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Does this sound like Adrenal Fatigue?? HELP

Messages
5
Hello everyone,

Let me just start off my saying that I'm very happy I've found this great forum. I love that everyone is here to share and help one another.

[my medical history]:

I'm 28, male, healthy despite having a hyperactive thyroid.
I have been dealing with an overactive thyroid (Hyperthyroidism) for the last 5 years, just recently within the last year have finally gotten it under control. My FT3 and FT4 are both within range but my TSH is still a bit low but improving with every new set of lab results. I was initially placed on a high dose of methimazole (40mg) a day for several months this brought down my really high numbers which were almost double or even triple the normal range, to near middle of the range level numbers. But with this I started to experience a whole new set of problems. My personality and mood changed, i was getting cold all the time, I was easily startled, extreme anxiety, easy to panic, unable to deal with stress at all, always tired, my sleep pattern wasn't the same, very irregular heart beat, blood pressure that would spike high at random times, adrenaline surges on the slightest bit of excitement. My legs are so fatigued all the time and in pain also feel like there are needles in the back of my calves at times. Buzzing and vibrations in certain limbs and parts of my body. And most of all twitching muscles/nerves all over my body.

[Why I'm here]:

About 2 months ago I had a really bad scare that sent me to the emergency room. Prior to this day I've been waking up extremely lethargic and exhausted physically and mentally and this day was no different. I went to go see my girlfriend before I went to work, she said I looked completely drained, my under eyes looked gaunt and as if I didn't sleep in days and I was very pale looked sickly. My heart beat was irregular with skipped beats and I didn't feel like speaking to anyone, in fact just talking felt like a huge burden and the more I would talk the dryer my mouth was getting and felt weaker and weaker with every word I spoke. My mouth felt so dry even though I had been drinking water it wasn't helping.

After the date with my girlfriend I rushed to work because I was running late, I just didn't feel right I felt off, my balance was not there while walking and I felt like I was in a fog mentally. Once I arrived and changed into my work uniform I said hello to a coworker but my speech was slurred and my mouth felt like it had cotton in it. I got dizzy and had bad vertigo I thought I was about to faint and my heart rate went a bit high and very irregular once I started to panic. I told my coworker to bring me water, I drank 2 bottles of water and a bottle of Gatorade to try and see if it would help out my dry mouth and speech and it barely made a difference. Since this initial attack I've been getting them every few days especially after a stressful event. I've always been able to deal with stress without a problem but now it destroys me. It always starts with this mental fog and a feeling of trying to walk fast but being held back into this slow pace and vertigo and a feeling like my brain is disconnected from my body and then the extremely dry mouth starts up and then BOOOM! Panic and adrenaline and it would last for an hour or two and then finally start to subside little by little and by the end of one of these attacks I'm exhausted to the point of just wanting to sleep.

[The outcome]:

They did an ekg and blood tests and everything came back normal. And soon after I felt a little better and I went home but after this initial attack I had several of these panic attacks for no reason at all. I can't deal with any stress, my legs are in a excruciating amount of pain and fatigue. With just the slightest amount of physical or mental stressors I would feel drained for 2-3 days. I have no idea what is going on, I went to a rheumatologist and a general do to who did all sorts of blood tests and said everything came back normal. The doctors seem to think it's because of my thyroid is overactive but they won't listen that I've been dealing with a hyperactive thyroid for a very long time and these attacks are brand new.


Please any input would be greatly appreciated I have no idea where else to turn, the doctors try to state tha lt everything is normal and act as if this is in my head. I'm desperate for help and advice.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
@JasonJay
I have no idea where else to turn, the doctors try to state that everything is normal

I may not be able to offer you much, but you're in the right place:thumbsup:

Do you know what's underlying the hyperactive thyroid? Hashimoto's initially causes surges, crashes of thyroid levels. I don't know much about it in these early stages. The adrenals and thyroid are really closely related. Sorry, that's about all I can say. but I'm linking some adrenal pages you can look through. The youtube link is one I haven't watched yet, but I've listened to both of the presenters. There was just a Hashimoto's webinar last week


http://drknews.com/ My favorite Hashimoto's expert.

You can also listen to him from an earlier Thyroid Summit if you want, at following:
[Includes Ben Lynch, Kharrazian (from whom I learned about cross-reactive foods); Vojdani, Tom O Bryan ( esp re gluten); Rudy Dragone, . Also Mary Shoman, Denis Wilson. I haven’t listened to all of them]
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6oqhyfzb8d9vxg0/AAAKbyRZpARchofd69rizDjua

http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/adrenal_burnout.htm

http://blog.adrenalfatigue.org/ James L Wilson

http://www.tuberose.com/Adrenal_Glands.html
http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/autoimmune-disease
 
Messages
5
Thank you so much for your response Ahmo, I will study all of these links tonight when I get home from work.
 
Messages
15,786
@JasonJay - have you been checked for Orthostatic Intolerance? Do you feel better if you lie down more and stand up less, especially during episodes?
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,321
Location
Southern California
If I were you I would find an integrative or functional medicine doctor ASAP. Most regular MDs know very little about nutrition or the causes of imbalances in the body and instead will hand out drugs to manage symptoms. It is telling that you had some extreme symptoms after starting the methimazole. I wouldn't be surprised if it was causing some of your current problems. Yes, your hyperthyroidism needs to be addressed but it would be best if underlying causes could be sorted out.

It does sound like your adrenals may be involved as well, but again, I would not go to a standard MD or endocrinologist for help with them. One place to find an integrative medicine M.D. is acam.org. It would be good if you could educate yourself as much as possible about hyperthyroidism, the med you're taking and alternative treatments.

Here's a link to one article: http://www.naturalnews.com/031642_hyperthyroidism_hormones.html

There's a product called Moducare which has been very effective in the treatment of some disorders related to a malfunctioning immune system, which can include hyperthyroidism. You can google it for more info.
 
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5
Hello Valentijn and Mary,

Valentijn, yes I absolutely feel better if I'm laying down rather than sanding when these episodes hit me. It helps me greatly. I've never been checked for OI. But reading the symptoms they sound very accurate except they don't say anything about the dry mouth.

In every single one of my episodes it would always come on with a dry mouth and a feeling of it being difficult to talk for long periods of time. Like every word that comes out of my mouth during these episodes just makes them worse and I get extremely pale and my feet and fingers get very cold and my veins seem to get very blue and are way more visible. Not like there is blood pumping troufh then they just look darker and the ones that aren't even usually seen like in my hands tend to come out during these episodes.

Mary, I have been taking methinazole on and off for the past 5+ years. I'm not sure if it's due to that. I am on a small maintanence dose now down to 5mg a night. At first I thought it was the same thing, a reaction to the build up of methimazole in my system while taking in consistently for the past year down from 40mg now to 5mg. Maybe once I get on an even lower dose I will feel a bit better.

I have no idea what is going on with my body this is all new to me I'm just trying to find possible answers. Every single day I keep getting the dry mouth and panic attacks they range from minor lasting only a few minutes to full blown that are very scary.

The thing that has helped greatly with my leg fatigue and vertigo is daily supplementation of COQ-10 it gives me energy and my leg pain and body fatigue is so much better. I'm so thankful for this! Now I just need to figure out why my mouth is getting severely dry even though I drink tons of water and why this leads to my "attacks"
 
Messages
15,786
@JasonJay - Can you test your heart rate, blood pressure, and/or oxygen saturation when you've been standing (or sitting up, if that's hard enough) for a while?

Some people will have a large and immediate rise in heart rate when going from laying or sitting to standing, and that's called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.

But Neurally Mediated Hypotension will result in blood pressure and/or pulse pressure falling after having been standing up for a longer period of time. For a mild case it might take hours to hit.

As soon as you have any problems thinking or talking, it might be helpful to immediately sit or lie down. This can be awkward in some situations, but is better than a collapse.
 
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5
Yeah I would love to have the opportunity but it's very hard to do at work to just lay down or sit so I kind of have to suffer trough it. Another thing when these attacks happen I get really weak and my muscles feel so fatigued and then every single time I have to urinate a lot! Even if I didn't drink that much it's as if my bladder just fills up and I have to urinate really heavily.