Adrenal Fatigue?
 

So I got some test results back today and amongst a host of other things, I noticed my cortisol/dhea 12h test was wildly abnormal with DHEA being consistently low throughout the day and cortisol being very low except for once at midnight when it suddenly increased over the norm. The results note this pattern indicates a problem with the hypothalamic pituitary axis. I should probably note my melatonin came back insanely high (!) at 100 with a normal range of 1-5.

I have forwarded the results to my immunologist, but I'm just wondering if there's something that might help the adrenals (or the hypothalamic pituitary axis) or melatonin from a herbal/vitamin/supplement perspective? :)

Ziggy

I don't know about the melatonin. The adrenals can be addressed, but I wouldn't mess with them without your doctor's involvement.

I'm doing it with my doctor's involvement:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread156416.html

Doc

Have you had a brain MRI? strange things (cysts or adenomas) with hormones may show up either in the pituitary/hypothalamus area or pineal gland (melatonin).

There are benign adenomas that occur in the pituitary from some drugs...mainly the atypical antipsychotics.

But with age many people get low in DHEA...this is fairly common.
There is also a connection with the thyroid, so adjusting one without the other consideration is important and needs an experienced doctor.

Hi Doc and thanks for the reply! I'll look at your thread and of course get my doc's advice...! Hope your treatment's working for you!

Hello Mrs D and thank you for the reply!

The last time I had a brain MRI was three years ago and there was no cyst/adenomas in sight, but I guess some time has passed... I've never taken atypical antipsychotics (or typical antipsychotics for that matter), but it's interesting to know drugs can affect adenomas....

Actually the bizarre thing is last year my cortisol and DHEA were fine (cortisol was a little on the low side, but nothing like this). I'm 26 years old btw; would DHEA be low at that age?

Thyroid! Aha! Thyroid tests aren't back yet! I should get them back tomorrow and I will investigate!!

Ziggy

No, not common at your age. So do get it looked at.

There are some suggestions that Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) helps adrenal functions.

Here is monograph on it:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/pa/

It is not common to be low in this nutrient, but with your history of malabsorption, it might be important for you.

It IS, and thanks. It's not a panacea; there's no such thing, but it is a cuss of an improvement in several areas.

Doc

In addition to B5, vitamin C is important for proper adrenal function. I use a buffered acsorbic acid, about 1000mg /day. You can start of with 500 mg/day and increase it over time. 500 mg/ 3x/ day.

I don't recall offhand if I knew that or not, as I've been taking 500 mg. of vitamin C for years anyway. My stomach/system can't handle ascorbic acid so I use Ester C (which may be what you mean by "buffered"), which is allegedly (but disputably) better absorbed/assimilated/bioavailable. I'll keep using it anyway just due to the former reason.

Doc

I don't think it's the same. I too cannot tolerate the pure/plain acsorbic acid. I do use the buffered form and seem to do well with it. I try to take 1000 to 1500 a day.

It is confusing, but I agree. If you google: is ester c buffered you'll find all kinds of combinations using the word "buffered", which IMO, is poorly defined. Ester C is patented, and as such, has a very specific formula/process involved in its manufacture. "Buffered" could mean almost anything, which could apply to Ester C or to some other formula/additives.

What's important for any of the forms of vitamin C is, is it working for you and doing what it's supposed to do.

Doc

So a quick update re the adrenal situation. It appears that my adrenals are perfectly fine as the docs initially suspected and it is probably scar tissue from my hypothalamic clot that is causing all this mayhem. I haven't yet started dhea or cortisol, though I've been taking b vitamins.

My mood has seriously taken a hit and I find myself teetering on the edge of, what feels like, mild depression which is most unusual for me. I do wonder if that's related to the cortisol/dhea situation. My progesterone levels have also crashed, so maybe it's linked to that...! Anyhow seeing doc this afternoon but just wanted to update...

Hope this finds everyone well. :)

Ziggy

:Hum: This seems contradictory; progesterone is one of the adrenal homones. :Scratch-Head:
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks.../steroids.html
(Props to mrsD for providing this link recently elsewhere - saved me some scrounging :D )

Mild mood/depression could be - literally - just about anything, and if you're just teetering on the edge of it at that, I guess I wouldn't be too concerned until/less its affecting your functioning.

Doc

Hey there and thanks for the reply!

What I meant by saying that my adrenals are perfectly fine is that they're not causing this even though it looks like they are. The cortisol curve that was done pointed to a pituitary issue rather than an adrenal cause and the acth confirmed that. The adrenals are also not atrophic on MRI and that plus the melatonin issues etc point away from an adrenal cause. The doc yesterday said that scar tissue in the brain is a sneaky thing and can cause such problems up to 10 years following an injury... I hope that makes a little more sense?

Oh you're right about the mood crash, it's just my moods are generally fairly stable and on the Polyanna side so this is unusual. I'm not concerned about it, more mildly annoyed and wondering if it could be linked! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the link btw. I shall investigate! :)

Ziggy

Most progesterone in females of reproductive age (Ziggy shows female in her profile)
comes from the luteal phase of the ovary after ovulation.

If she has hypothalamic/pituitary damage, then the luteinizing hormone may not be secreted from the brain to help with ovulation and in creating the progesterone from the ovary. Progesterone at this stage prepares the uterus for implantation of any embryo that might be present.

Here is a link explaining this:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...q2dJ8Q96l0wK2g

This helps my adrenal fatigue
 

I see this topic has opened up some interesting discussions. One thing that helps with adrenal fatigue is to combine fat, protein and complex carbohydrates (like whole grains) at every meal and snack.