Naturopath says I have Stage 3.5 adrenal fatigue and one of the worst cases of hypoglycemia she's ever seen (hit a whopping 32 on the 12-hour fast + glucose test).

I have no energy throughout the day, memory is shot, constantly feel like I'm going to pass out, and have lots of brain fog. Gets really bad around 3 - 4 PM but lasts all day and all night long. Somehow I struggle to sleep because my body feels like it's on fire.

I haven't had gluten or lactose in about 4 years since learning I was intolerant. I'm 24 now, but from ages 15 to 18 I had E. Histolytica wreaking havoc on my body.

I limit caffeine as much as possible, but I need it to show up for work and pay my bills. I am also addicted to nicotine, trying to wean off.

Unfortunately, I can't take a few weeks or a month off to reset, or else I'm out of work entirely. But, if my life keeps going this way, eventually I will get fired or pass out on the job.

Current regimen:

L-Glutamine 1000 mg 4x/day

L-Methionine 500 mg 4x/day

Milk Thistle 2x/day

Vitamin D 5,000 IU in the morning

Chromium Picolinate 4x/day

Potassium 99 mg once daily

Similase for digestive function

Adding for adrenal protocol once the vitamins and prescription come in:

Vitamin C to bowel tolerance (not sure how to do this and be functional at work at the same time)

Holy Basil 3x/day

Panthothenic Acid 3x/day

Phosphadytlserline 3x/day

Adrenal (dessicated) 3x/day

RX hydrocortisone 5 mg 1/2 tab 4x daily

B complex methylated (adding this last because taking now causes me undue anxiety at 1 AM even if I take at 8 AM)

Inositol 4 gm/4gm/10 gm (3x day total)

Choline 500 mg 3x day paired with each dose of inositol

L-tryptophan 500 mg 1 AM and up to 4x at night

My current diet is beef jerky, almonds, cashews, chicken, vegetables, some buckwheat when tolerated. I sometimes cave and have a small bag of potato chips and pay for it immediately afterward. But carbs are very much limited, my diet is incredibly restrictive.

My doctor wants me to basically eliminate carbs and go keto, but the detox period is messed up.

I'm dealing with AF and hypoglycemia at the same time, I'm really at my wits end. I'm unable to live or function as normal, seriously thinking about giving up.

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with me, all my blood tests are fine, morning cortisol is 18,6 ug/dl which to my understanding is OK. I'm tired all the time, I come back from work and and I'm so tired I can barely walk, every next month is worse than month before.

In the past I tried hydrocortisone pills and it make huge improvement (this was not prescribed by doctor) therefore I always thought my adrenals are the problem but why my cortisol level is normal then?

Hello. I am hoping someone may be in the same boat as me. I have a history of pituitary trauma. I have had vague symptoms for the past year and a half that include nausea, vomiting, unintentional weight loss, the worst fatigue ever, general malaise, low blood pressure. I had pituitary testing done which only revealed low (5) (normal range is 6-60)ACTH hormone. I am a medical lab scientist and know that I need it drawn between 6 and 10 AM which I did. My cortisol drawn at the same time was 14. I was referred to endocrinology by my PCP. My endo retested, ACTH still 5 and now cortisol was 13. Collected at 9 AM. She said cortisol is within normal limits and ACTH is unstable so it doesn’t matter (despite me being the one processing the sample, immediately it’s placed on ice, centrifuged, and frozen within the hour. QUEST says it’s stable at room temp up to 16 hours, tho). A few months after these labs, I had two episodes of syncope which has never happened to me. I was hospitalized the second time to investigate if it was cardiac related as I had no prodromal symptoms . It appeared to not be related. I messaged my endo about this and we retested. Now my ACTH hormone is undetectable and my cortisol was 11. Both drawn at 830 AM. Endo again says cortisol is within normal limits (4-20) and the ACTH doesn’t matter. I am getting increasingly frustrated as I have every single symptom of SAI. I know partial SAI is a thing and I feel like I’m just being dismissed. I have a biology degree and understand a negative feedback loop. I feel like she’s not looking at the entire picture.. wondering if anyone else has a similar experience?

Hi all. It’s me again. Been going thru this for so long now.

I have horrible sleep issues. I try to go to bed at a decent time and cannot fall asleep easily anymore. I wake up wired but tired only a few hours later and can’t fall back asleep. I either have to take hydroxyzine or trazadone to help me sleep and both of those make me feel so heavy and groggy the next day. But if I don’t take either of them, then I don’t sleep well. It’s a never-ending cycle. Has anybody gotten out of this adrenal fatigue shit by taking either of these to help them sleep? I can’t take magnesium to help me anymore, and I don’t think supplements are strong enough to help me right now.

I went through a lot of trauma last year while dealing with this like I tried to kill myself multiple times out of my control. So I’m about to start EMDR because I think I am stuck in a loop. Has anyone also had EMDR help them out of this shit? So ready to be done with this

Good morning everyone, I been having Hypoglucemia specialy after walking more then 5 to 10 minutes and this weird tension/burning sensation within my muscle at night and when I wake up in the morning, 2 endocrinologist and a primary doctors haven't been able to figured it out, I'm not diabetic but I had hyperthyroidism and graves for 3 years but I'm on remisión right now, today I ran some more blood work and my cortisol is 4.99 uL at 8:30 am, also my ALT is 63, besides those 2 values everything else looks pretty good, does these symptoms sound familiar to anyone here? What's your take on my cortisol levels?

Hi. I have HPA dysfunction and was just diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis/hypothyroidism. I currently take Effexor XR and HRT therapy and it has taken my anxiety level from a 10 to a 3. I started NP thyroid medication 2 weeks ago. I’m feeling exhausted as always. My provider suggested that I try an adrenal gland supplement, since the adrenal glands and thyroid work together, so I purchased one and took 50 mg today. I didn’t feel any benefit from it today.
Also of importance, my Dutch test showed that my cortisol was on the high end of normal, but my metabolized cortisol is very low at 4%. I read that my cortisol levels might drop significantly now that I started taking thyroid medication, because my body might believe that it can begin to metabolize the cortisol and not hold onto it anymore since the thyroid is being optimized.
Does anyone have any knowledge or advice on my situation? I’m afraid to keep taking the adrenal cortex supplement if I don’t need it, but if it might help me temporarily I will take it.

18M my symptoms started 3 months ago while trying to sleep i had a sudden high hr that went up to almost 150 bps along with shaking, i was very scared thought it was a heart attack but went to the er and told me i am fine and its probably a panic attack. Couple of days went by started to feel a bit lightheaded and my hr would elevate on simple tasks such as going up a stair. Had very high hr alertness and monitoring. The phase after it was pots like symptoms i contacted a cardiologist and made a 24 holter + stress test + heart echo which is the ultrasound. All were perfect too. The phase after it was extreme dizziness and lightheadedness with fluctuating symptoms of pots. I was really scared and sure that there is something abnormal with me. So i decided to take another 24 hour holter thats when i felt the pvcs and it was only 14 in the whole 24hrs but i felt them hard and again the doctor said its normal. After that i had some good days with no palpitations nor dizziness where i felt normal again started to exercise and have normal tasks until a week ago i felt abit lightheaded again and while trying to lay down felt almost 3-4 back to back pvcs. It was so scary and humbling because in the first episodes they maxed out at 1-2 max but these where very scary. Now i am here 3 months after the first er visit and don’t really now whats wrong with me. They keep saying anxiety. A note too i usually feel the pvcs when changing positions as bending down, or throwing myself onto a sofa, etc. and a pretty strange symptom too is when i have a fast breath from my nose rarely i get a pvcs but it feels so uncomfortable its like the pvc is coming if someone there understands what i mean.

Hi everyone. I’m 24 and honestly feeling really lost and hoping maybe someone here has gone through something similar or has any insight.

Back in 2020, I got diagnosed with secondary adrenal insufficiency after having symptoms for a while and abnormal cortisol/ACTH testing. The weird part is that doctors could never really figure out why it happened.

Some background:

I’ve been on inhaled corticosteroids for asthma since I was around 5 years old.

I was also on Depo-Provera for about 4 years.

For years I felt awful and nobody could connect the dots. Eventually I stopped the Depo shot, and after that my cortisol and ACTH levels significantly improved. Month after month I actually started feeling better and thought maybe my body was recovering.

Then everything changed again around October of last year. I suddenly started developing intense anxiety and random panic attacks out of nowhere. By December, I started having symptoms again that felt very similar to my adrenal insufficiency symptoms from before — fatigue, weakness, nausea, headaches, body pain, feeling shaky/unwell, dizziness, etc.

I got retested and my cortisol and ACTH were both low again. My doctors are confused because they thought things were improving before. I have an MRI coming up within the next couple weeks to rule out a pituitary tumor or other issue.

I was also on hormonal birth control again (the patch and the pill on and off for about a year) until January. It’s now been around 4 months off of it and I still don’t feel better.

For asthma meds, I’ve been on Dulera for about 5 years at varying doses (50, 100, and 200) and before that I was on Flovent and multiple other steroid inhalers growing up. My doctors are now wondering if long-term corticosteroid exposure could be contributing and are talking about possibly starting Dupixent so I can gradually lower steroid use.

My endocrinologist also recently recommended that I stop working for now because the stress/anxiety and how physically unwell I’ve been feeling have gotten so bad. I also don’t tolerate the hydrocortisone very well. I had a lot of episodes in 2020 because I just don’t tolerate steroids well they prescribed me a .1 and .5 compounded hydrocortisone now and I can’t tell if it’s helping or not. i’ve been taking it for a couple days and then off of it for a couple days, my endocrinologist recommended I don’t do it and then they recommended. I do do it so I’m a little lost.

The symptoms have honestly become debilitating. Most days I can barely do anything. I either just sit around all day because I have no energy or I’m constantly dealing with pain, anxiety, weakness, headaches, nausea, weight loss or other symptoms. I feel like my life completely changed in my 20s and nobody can fully explain why.

At this point I just feel overwhelmed and confused. Has anyone experienced secondary adrenal insufficiency from inhaled steroids or hormonal birth control? Did anyone have recovery and then suddenly get worse again? I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s dealt with something similar or can help in anyway because I feel like nobody can give me answers right now.