[BenP]

This sounds similar to what I was experiencing. It was like after eating lunch my body decided it had no energy at all. I read up a bit on Dr Lams website and it suggested that severe fatigue at this time of the day was metabolism related, and that you really need a good, experienced naturopath or holistic doctor guiding you to avoid the crashes.

I had a lot of problems with anxiety too, my panic attacks were increasing the more I went on treating AF, until after a few months I had a severe crash where I couldn’t get out of bed for 3-4 days. But my anxiety disappeared and was replaced with mild depression. I decided the anxiety must be linked to my energy problems.

Anyway, I tired a new naturopath who got me tested for pyroluria and it came back with a positive result. The thing with pyroluria is it blocks the nerve receptors from absorbing zinc and vit B6. This causes problems with energy production that then puts increased load on your adrenals to generate energy, until they burn out.

Anxiety and feelings of not being able to cope are also common as the nervous system is unable to process stress, it heads straight to the only working response left, fight or flight.

A few give aways for this problem are white spots under the finder nails (I’d get one small dot come up once every few weeks) skin rashes and dry sores in the corner of the mouth. I had heaps of others too, like eye infections and mouth ulcers that wouldn’t heal.

[BenP]

So I am one month into my pyroluria treatment and feeling a lot better so far. Anxiety and nervousness went in the first week, feeling a lot more positive and thinking more about the future than dwelling on past problems. Physical energy levels are up, I can get 4-5 very productive days a week in now, but still need 1-2 days downtime to recover. Hopefully that continues to improve.

It makes a lot of sense that the zinc and B6 deficiencies were putting strain on my adrenals.

[BenP]

Thanks, yes, I’m eating heaps, breakfast and dinner is twice the size, and I’ve added in a big protein shake in the afternoon.

But there was something else going on, it felt like I was eating all this nutrients and getting no gain. And the anxiety attacks were getting out of control, so I really felt something else was underlying this issue. I found a good naturopath who did some more tests, he came up with pyroluria and undermethylation. This seems to have been contributing to digestive problems causing candida overgrowth, and then the load was being shifted to my adrenals. So he has given me some treatment for the pyroluria and some support for the adrenals, once the candida and pyroluria are under control we are going to work on a program for building up my adrenals.

Pyroluria explains the anxiety and shakes, along with other issues I’ve been having like dry eye lids and my general state on nervousness/edginess.

[BenP]

A follow up question, I had been improving very well up until a week ago. My energy levels were way up and I could eat small amounts of white bread and fried chips without getting a reaction. But then I had a crash a few days ago and have been struggling with very low energy and low blood sugar shakes, particularly at night. Is this normal, to have periodic crashes as you are recovering, or am I doing something wrong?

Another problem I have had is as my energy levels were returning I was having more and more anxiety attacks, since the crash the anxiety attacks have disappeared.

[BenP]

Thanks, I found vodka and soda was ok, but low carb beer seemed to work better. I’ve been on the treatment for just over 2 months now, and my sleep has really improved, still getting tired when I over do it, but generally energy levels are increasing, slowly.

[BenP]

Hi,

I know alcohol is a no-no when recovering from adrenal fatigue, but I’m starting to improve and I have a mates 40th birthday camping trip coming up. If I was to have just a moderate amount of alcohol (2 drinks), is there a better one to have? I thought maybe vodka with soda and lime, or white wine?

[BenP]

Yep, but my levels are in the lower end of the range for the given times of day, 3.3 and 2.3 only just sneak above the normal threshold of 2 and 1. This is after a month on the herbs and supplements, so I would hate to think what the results would have been like 2 months ago.

The other thing I have started trying is tyrosine, it seems to be helping, but I’m a bit confused about how it works…..

[BenP]

Ok, I’m doing a lot better, but still having trouble with sleep and the afternoon energy crash. My cortisol profile came back and it shows the drop in the afternoon and evening:
8am 14.4
12pm 5.7
4pm 3.3
8pm 2.3

Also shows DHEAS morning profile at 5.1nmol/L

I’m guessing I will need to keep at the diet and supplements for a couple more months and see where I’m at then.

[BenP]

Well I think I’m still on the right track. I have begun adding some fruit and wholemeal bread, seeds, etc. and feeling my energy levels are staying higher. Had a few bad nights sleep recently and slipped backwards a bit. I had some more blood tests done, and also waiting on the results of a cortisol 24hr profile.

My naturopath picked up that my ferritin levels were on the low side in my december test, 69. But they have moved up a bit to 89.

I recently found an article talking about the link between adrenal fatigue and pelvic instability. I have had ongoing glute weakness causing mid back issues for the past few years. Particularly when the kids were small and needed lots of lifting, and we weren’t getting much sleep.

http://divinehealthfromtheinsideout.com/2012/03/how-adrenals-affect-muscles-ligaments-joints-in-the-body/

[BenP]

Thanks for the feedback, I have been off all fruit (and sweet potato) since december because I’ve been treating my problem as candida overgrowth, it feeds off carbs. But after a bit of reading, I’m starting to think the problem has primarily been adrenal fatigue. When I initially saw the naturopath in december, she agreed that my problem was candida, but with also some adrenal fatigue, so she gave me a herbal mix that contained licorice root for that. On my next visit she changed me over to a tablet called adrenoplex, but I seemed to go downhill after that, so I’ve gone back to what she had originally given me.

But I’ll check with her again about that and reintroducing fruits when I have my next visit.

[Author]

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