Adrenal Fatigue

[teyris]

How would you know if you had adrenal fatigue? What kind of symptoms would you have? Would taking cortisol tablets help?

Thanks

K

[tegz]

If you've been under years of prolonged stress, don't sleep through the night and have low energy, post meal pm crash and generally feel crap when stressed [esp.every few days and recover after rest] -you may be like me

I need to get a proper 24 hr cortisol check to find out if it's that, rather HypoT, but one thing at a time -I'm just starting Levo.

If you are hypoT as well ,it's best to get Cortisol levels addressed first, as stressed by the good Dr D-Peatfield in his book but, like thyroid hormones, they're variable through the day and also between people -interpretation is far from easy and not cured by thumbing through the formulary by our somewhat average and not over-inspiring, Drs.

If you're lucky enough to have a listening & proactive GP- you may do better than many going before.

Keep us posted on this!

[teyris]

My docs arent very helpful to be honest hence the reason I am here......

I feel I lurch from one stressful situation to another and if I managed to sleep all night I am really impressed! Its not something I do very often.

I will update as and when I have more info

[rosetrees]

According to Dr P, who I was in April, adrenal fatigue is my main problem. Thyroid was the clue for me, not the whole answer. Before seeing Dr P, I had worked out for myself that adrenals were my main problem.

I worked it out in two ways. One, I ordered the 24 hour saliva test from Genova. My results were weird - Low in the normal range on waking and below normal range by lunchtime and mid afternoon. I also took this questionnaire adrenalfatigue.org/take-the....

When I saw Dr P I was on 75mg levo. He suggested I stop for 10 days whilst building up adrenal support. I felt so ill after 3 days that I went back on 50mg levo. I now take 50mg levo plus 2 Nutri thyroid each day.

His suggestion was to take Nutri Adrenal Extra, or regular Nutri Adrenal when I couldn't tolerate higher doses of NAX. He suggested I should take 4NAX per day. Initially I couldn't get above 2 a day, so supplemented with 4 NA (they are half the strength of NAX). I have gradually been able to raise the NAX so that I am now taking the suggested 4 a day and not taking the NA.

I also take 3 grams Vit C per day, Vit B12 spray, Vit D and CoEnzymeQ. All suggested by Dr P.

Body temperature is, I believe, also a good indicator of whether your problems are thydroid or adrenal (although someone more knowledgeable may help here). Low body temp is an indication of both problems. But fluctuating temperature is more indicative of adrenals, I believe. Before supplementation mine was consistently around 35.5 and had been since I was a teenager. On 4 NAX per day it has risen as high as 36.9, but varies wildly. As I'm typing this it is 36.5, but can vary by up to a degree within a day.

Yesterday I decided to try using a small amount of hydrocortisone cream. This was recommended to me by Dr M when I ordered the saliva test. At the time, I didn't realise I could get a discount via this website, as I was a newbie, so ordered it via Dr M's website. Her report said to try using 10 - 20 mg HC cream in the morning. Maths failed me and I used 10 times as much, but boy did it make a difference and I felt a lot better. I used just a small, petit pois sized amount this morning.

I don't want to get hooked on cortisone, so need to write to Dr P for further advise. He does phone consultations if you can't get to see him, but well worth it.

[rosetrees in reply to rosetrees]

woops - lol - all the right letters, but in the wrong order. I "was"n't Dr P in April, but I "saw" him!

[sporty333 in reply to rosetrees]

I like your post :0) x

[tegz]

Dr P- Popular man- people are bound to copy him

Sad thing is -most Docs do not take any notice of temp charts with regard to thyroid problems.

I've tried and the results were suitably filed [no doubt] and never mentioned again

[teyris]

That could explain why my Chiroptactor told me to take my temperature (and pulse) my temperature for May was

35.9

35.9

36.1

36.2

36.1

36.2

36.1

36

36

36.3

36.2

37

35.2

36.1

35.7

36

36

36.1

36.2

35.9

36

36

36.2

36

36.2

36.1

35.9

35.8

36

36.2

36

Not quite sure what exactly that means tho......

It is taken before I get out of bed in the morning. The whole thyroid thing is such a minefield isnt it?

[tegz]

The important thing to note is what the temp rises to during the day. If the average is less than 35.5 you can suspect UAT.

That doesn't seem to be possible in your case -unless your temp goes down further, later in the day, which is unlikely.

You're right to look towards Adrenals, in that case.

[teyris]

being dense what is UAT?

[nostoneunturned in reply to teyris]

Under Active Thyroid

[teyris]

DOH!