood testing that's been done. Most especially, the TSH result and the B12 result, plus if you're lucky vitamin D and iron may also have been done.

When you have this info, post the details here so that people can help you to understand the results and give you pointers to anything that you could follow up on.

In the meantime, you could also have a wander around the main website to read up on thyroid issues. Perhaps start with the list of symptoms for hypothyroidism here to see if they strike a chord with you

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[sporty333 in reply to ilprofeta85]

He's the man! :0) him or dr lam. Both American unfortunately . Let me know how you get on.....

[ilprofeta85]

Thanks,

I will get a print out of the blood test and post it up tomorrow, I really appreciate the reply!

[rossilin600]

Hi if you have adrenal probs which it sound as if you have I would insist on a hospital referral as I did, they did a very simple test on blood pressure whilst sitting then standing if you have the dizziness, then if it shows a signifigant reading they will go on to do ACTH test on cortisol levels to see if your adrenals are working efficiently, this is what my local hosp did for me with very surprising results which I am now getting meds and help with and as my endo has confirmed that if adrenals are not functioning properly there could be a issue with the TSH results doctors do for thyroid as there may be a conversion T3 problems into your cells. Please insist on referral and more tests from endo. Good Luck

[ilprofeta85]

Hi guys

Thank you for your reply rossilin, I will insist this is done when I see my GP on Thursday.

My test results state that my TSH serum level (xaELV) is - 1.65 miu/L

My b12 result was - 412 ng/l.

Any ideas? From what I can see those appear to be fairly normal levels?

Thank you.

[RedApple in reply to ilprofeta85]

Going by TSH alone, your GP would certainly rule out a thyroid problem. However, sometimes TSH does not give an accurate picture and measuring the actual thyroid hormones (i.e. FT4 and FT3) might reveal something. That said, the NHS is unlikely to do this given a 'normal' TSH result, so if you did want to investigate further it would need to be done via private blood test.

The B12 result would also appear to be 'normal'. However, as with thyroid issues, symptoms of B12 deficiency can manifest long before (e.g. years) blood levels indicate any abnormality. So again, you might want to investigate this further by doing a private test for 'Active B12' rather than the simple serum B12 that your GP did.

I am not, of course, suggesting that you *should* get private tests done. Only making you aware of this possibility in case you want to satisfy yourself that these two avenues have been fully explored as a potential cause of your ill health.

Vitamin D deficiency also can be responsible for a significant amount of symptoms, and can also be tested privately if your GP isn't helpful with that.

Private test info can be found on the main website here

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Marz]

......drrind.com also has good information re adrenals v thyroid. There is a questionnaire you can do to clarify which it is. Also look at the results table where it shows your results and the conditions relating to the various results. In the case of Adrenal Insufficiency the TSH FT4 and FT3 are low in the range. Take a look and see what you think.............