- Messages
- 9
Hello there
First of all, I'm really sorry to post here as I don't think I have ME and probably not CFS (though I'm incredibly fatigued and really struggling recently).
I found some informative threads in my search to recover from my current predicament on this website, and I'm asking for help - I'm sorry to be selfish as I know I'm not really offering much here - I'm just in a bad place and am rather desperate for opinions and insight!
If relevant - Blood Pressure is currently 124 / 72 - 80bpm heart rate.
*SHORT VERSION*
Note: My low-ish sodium diet during a year of heavy exercise probably put even further stress on my adrenals
*Some background info*
Last year was incredibly stressful for me, really high stress levels. Perhaps it would've been fine, but I was doing a ridiculously grueling weights and running routine on top of that stress, while cutting out all my "relaxing / non productive" activities at the same time. My diet at the time was "healthy" I thought, but seems to have been very low in sodium. mostly meat, fruit and veg. Sometimes pesto and cheese so I was getting some sodium.
I quickly got depressed and started to wake up after 4-5 hours sleep, unable to sleep again. I stupidly pushed through the tiredness and depression for months on end and finally gave up on exercise in December. I slowly, through the month, started to feel more relaxed in the mornings. I'd wake up and then fall asleep again and feel SO REFRESHED after the second bit of sleep. I had a week off work in January and my depression pretty much lifted there - I'd still wake early but fall asleep again and feel much better. note - I took a super dose b6 supp for 2 days at the start of January which caused the severest depression ever for a few days - I seemed to recover a few days later though.
I would wake up, read for 30-60minutes, then fall back asleep. This continued throughout January - this meant I was spending 10-12 hours in bed to sleep 7-8 hours (I would read before bed also). I knew I was overtrained and overstressed, but I was recovering so it seemed fine.
I decided to take (Now Foods brand) magnesium citrate on and off during February - I only took them maybe once a week. I'd take 400mg at a time which gave me diarrhea, so then some days I took 200mg instead. I noticed during February sometimes I'd be awake until 3am instead of falling asleep at my usual time, but didn't really attribute it to anything - I'd just sleep until later in the day (working evenings).
Around February 20th I decided I really wanted to sleep through - I was often under eating throughout Jan and Feb because I'd spend a lot of the day in bed so was probably missing out on one meal. I started to take the Magnesium for 3 days in a row, and after the third day I developed SEVERE, HORRENDOUS anxiety.
Of course, I do not know if the Magnesium caused this reaction - my best guess is that the Magnesium caused an electrolyte imbalance - I had diarrhea one of the days, and had also probably been undereating for a long time. My diet was also low in sodium.
I ended up being awake for 90+ hours - every time I tried to sleep I'd get a kind of odd jolty feeling and wake up. On around the second day of wakefulness I had some salt water and salted yogurt at the same time and the anxiety almost IMMEDIATELY went away. I felt far calmer - it was around 6am at this point, though I still didn't manage to fall asleep. I got out of bed and figured salt was the key, so I went overboard with the salt water and dehydrated myself. I decided to avoid all magnesium rich foods as I thought magnesium was the culprit. Ended up awake for almost 5 days and finally slept through (6-7 hours) on that last night. I felt a lot better but not great on that day.
Ever since I've been in a state of CONSTANT horrrrrible anxiety - I can only sleep for 4-5 hours a night, it's just so exhausting! I desperately need to catch up on sleep because of the year of over training / stress but I can't seem to. My stressful year was partly in recovery from social anxiety - I just feel so depressed and unable to socialise and I think the way I look doesn't garner any empathy from others - I feel so completely alone at the moment
I feel awful asking for help but I really would like some ideas.
*What has occasionally helped*
- Soup - a tomato based, chicken butter nut soup, with around 1000mg sodium per portion. Occasionally I've had this soup and felt miles better
- Nuts - I've had occasions in which i've eaten nuts and had relief from anxiety within about an hour.
- Fasting - I had to fast for a blood test - I drink 750ml (maybe 1/4 tsp salt or less) salted water with lemon over 2.5 hours and then all of a sudden my depression lifted - I actually woke up feeling good the next day. For two days after that I felt more relaxed in the morning and was able to sleep after my early wakeup.
I need so much to figure this out. I was feeling wired for the first few months and I NEED to get my cortisol and adrenaline levels in check. I can feel myself getting more and more exhausted - I still believe magnesium is key in solving the anxiety, but my electrolytes seem all messed up, despite serum levels being normal.
I have been eating as many magnesium rich foods as I can, and also eating lots of sodium - I have also been under-eating since the anxiety started for most days because I read so much stuff about adrenals I was trying to cut so much out - I see suggestions to limit potassium, eat lots of salt, limit calcium, eat magnesium rich foods (which are usually high postassium. I have also seen advice to limit water intake, so I have become scared of drinking too much water.
My resolution recently has just been to eat as much as I can and keep it healthy including lots of magnesium rich greens. If I need to eat a sandwich or something unhealthy to get calories then I'll do it.
*Symptoms*
Should I try a different type of magnesium supplement and start really slowly? I think my reaction in the first week of anxiety made things worse - overdoing the salt water, cutting magnesium foods out, all that stuff. It likely stressed my body even more.
I tried magnesium glycinate for a few days but it seemed to make me really depressed (probably dehydrated), I was away staying with a friend for a weekend though so I can't tell if that extra stress and sporadic unhealthy eating caused further issues too. I have also found relief after a large evening meal on quite a few occasions. Undereating is certainly a PART of this, because I know it must tax my body and adrenals, so I'm going to force food down despite my appetite.
I apologise for calling you guys out in advance, but I've seen you all offer insightful information for people doing B12 things that can cause electrolyte imbalance and anxiety, so I'd really appreciate any thoughts you have. @Gondwanaland @WoolPippi @ahmo
My recent blood test results are in "normal ranges", with high 7:45am blood cortisol. The doctor didn't tell me the number for cortisol. I live in the UK.
Calcium 2.38 or 2.15 "corrected"
Sodium 144
Potassium 4.0
B12 - 476
Creatinite 95
Urea 6.7
eGFR 82
Serum magnesium = 0.88 mmo/l
I'm not anxious about anything in particular - the anxiety is a symptom - I need to relax in order to recover, and I need to sleep, but I cannot do these things without correcting whatever imbalance is at play. I suspect undereating and a magnesium deficiency, but I'm so scared to supplement magnesium!!
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I'm really keen to get through this before the stress pushes my body further down.
First of all, I'm really sorry to post here as I don't think I have ME and probably not CFS (though I'm incredibly fatigued and really struggling recently).
I found some informative threads in my search to recover from my current predicament on this website, and I'm asking for help - I'm sorry to be selfish as I know I'm not really offering much here - I'm just in a bad place and am rather desperate for opinions and insight!
If relevant - Blood Pressure is currently 124 / 72 - 80bpm heart rate.
*SHORT VERSION*
- Stressful year - too much gym / work / no fun - developed depression / morning insomnia
- Recovered slowly after quitting gym, sleep improved slowly, depression lifted.
- Took magnesium Citrate (Now brand) 400mg/200mg/400mg respectively 3 days in a row - unimaginably severe anxiety ensues.
- Awake for 4-5 days straight, eventually slept
- Salt water helped at first, but not afterwards. Have lost sense of thirst and appetite comes and goes
- Frequent urination if I don't eat lots of salt. Electrolyte and water balance seems off.
- I'm eating as much magnesium as I can, but I believe I MUST be deficient in this constant state of stress - scared taking a new supplement will hurt me further.
- Cannot recover from my stress / sleep issues without figuring this out - the anxiety is unbearable at times.
Note: My low-ish sodium diet during a year of heavy exercise probably put even further stress on my adrenals
*Some background info*
Last year was incredibly stressful for me, really high stress levels. Perhaps it would've been fine, but I was doing a ridiculously grueling weights and running routine on top of that stress, while cutting out all my "relaxing / non productive" activities at the same time. My diet at the time was "healthy" I thought, but seems to have been very low in sodium. mostly meat, fruit and veg. Sometimes pesto and cheese so I was getting some sodium.
I quickly got depressed and started to wake up after 4-5 hours sleep, unable to sleep again. I stupidly pushed through the tiredness and depression for months on end and finally gave up on exercise in December. I slowly, through the month, started to feel more relaxed in the mornings. I'd wake up and then fall asleep again and feel SO REFRESHED after the second bit of sleep. I had a week off work in January and my depression pretty much lifted there - I'd still wake early but fall asleep again and feel much better. note - I took a super dose b6 supp for 2 days at the start of January which caused the severest depression ever for a few days - I seemed to recover a few days later though.
I would wake up, read for 30-60minutes, then fall back asleep. This continued throughout January - this meant I was spending 10-12 hours in bed to sleep 7-8 hours (I would read before bed also). I knew I was overtrained and overstressed, but I was recovering so it seemed fine.
I decided to take (Now Foods brand) magnesium citrate on and off during February - I only took them maybe once a week. I'd take 400mg at a time which gave me diarrhea, so then some days I took 200mg instead. I noticed during February sometimes I'd be awake until 3am instead of falling asleep at my usual time, but didn't really attribute it to anything - I'd just sleep until later in the day (working evenings).
Around February 20th I decided I really wanted to sleep through - I was often under eating throughout Jan and Feb because I'd spend a lot of the day in bed so was probably missing out on one meal. I started to take the Magnesium for 3 days in a row, and after the third day I developed SEVERE, HORRENDOUS anxiety.
Of course, I do not know if the Magnesium caused this reaction - my best guess is that the Magnesium caused an electrolyte imbalance - I had diarrhea one of the days, and had also probably been undereating for a long time. My diet was also low in sodium.
I ended up being awake for 90+ hours - every time I tried to sleep I'd get a kind of odd jolty feeling and wake up. On around the second day of wakefulness I had some salt water and salted yogurt at the same time and the anxiety almost IMMEDIATELY went away. I felt far calmer - it was around 6am at this point, though I still didn't manage to fall asleep. I got out of bed and figured salt was the key, so I went overboard with the salt water and dehydrated myself. I decided to avoid all magnesium rich foods as I thought magnesium was the culprit. Ended up awake for almost 5 days and finally slept through (6-7 hours) on that last night. I felt a lot better but not great on that day.
Ever since I've been in a state of CONSTANT horrrrrible anxiety - I can only sleep for 4-5 hours a night, it's just so exhausting! I desperately need to catch up on sleep because of the year of over training / stress but I can't seem to. My stressful year was partly in recovery from social anxiety - I just feel so depressed and unable to socialise and I think the way I look doesn't garner any empathy from others - I feel so completely alone at the moment
I feel awful asking for help but I really would like some ideas.*What has occasionally helped*
- Soup - a tomato based, chicken butter nut soup, with around 1000mg sodium per portion. Occasionally I've had this soup and felt miles better
- Nuts - I've had occasions in which i've eaten nuts and had relief from anxiety within about an hour.
- Fasting - I had to fast for a blood test - I drink 750ml (maybe 1/4 tsp salt or less) salted water with lemon over 2.5 hours and then all of a sudden my depression lifted - I actually woke up feeling good the next day. For two days after that I felt more relaxed in the morning and was able to sleep after my early wakeup.
I need so much to figure this out. I was feeling wired for the first few months and I NEED to get my cortisol and adrenaline levels in check. I can feel myself getting more and more exhausted - I still believe magnesium is key in solving the anxiety, but my electrolytes seem all messed up, despite serum levels being normal.
I have been eating as many magnesium rich foods as I can, and also eating lots of sodium - I have also been under-eating since the anxiety started for most days because I read so much stuff about adrenals I was trying to cut so much out - I see suggestions to limit potassium, eat lots of salt, limit calcium, eat magnesium rich foods (which are usually high postassium. I have also seen advice to limit water intake, so I have become scared of drinking too much water.
My resolution recently has just been to eat as much as I can and keep it healthy including lots of magnesium rich greens. If I need to eat a sandwich or something unhealthy to get calories then I'll do it.
*Symptoms*
- Severe anxiety and depression - I seem to get so easily dehydrated although I don't really feel thirsty.
- Obsessive search for answers - I keep coming back to adrenal issues or adrenal fatigue which is possible because of overtraining, but the fatigue is only getting worse because of the constant adrenaline or cortisol response - I can feel myself tiring at certain points in the day now.
- Occasional moments or days or evenings or feeling much much better, depending on different factors
- Too little salt is bad, too much salt is also bad. It's so hard to find the balance
Should I try a different type of magnesium supplement and start really slowly? I think my reaction in the first week of anxiety made things worse - overdoing the salt water, cutting magnesium foods out, all that stuff. It likely stressed my body even more.
I tried magnesium glycinate for a few days but it seemed to make me really depressed (probably dehydrated), I was away staying with a friend for a weekend though so I can't tell if that extra stress and sporadic unhealthy eating caused further issues too. I have also found relief after a large evening meal on quite a few occasions. Undereating is certainly a PART of this, because I know it must tax my body and adrenals, so I'm going to force food down despite my appetite.
I apologise for calling you guys out in advance, but I've seen you all offer insightful information for people doing B12 things that can cause electrolyte imbalance and anxiety, so I'd really appreciate any thoughts you have. @Gondwanaland @WoolPippi @ahmo
My recent blood test results are in "normal ranges", with high 7:45am blood cortisol. The doctor didn't tell me the number for cortisol. I live in the UK.
Calcium 2.38 or 2.15 "corrected"
Sodium 144
Potassium 4.0
B12 - 476
Creatinite 95
Urea 6.7
eGFR 82
Serum magnesium = 0.88 mmo/l
I'm not anxious about anything in particular - the anxiety is a symptom - I need to relax in order to recover, and I need to sleep, but I cannot do these things without correcting whatever imbalance is at play. I suspect undereating and a magnesium deficiency, but I'm so scared to supplement magnesium!!
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I'm really keen to get through this before the stress pushes my body further down.
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