Hi all- My newest and most fabulous phenomenon seems to be overproduction of cortisol. This has left me with constant shaking, anxiety, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping (even more than usual) since it seems from the lab work that my cortisol levels are soaring from 5am to about 3pm. Once I hit 4pm or so, I begin to feel "normal" again. This is possibly related to damage to the adrenal gland...have researched and found that long term chronic disease or treatment with meds can wear out the adrenal gland and cause LOTS of symptoms that we all seem to have. Wondering if anyone has been struck with these sort of symptoms, and of course, if they found something helpful. My LLMD has me seeing an endocrinologist to look into it further, but could not get an appt for two more months! In the meantime, I turn to the "experts" here with the real experience. thanks for any info you might have. Lori
Posted by Foggy (Member # 1584) on :
[This message has been edited by Foggy (edited 16 March 2005).]
Posted by liz28 on :
A couple of years ago, I tried phosphatidylserine for this. There were two things to watch out for. First, some companies get this from animals--possibly cattle?--which can put the person who takes it at risk. This was in the papers a lot because of the mad cow scare. Second, PS can lower your cortisol level too quickly. So if you took this road, you may want to be cautious of the dosage.
Posted by writebrite on :
Lori,
Hi - I haven't been diagnosed with Lyme's yet, but my doctor strongly suspects that has been the cause of my chronic symptoms. Intrestingly enough, adrenal gland problems similar to your own caused my doctor suspect Lymes. About a month ago I started having a very strong soreness in my left side lower back. My Doctor said the pain appeared to be coming from the "shoe of my kidney" -- the exact spot where the adrenal gland sits. I started investigating addrenal glad disorders and discovered my symptoms matched those of addisons' disease. Addisons is often triggered by a low grade, reoccuring or persistent infection. My doctor has Lyme's herself -- she had already recognized some of my other symptoms as suspect, but the addisons and other "auto-immune disorders" (I also have vitilgio - a skin disorder attributed to an autoimmune disorder)really led her to begin to suspect Lymes. I'll test for Lyme's soon. I thought you might be interested to know that my doctor is linking the two together. Good Luck!
Lucy
Posted by thislittlepiggie (Member # 4521) on :
Thanks for the link....definitely worth looking into!
quote:Originally posted by Foggy: I was researching this subject as well.
[This message has been edited by Foggy (edited 16 March 2005).]
Posted by thislittlepiggie (Member # 4521) on :
Liz28, Thanks for the warning. I had not thought about the effects of having things get too low....especially since the symptoms for everything being heightened are so awful, I'm just eager to get "evened out".
quote:Originally posted by liz28: A couple of years ago, I tried phosphatidylserine for this. There were two things to watch out for. First, some companies get this from animals--possibly cattle?--which can put the person who takes it at risk. This was in the papers a lot because of the mad cow scare. Second, PS can lower your cortisol level too quickly. So if you took this road, you may want to be cautious of the dosage.