help advice i believe i am suffering from adrenal insufficiency

[mikehope]

hi

im not sure whats going on with me, i have all kinds of symptoms and i have posted a few posts, it seems like the adrenal insufficiencuy fits my symptoms,

it all just began 10 months ago i was simply was feeling weak for weeks, had abit of stress too (lost my job, a loved one had a stroke and passed away too also a few other love life crisis lol and i was drinking more then i normally do), i woke up one morning feeling dizzy, weak, as if i was going to faint, with headaches, i had soo many thoughts that im having a stroke or some kind of acute attack which may kill me, anyways when i seen the dr, he pointed the finger at my liver as it had slightly raised enzymes, anyways i just became worse with breathing problems dizzyness, for days, heat was making me worse, allergies were also affecting me alot more then they normally did, even had eye inflamation,
my sugar levels were dropping, caused me to faint once, also my appitite was not good too i would eat alot less and ontop continiously brainfogged, i even blaimed it on my back injury for abit too even though im always in pain and even more now (had a whip lash injury)

this has gone on for a while, and its nearly a year now, i get the hypoglycemia symptoms somtimes, my liver is normal now as it was due to fatty liver and because i lost weight and cut sugars out the liver seems to be recovering

im constantly weak, maybe after a few days i get some energy i try and weight lift or jog,cycle to try and be normal but then it takes me a week nearly to recover from all this exercise and i feel weaker and weaker the more i train or exercise the worse i been getting, the more i been worrying makes it even worse, i also had a drop in my pulse rate and bloodpressure.

drs have done many tests for me being weak but nothing has been showing up causing this, they put me on anti depressants and they have not helped one bit, rather now i have gas and GERD problems too.

one big change i have noticed is, i dont get the adrenaline rush that i used to get, not even for a second, i have noticed this for months and have been thinking how do i get ot back since the begining when i fell ill, its gone missing, if i feel im gettgin some energy i start exercising in the past and  over worked myself,

it really honestly seems like i have AI and i dont know what to do to get it tested, what blood tests are done for this? i dont think drs are aware of this condition, also what can i do to help myself as in what diet shoud i have? what vit and suppliments can i take? and any advice on what exercises help?


thank you soo much, i really hope i have found the problem so i can work on getting better

[enzymelover]

Hope you're feeling soon?  Sorry. Obviously I meant to say, hope you're feeling better soon.
Otherwise, I might have been referring to a severe neuropathy or something!

Let us know how your tests come out. Good luck with those.

[enzymelover]

  Good. Glad the calcium and kidney tests are normal. My son's nutritionist was the one who first ordered adrenal testing, and found low cortisol, but more specialized testing for this is done by endocrinologists. If you are going to have a long wait to see a specialist, and your doc won't do an AM blood cortisol (I don't see why he can't?), there may be a nutritionist in your area who can do this for you, though you may have to pay for it without insurance help.  
A nutritionist may be more likely to have a saliva cortisol done too.

Hope you're feeling soon!

[mikehope]

hi again thanks for the replies


there was a mix up on the test results, i was told today! my calcium level is 2.57 which
is normal, kidney function tests show normal too, i did highlight my concerns to the Dr about the AI he said he cannot do those tests, a specialist can do them only,  Wil have to speak to a private Dr to get the AI tests done.

thank you for that, yea, my heart rate is slower then before, blood pressure is also lower then before just very mildly with the blood pressure, but heart rate used to be in the 70's and 80s and now its in the 50s and 60s. i get the heart palptations especially when im laying down, my blood pressure has been tested while laying and standing and been told its fine. The Dr has booked me for an ecg and he said my cholestrol has been slightly high still.

i get muscle spasms around my stomach areas, but mainly i'm just very weak,brainfog (which has gotten better i believe the vit b12 complex helped with this) get dizzy feel as if somthings missing inside me.

i believe you must be right. alcohol and stress in a short time may have caused all this, i will begin the vit b5 (took vit b12 complex for a few weeks,seemed to help) soon along with zinc too, will also do the gluten/grain free diet got nothing to lose, from what i have read, yoga type of practices and relaxing helps alot.

[enzymelover]

   It sounds like all the stress you experienced in a short span of time (and the alcohol) may have caused some autonomic dysfunction.  Getting worse with exercise, and taking a long time to recover is typical of autonomic disturbance, along with all the symptoms you've had. Do NOT over-exercise!
AI can be involved with this. My son has AI due to pituitary damage, and now also has severe orthostatic intolerance,autonomic dysfunction and a possible autoimmune condition.

The first thing a doctor will do to check adrenal function is see if your blood pressure drops significantly when you stand up. If not, they say your OK, but you should still have a morning cortisol, or if you can, a saliva cortisol test, for better accuracy. To support adrenal healing, definitely try the B5, with lots of protein and veggies, Vit.C, and no grains for awhile. Alcohol is very bad for the adrenals.
Calcitonin is the major hormone for regulating calcium levels, and is a parathyroid hormone antagonist. Some drugs and other substances will raise calcitonin,thus lowering calcium. Have you tried taking a significant amount of a calcium supplement, to maintain adequate calcium? And take magnesium with this also.

[mikehope]

the other thing is, reading about parthyroid, part of the abnormal test results are that the phosphate is increased ands the calcium is decreased, my phosphate levels were normal, thats not a typical result?

[mikehope]

wow, thank you all, thats amazing advice and information,

can PTH be cured at all? this may explain all the joint pains i have been having for the past few months, i did avoid milk products for a few weeks part of the attempt to lower cholestrol levels as they were slightly high, can this not cause the defficeincy in calcium, or should the pth control the level how little calcium intake is for some time?

i will be seeing my dr soon and will ask for the PTH test, will raise my concerns about the AI and the pituitary to be checked.

many thanks

[meniere135]

You say you have dots on your fingernails... that is usually zinc deficiency.  I would highly suggest the gluten free diet - zinc deficiency many times goes hand in hand with a gluten intolerance.   You might find yourself feeling a heck of a lot better within a few weeks of starting this diet.  No wheat, barley, rye or oats.  Eat rice and potatoes and protein and veggies and fruit.  Read up on it.  Gluten free vitamins need to be taken (I use Nature Made brand) and make sure any medicines you take are gluten free.  This should take a big edge off of the adrenal insufficiency.  Many foods contain hidden gluten.  So avoid boxed foods.  Just eat au natural!  Good luck!  If it helps, please let this forum know.  Many people find relief with this diet.

[allmymarbles]

Those with hypoglycemia often also are hypothyroid and suffer from adrenal insufficiency. The last can cause great fatigue, anxiety, and even panic attacks. The best test for the adrenals is the 24 hour saliva and urine test. In the meantime, you can take large doses of vitamin B5. (Adrenal insufficiency depletes B5.) I take 1000 mg. a day. You can start with 500 mg. There are no side effects, so if your tests are negative you won't have been harmed.

[rumpled]

PTH is separate from thyroid tests. They have entirely different functions as well. PTH only manages calcium.

The weight loss may be the addison's/AI, and a symptom...

U&E - I am not sure to be honest - I would think tests for infection and protein.

Addison's is the autoimmune form - can be adrenal or pituitary so they just have to determine if the source of the issue is primary (adrenal) or secondary (pituitary) but treatment is the same. ACTH is used to determine source. If you have a good doc (is yours - why did he not order PTH!!!!) they will order tons of tests and get the whole pic.

[mikehope]

another question,

if there it is AI then testing for addisons will also show positive for the addison disease?
and vice versa, is that correct to say?

[mikehope]

hi

thanks for the reply
i had a blood: test thyroid function test,calcium,phosphate, u &e,esr,fbc,lft, c-reactive protien

i was told by the nurse everything was fine apart from the calcium difficiency and the total protien was 86 when it should be 80.

i have been very weak,extremely lethargic, brain fogged for months. Also recently have been working on losing weight that might be causing the calcium difficiency, it also probably explains why my bones feel weak, hurt and the white dots on my finger nails that i noticed last few weeks.

is the thyoid function test good enough to test for parathyroidism?
does u & e test kidneys, if they are ok?

so whether you have addisons disease or AI, its almost the same thing, treatments the same too, just you may find alittle hope in AI then i addisons

thanks again

[rumpled]

Calcium should not be low - PTH should be tested. That is a parathyroid issue.  Look into hypoparathyroidism.

AI is basically addison's disease - there can be subtle differences for instance I cannot say I have addison's since my adrenals are out, so I have AI. But it all is treated the same.

Sitting and standing BP is checking for POTS - that is autonomic.

As far as I know, adrenals are not things that recover well... they work, or they are unhappy. You then replace their function - I don't know of a medication that supports them so well. The adrenals have a lot of different functions -androgen, minercorticosteroids, corticosteroids, so even different things you have to take and do effect the different functions.

[mikehope]

thanks for that


i had a few other blood tests:

u&e as normal, fbc was normal
i had calcium difficiency, also total protien level was 86 where its meant to be under 80
is that somthing to worry about?

i will push for those blood tests you mentioned, not sure if uk doctors know about A I, from what ive heard they look into addison disease but very rarely too.i remember on 2 occasions the drs did get me to sit and stand testing my blood pressure, im assuming thats what they were looking for.

so its normally about, helping the adrenals in their job and restoring any types of diffcencies?

[rumpled]

The blood tests are serum cortisol and ACTH at 8am, renin and aldosteron, dhea sulfate. Those are adrenal tests and the pituitary test that corresponds to the cortisol. There are also 24 hour urinary cortisol and saliva cortisol tests. A stimulation test is also done as well.

As for diet, high sodium is needed if there is low blood pressure. Testing has to be done to see if you need anything else.