Adrenal Fatigue and treatment

[Righthammer]

Just wondering if any of you have had any sucess with treating adrenal fatigue.I have had the Adrenal Stress Profile from Genova which showed Adrenal fatigue-non adapted response.
I have tried Adrenal stress end supplements which have not helped .Just wondering if anyone has managed to treat or relieve some symtoms of this with low dose Cortef or hydrocortsone ?

 

[caledonia]

Adrenal Stress End (A Teitlebaum product)

Ingredients
Amount/Serving %DV
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid and from rose hips) 150mg 250%
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine HCl) 50 mg 2,500%
Pantothenic Acid (as calcium D-pantothenate) 100 mg 1,000%
Adrenal Polypeptide Fractions 400mg *
Betaine 250 mg *
L-Tyrosine 250 mg *
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) 200mg *
Adrenal Cortex Extract 33 mg *

Free-form concentrate predigested by enzymatic action, creating a highly absorbable form of glandular concentrate.

Other Ingredients: gelatin, clove flower bud, magnesium sterate, silicon dioxide, and titanium dioxide color.

=-=-=-=-==-=-=-

Product did not work - do you mean you were unable to tolerate it due to side effects, or it did nothing? How long were you on it?

I have adrenal fatigue too - as shown on a 24 hour cortisol saliva test.

After a couple years of experimentation due to not tolerating even the smallest dose of various adrenal supplements (nervous, heart palps, insomnia, hair falling out), I have finally settled on a very tiny dose of EcoAdrenal 200 (adrenal glandular) 1 time a day, and 1/2 tsp of sea salt dissolved in a glass of water and vitamin C (not mixed together - yuk), 3 times a day.

I've been on it a couple of months. Within 2-3 weeks I noticed I was holding chiropractic adjustments better. Now after a couple of months I am noticing more motivation and creativity.

 

[Righthammer]

Product did not work - do you mean you were unable to tolerate it due to side effects, or it did nothing? How long were you on it?

I have been taking this for a couple of months after one false start previously. Still experience heart palps after taking it and have noticed no real gains from taking it ..ie still waking in the middle of the night with heart racing etc ..

I am just thinking maybe it is time for a change of supplement or to try a low steroid dose as my hormone levels seem to be all over the place.

 

[caledonia]

My suggestion would be to discontinue until you are back to a baseline (no more palps, etc.)

Then you could either try various individual supps one at a time, starting with a very very low dose and gradually increasing to tolerance, or like the other poster is doing, go the Cortef route with a very slick endocrinologist.

Do you have a naturopath to work with?

ps. my dose for the Ecoadrenal is 1/264 of one pill - basically the amount that sticks to the sides of the capsule if you pour some in and pour it back out again. You can buy empty gel capsules at the health food store to subdivide pills in to micro-doses.

pps. I also have nighttime wakeups with my heart racing, which started around the time I started experimented with adrenal supps. Apparently I have these for a different reason, such as some sort of apnea. I got tested for that and came out negative. I use a wedge pillow and it helps some.

 

[Kati]

I am very interested in this discussion as I have been told I need to see an endocrinologist tomorrow following blood tests I've had 2 days ago- it's either my thyroid or my cortisol. Since I am new at all this, I'd be curious at what the recent litterature has to say about adrenal fatigue as it relates to CFS etc...

Thanks, Kati

 

[susan]

I echo the same words...dont go to an endocrinologist. Recently one visited our country on lecture tour. He said his wife fell into a fatigued state after having a baby. She could not get well. All his expert endocrinolgical skills went out the window after he he looked into the adrenal fatigue and has now a changed view of adrenal issues.

I was educated by Clymer Healing, experts in Adrenal Fatigue and CFS...http://www.healing.org/ They do email and phone consultations and are very compassionate people. They organise saliva testing. I take Isocort. ... a natural glandular as I cant take Cortef....burns my stomach plus their licorice. Made a huge difference.

 

[Kati]

I still have no understanding as of why I should avoid endocrinologists.
To be honest, I am not going the "natural" or "alernative" way- However I would like to know what is the current research and recommended treatment and why the treatment currently recommended by endo is wrong.

 

[SaraM]

cortef

Cortef took care of my adrenal fatigue beautifully.

 

[Dreambirdie]

Hydrocortisone caused a HUGE setback for me--OVER-stimulating my adrenals and then crashing them. It is the WORST thing I've ever taken in my life.

 

[Sing]

Righthammer and Kati, there have been loads of posts on this subject of hypoadrenia. If you go to the Search button up on the mid right, and put in Cortef, cortisol for example, clicking on both posts and threads, you will find a lot, lot of them!

Good subject for a number of us!

Cecelia

 

[Dreambirdie]

dangerous advice on the yahoo adrenal forum

I took cortef for a period of time, working with a doctor who specialized in adrenal and other hormone problems. I took the cortef and ramped up slowly, then took 27.5mg a day for about 9 months, then tapered off. It worked. I no longer have the adrenal problems.

There is also a yahoo group:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/

which is excellent. I learned as much from this group and especially the moderator as I did anywhere else--and certainly more than I learned from endocrinologists.

You are lucky, Wildaisy, that cortef was the right thing for you.

I found the advice this Yahoo adrenal group gave to be very dangerous. The moderators are NOT health professionals but behave like doctors, prescribing and dosing, as if they know what they are doing. Valerie Taylor, the lead moderator, is actually a dog groomer! The advice they regularly give their forum members is:
TAKE MORE HC. And they tend to be rather hostile to and combative with anyone who has complaints about HC not working for them.

I wrote Mary Shomon to ask her about that group (she's the author of many books on the thyroid), and she informed me that she had gotten quite a number of emails from people who had ended up in the emergency room with cardiac arrhythmia, close to a heart attack, from taking advice from the yahoo adrenal and thyroid forums.

So my message to anyone who ventures there is BE FOREWARNED!

 

[Kati]

Thank you Dreambirdie, to me the advice of an endocrinologist prevails over the advice of a dog groomer. I know the dr I am being sent to is highly rated by other patients and her colleagues.

I also think there is more testing to be done beyond AM cortisol- to understand where the deficieny is coming from.

I guess I will find that out in less than 24 hours...

Whatever works for you is the right treatment...

 

[cfs since 1998]

I was educated by Clymer Healing, experts in Adrenal Fatigue and CFS...http://www.healing.org/ They do email and phone consultations and are very compassionate people. They organise saliva testing. I take Isocort. ... a natural glandular as I cant take Cortef....burns my stomach plus their licorice. Made a huge difference.

I was a patient of theirs for about a year.

The first ASI (Adrenal Stress Index) test I took, both my cortisol and DHEA were very low. They suggested to take supplements of licorice, which naturally raises cortisol, DHEA, Mil-Adregen, adrenal cortex extract and eventually Seriphos. I was able to get my cortisol up but not my DHEA.

The problem was I felt I was being overstimulated (heart racing in the middle of the night, etc) and needed massive doses of Seriphos in order to keep it under control, and this got very expensive. I did feel a little improvement on their protocol, maybe 15 to 20%, but at a point I felt I got stuck and just couldn't or wouldn't improve further. Like there was a barrier I couldn't break through (if I have XMRV that's probably why).

I do not recommend taking hydrocortisone unless you have a true adrenal "disease" (e.g. Addison's disease) because it sets up a negative feedback loop and can further weaken your adrenal glands.

 

[Kati]

Wildaisy I agree that one has to do their homework before seeing a doctor- sometimes you have to trust them with your life- for instance, if you're unconscious- or during a surgery.

I am always wondering what's behind someone that has an all or nothing behavior especially in regards to a treatment. Bad experiences usually lead to avoidance behaviors.

With critical level blood work, sometimes you have to trust they are doing the right thing and go with the flow.

What complicate things with PWC is that drs often have a bias against the disease, and don't understand the pathology.

I think there is no right or wrong answer here, just a big need for me to get educated in this complex topic of endocrinology and knowing what questions to ask and what tests should be performed next.

 

[Dreambirdie]

Hi Wildaisy--

MY EXPERIENCE, and the feedback I got from Mary Shomon, regarding the yahoo adrenal forum--what I saw and read with my own eyes was--that Valerie (the main moderator) SURELY DOES PRESCRIBE and DOSE people's HC, and then covers herself with a disclaimer to protect herself. Like I mentioned before, quite a number of people have written Mary complaining about EMERGENCY ROOM visits that resulted from dosing too high on their meds--due to advice from those forums. I would NOT NOT NOT take ANY advice from them EVER. They are dangerous and very fanatic in their views.

 

[Dreambirdie]

I had exactly the opposite experience with Cortef. It worked for me and solved long-standing health problems.

So--we agree to disagree.

Yup, we surely do!

I think you felt comfortable on the yahoo forum, because Cortef worked for you. Valerie didn't take very kindly to those who had a hard time with HC! She insisted that because it was "made by your own body," that meant it couldn't do you any harm. Once she told someone that even a 100 mg would not hurt them!

I lurked on that forum a lot, looking for info on adrenal fatigue, and I was often shocked by what I saw. I documented a couple pages worth of posts about Valerie's and Dianne's prescribing and dosing, (telling people how much to take and when to take each dose, and even supplying a source list of where to buy the HC w/o a prescription from overseas), along with their insistence that HC could "do no harm," which I forwarded to many doctors and health professionals, to warn them about that yahoo forum. I tossed this out a while ago, but I did find one page in a pile of papers, with one of Valeries's typical responses:

POST FROM YAHOO FORUM MEMBER: "I am also questioning if high doses of HC are best for EVERYONE. We are all different in our biochemistry. Maybe some of us are just too sensitive to HC to be able to handle a larger dose."

VALERIE'S RESPONSE: (with all her typos included) "OK I have to step in here. FIRST, 40 mg a day is NOT a high dose of HC. In a stressful situatioin your body can make 200-3000 mg of cortisol in a HEARTBEAT. SO whether NORMAL reaplacement doses are for everyoine.. WHY WOULDN'T they be? We are only taking about replacing a BIOIDENTICAL hormon that you are low in. Intolerance of ti is ALWAYS from improper dosing in my experience. Or something ELSE goig on perhaps some supplement or food you couls be reacting to. HC ios NOT a drug that some people migh tbe sensitive to, though some MAY be sensitive to the fikllers in the tablet."

IMO, this is VERY extreme, inaccurate and dangerous advice, and there is A LOT of it on that Yahoo forum adrenal forum. I would NOT recommend it.