Actually, NET is the Norepinephrine Transporter, responsible for the uptake of norepinephrine. NET deficiency would lead to higher levels of norepinephrine (and epinephrine, by conversion).
So measuring from my blood plasma, typical numbers I was getting before going off supplements (which made all of this condition worse) were:
adrenalin/epinephrine: 115 pg/mL (scale goes 0-62 pg/mL)
norepinephrine: 271 pg/mL (scale goes 0-874 pg/mL)
One source online contains the claim "The active secretion of the adrenal medulla contains approximately 80 percent epinephrine and 20 percent norepinephrine; but this proportion is reversed in the sympathetic nerves, which contain predominantly
norepinephrine." Based on this, I don't understand the scales above at all. Why is norepinephrine on a scale that is 14 times higher than epinephrine?
What is consistent in my case is high adrenalin (on many tests) but low metanephrines and low VMA. High adrenalin should put VMA (it's direct metabolite) higher and should push the corresponding metanephrine higher. That does not happen with me, so there is a failure of metabolism here that accentuates the impact of high adrenalin. This may be independent of whatever causes the high adrenalin in the first place.
My 24 hour urine metanephrines are normal, but given the above that is what you would expect. I don't metabolize catecholamines to metanephrines correctly. I'm waiting back on the 24 hour urine catecholamines / epinephrine result. I'm hoping that will be high normal not well-into-redline area, because if it is too high then they start irradiating you everywhere looking for an adrenalin stimulating tumor.
A truly amazing thing to me is I went 14 months with this condition and never had a doctor think to check my pituitary hormones as a group. A Stanford endocrinologist checked just a few metabolites and remarked to me that I had high cortisol but then did not follow up on that at all. All of this could have been caught - and should have been caught - by allopaths right at the beginning of my illness. None of my osteopaths thought to check this. Nearly all of my osteopaths incorrectly diagnosed me with "adrenal fatigue" which was in fact a 100% incorrect diagnosis. My body was on fire from adrenalin and many pituitary hormones that were high, and they were trying to build the fire instead of putting it out.
You realize at some point that the medical system has become all about 15 minute shallow diagnosis. Get that patient in, run a few tests, do a few shallow passes on it, and then it is time for the next patient. What people with complex conditions need is a smart medically-trained doctor who will spend four hours of his time going through all of the tests and really thinking about possible causes. This will never happen, for almost any of us. If you are worth $100 million then I guess it will happen because you can buy a research staff. For ordinary humans, we are totally abandoned by this system, and we are 95% responsible for our own outcomes.