Do I have adrenal fatigue?

[almer50]

Dear friends of the forum,

I would like to know if I have the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. My life is in a certain way going well but I have problems with my energy level.

My symptoms are:
-I have a lack of energy even if I sleep for nine or ten hours daily, I usually go to bed at one o’clock at night and I wake up at about half past eleven in the morning. I am not currently working.
-I suffer from insomnia. For me it is difficult to sleep well. Even if go to bed early I usually find difficult to sleep the first two or three hours. It is like having a light sleep and I don’t fall sound sleep.
-I am a bit better in the morning but in the afternoon or evening I am worse. I take vitamins and supplements but despite that I feel a lack of energy in the afternoon. It is even worse in the evening.
-When I am going to go to bed there are sometimes “topics of the day” even if they are positive ideas revolving my mind.
-I have periods of time during the year when I am worse. Then my libido goes down and I don’t have very much energy. This has happened me these last weeks when I had a cold.
-I suffer from hypothyroidism.

I would also like to know besides your opinion, if to have the adrenal fatigue problem you have in a compulsory way to have aches or pains in the body because I don’t suffer from that.

Best wishes,
Joseph Manuel

[Annabel]

Hi Joseph,

Let me go through those one by one:

-I have a lack of energy even if I sleep for nine or ten hours daily, I usually go to bed at one o’clock at night and I wake up at about half past eleven in the morning. I am not currently working.
One of the main symptoms of adrenal fatigue (or HPA axis dysregulation) is a disrupted cortisol cycle. This can result in being tired in the mornings and early afternoons, then having a burst of energy late in the evening.
https://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/cortisol-levels-change-throughout-day/

-I suffer from insomnia. For me it is difficult to sleep well. Even if go to bed early I usually find difficult to sleep the first two or three hours. It is like having a light sleep and I don’t fall sound sleep.
Check out some of Fawne’s sleep hygiene tips:
https://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/essential-guide-to-sleep-hygiene/
You might benefit from adopting a more regular routine, i.e. waking up earlier and then trying to get to sleep a little earlier. On a temporary basis, melatonin can help to adjust your sleep cycle.

-I am a bit better in the morning but in the afternoon or evening I am worse. I take vitamins and supplements but despite that I feel a lack of energy in the afternoon. It is even worse in the evening.
If you feel exhausted in the afternoon, and you don’t have a job to go to, try taking a nap! If your body is tired, don’t fight it.

-When I am going to go to bed there are sometimes “topics of the day” even if they are positive ideas revolving my mind.
This is that familiar ‘wired but tired’ feeling. If your thoughts are racing, try writing down your ideas as they happen. One of the things that keeps us awake is this worry that we might forget any ideas that we discover late at night. Write them down, and you can forget about them until morning.

-I have periods of time during the year when I am worse. Then my libido goes down and I don’t have very much energy. This has happened me these last weeks when I had a cold.
In the later stages of adrenal fatigue, there is something called the ‘pregnenolone steal’. Your body diverts resources towards cortisol production, at the expense of other hormones like the sex hormones. So it’s perfectly possible that chronic stress and a resulting hormonal imbalance can reduce your libido. This is particularly true when your body is under stress, as it is when you have a cold.

-I suffer from hypothyroidism.
There is a strong connection between the HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenals) and HPT axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid). The reality is that any hormonal imbalance is likely to affect both the adrenals and the thyroid.

If you think you have adrenal fatigue, why not get tested? A salivary cortisol test would give you a good idea of where your cortisol cycle stands, and at what stage (if any) of adrenal fatigue you’re at.

I hope that helps!

[almer50]

Dear Annabel,
I am really grateful for your nice message concerning the questions I asked about adrenal fatigue dysfunction.

I have to go to the endocrinologist doctor next March. I will try that she prescribes me an adrenal test. If I could know what it affects me it would be easier to set up a solution.

I would like to know if in all the cases patients with adrenal fatigue have muscular pains in the body. Is it possible to have adrenal fatigue without having muscular pains?

I forgot to tell you that I often suffer from constipation and a problem with the light of the sun. It is like an intolerance to see in the daylight when there is a strong sun shinning.

Thank you for your reply!

Kind regards

Joseph Manuel

[Annabel]

When you ask for an adrenal test, try to get the 24 hour salivary test. This way, you and your doctor will see the peaks and troughs of your daily cortisol cycle, rather than just an average.

Muscle pains are definitely a frequent symptom of adrenal fatigue, and I had them in my case. Does everyone experience them? I honestly don’t know.

Here are some tips that Fawne wrote about constipation:
https://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/tips-to-avoid-constipation-naturally/

As for your increased sensitivity to sunlight, there is a link there to adrenal fatigue. AF frequently leads to lower levels of aldosterone, the hormone that controls your sodium-potassium balance. Then this balance gets disturbed, it can prevent your pupils from constricting as much as they should in bright sunlight. That lets too much sunlight in, which explains the increased sensitivity.

[Shayshay]

I have asked my doctor about adrenal fatigue and they don’t think that’s the problem. I have unexplained swelling in all limbs in parts of my body, no energy, mental fog, & my thyroid levels are off. I have no thyroid, due to cancer in 2005. TSH has gone from 8.54 to .283 in a few months with a change in Rx dosage from 100 to 125. My T3 and T4 are normal. The ER ruled out my liver my kidneys and my heart or lungs as being problems. I also take effexor, clonidine, and buspar for depression and anxiety. I have add a series of tramatic events starting with a rollover car accident in 2013, kicking out my addict abusive husband, to my dad dying in 2015, and my brother dying suddenly in 2016, along with 4 major surgeries since 2013.

Any suggestions on who will test me, or is it worth the expense? I don’t have insurance.

[Author]

Posts