what are the symptoms of adrenal stress?

[calogero]

Hello everyone , I'm sorry for my English , I am a man 24yo Italian , since I was a child I have symptoms such as fatigue , excessive shyness , anxiety and paranoids , and I always had a strange and very slow metabolism . when I was 17 I had mononucleosis , and for many years I have had the typical symptoms of chronic fatigue ( hyperhidrosis , hypersomnia , the general fear , excessive anxiety , memory lapses , difficulty concentrating , frequentely urination , bowel movement frequentely , etc. ) ,
but doing physical activity many symptoms decreased , but other symptoms have become very strong, in the last two years I have suffered from symptoms such as uncontrollable anxiety , social phobia , hyperactivity of the brain , I feel electric , excessive nervousness , fear general , memory lapses and no concentration , dizziness , restless sleep , muscle catabolism and increase fat (I have the physics of an old man ) no force , hyperphagia , hair loss .
I did a lot of testing and analysis , and I went to many doctors , but they never found nothing abnormal .
So two months ago I discovered ASI test and I did it, I have attach my result,
I have many doubts , I hope someone help me understand why this happens to me,
can a deficiency of DHEA cause all these symptoms ?
or even the lack of DHEA is a symptom of something I have yet to discover ?
tanks a lot
Calogero

 

[calogero]

can someone help me please

 

[Undisclosed]

Hello @calogero

Welcome to Phoenix Rising

I have moved your thread to the 'Adrenal Dysfunction' forum -- you might get more responses there. You also might want to use our search function to search 'Adrenal Stress' -- there are a few threads about adrenal stress.

 

[drob31]

DHEA has an antogonistic relationship with cortisol, meaning they tend to lower eachother. Low DHEA would theoretically allow for higher cortisol levels. There isn't really enough data from this saliva test to go by, but some would say you are in "stage 2," adrenal fatigue, or "stage 1 burnout". Although, adrenal fatigue doesn't exist. And what I mean by this, is that your adrenal glands don't get "fatigued," but rather, they are doing what they are told by the pituitary, which takes it's order from the hypothalamus.

There are a few phenomena that can cause high cortisol and low DHEA/DHEA-S, including something called pregnenolone steal. This is where pregnenolone gets used almost exclusively for cortisol instead of being allowed to convert enzymatically to other hormones such as DHEA. DHEA converts to testosterone and estrogen. The testes make 90% of testosterone in guys (I'm assuming you're male), while DHEA is converted to roughly the other 10% (some is converted to estrogen.) If your testosterone levels are close to normal range because your testes are producing it, then that 10% may not matter as much, however DHEA is an important hormone, and has many functions such as having an affect on mood and energy levels, and even the immune system.

The question is, how much pregenolone do you have, and since pregnenolone comes from cholesterol, what do your cholesterol levels look like? Are you taking anything to lower cholesterol or any other prescription drugs? There are allot of factors here. Do you have any more labwork? What about DHEA-S?

I would advise you to work with a doctor here. You'll need to find an adrenal literate doctor, which are rare. Without knowing what's going on with your immune system or endocrine system, and having a CBC with differential, it will be hard for a doctor to advise you.

If I only knew this data and could not get anything else, I would be willing to bet your estrogen is low (guys really need estrogen too) along with your DHEA, and possibly even your testosterone is low. And, if I had to make a choice I would supplement with DHEA to treat the symptoms empirically in order to provide relief while looking for the root cause. DHEA may help to lower cortisol, but you could also add something in like Seriphos during the time of the day it is elevated.

In males, DHEA will convert more to estrogen than testosterone, so not only would it theoretically raise DHEA levels, it would also raise estrogen and testosterone levels, and this may help with brain fog and mood. Since we know DHEA is very low, we can deduce that testosterone overall is reduced by 10%. If the aromatase enzyme is efficently converting some of the remaining testosterone to close to normal values of estradiol (meaning estradiol (e2) isn't low), it would sacrafice potentially another 10% of your testosterone to do so. So theoretically it could lower your total test by 20%.

Not only that but high cortisol can cause your cells to become resistant to all hormones, including cortisol itself. This also includes testosterone, so if testosterone was reduced by 20%, your cells may still be resistant to it, causing it to feel much lower. Your saliva test doesn't show cortisol to be that high, but the problem is 1 test isn't enough data. It could be going much higher on other days.

 

[calogero]

hello thanks for your answer , I did blood tests of many hormones , testosterone is at normal levels , I'm using from 3 months an antidepressant and anxiolytic but do not work , I am following a diet low glycemic index , but even this it works, purtroppo non conosco medici che curano le surrenali, perche in italia non abbiamo questo tipo di dottori.
Do you think I could heal with the integration of DHEA , or I have to continue with the drugs ?
tank you
Calogero

 

[drob31]

hello thanks for your answer , I did blood tests of many hormones , testosterone is at normal levels , I'm using from 3 months an antidepressant and anxiolytic but do not work , I am following a diet low glycemic index , but even this it works, purtroppo non conosco medici che curano le surrenali, perche in italia non abbiamo questo tipo di dottori.
Do you think I could heal with the integration of DHEA , or I have to continue with the drugs ?
tank you
Calogero

If your testosterone is normal, that suggests your testes are producing adequate testosterone and the loss from the DHEA conversion doesn't matter as much, however DHEA is still important. That's actually good news in a way because it means your testes are working and your HPT-Axis is working as well.

Also, regarding your first post, Mono can be one of the triggers of CFS. On here, it seems many people have a different "flavor" of CFS. Check out this article:

http://phoenixrising.me/archives/26311

Also, here's a good article about DHEA:

http://www.drdebe.com/articles/dhea-the-real-story

I would suggest working with a doctor to correct it but sometimes you have to guide the doctor. Tell them you need to fix your deficiency by supplementing with DHEA while looking for the cause, and see what they say.

 

[calogero]

thanks for the reply , you have been very kind