Backstory:

30F. I was generally healthy before all of this. I developed severe chronic daily headaches/head pressure, nausea, brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, waking up feeling doomed. a few years ago that became disabling and eventually required opioids because nothing else adequately controlled them.
POSTPARTUM I had a baby in February 2025. It wasn’t until roughly 6 months postpartum that the more severe systemic episodes really started. Before anyone suspected an endocrine problem, I repeatedly went to doctors during these episodes and was told it was anxiety and prescribed benzodiazepines. They helped somewhat, but the episodes continued.

Typical episode:

lower-back pain → severe full-body aches → head pain becomes so severe that talking/moving hurts → sometimes chest pain and significant tachycardia → during the worst attacks, intense cold/chills where I cannot get warm for 1–2 hours.

Labs/timeline

Sept 2025 — ICU/severe illness
-Cortisol: 1 µg/dL
-ACTH: ~15.5 pg/mL
-Treated for severe sepsis/septic shock, but no clear infectious source was found.

Oct 2025: cortisol 7.72, tested my own at LabCorp

March 2026 — 1st Endocrinology visit
250-mcg cosyntropin stimulation test:
ACTH: 73.5 HIGH
DHEA-S: 37.4 LOW (98.8–340)
Cortisol during stimulation: 15.4 → 17.9
Sodium: 142
Endocrinology considered this a normal cortisol response despite the elevated ACTH/low DHEA-S and did not diagnose adrenal insufficiency.

August 2026 — second endocrinologist
AM cortisol: 2.7 µg/dL — LOW
ACTH: 76.1 pg/mL — HIGH
DHEA-S: 33.5 µg/dL — LOW
Aldosterone: 2.5 ng/dL — LOW
Renin activity: 0.463 ng/mL/hr
Aldosterone/Renin ratio: 5.4
24-hour urine free cortisol: 4.1
Endocrinologist’s diagnosis: Primary adrenal insufficiency
Started hydrocortisone + DHEA and ordered adrenal imaging.

Can primary adrenal insufficiency fluctuate, especially early on, where cortisol can be extremely low at one point but normal/near-normal at another?
Has anyone passed or borderline-passed a cosyntropin test and later been diagnosed with primary AI?
And would ACTH 73.5 + very low DHEA-S have made you question adrenal function even with cortisol reaching 17.9?
Mostly interested in hearing from people who had inconsistent labs or were initially told their symptoms were anxiety before eventually being diagnosed.

My husband has adrenal insufficiency after being prescribed a high dose of methylprednisone for sarcoidosis. He is allergic to prednisone. He currently takes 8mg a day.

I have a hard time telling when he is having issues. He has always had sleep issues but now when he doesn’t sleep it seems worse.

* I think* when he falls into adrenal insufficiency he gets cold first, then nauseous. Does this happen to anyone else with the coldness?

What would you tell your spouse if you could about your case? What should I have on hand other than steroids?

I recently tried to reduce my HC from 17.5 to 15 in an effort to improve my sleep. When I take 17.5 I wake up every night and I can’t get back to sleep so I thought I’d go to 15 but I realized after several days that this gave me severe low back pain which is unbearable and I’ve had to go back up to 17.5.

I’ve read I’ve read here that you have to taper slowly. A question for the group is what do you do? just put up with that pain until it goes away or is there some trick that you can use?

Good morning everyone, I really just need to let this out because I’m beyond frustrated and overwhelmed with my body…more specifically, how my body is working…or not working.

History:
40F I’ve had chronic pancreatitis since 2014. In 2021 I had a TPAIT surgery (total pancreatectomy with islet cell transplant). They removed my entire pancreas, spleen, a portion of my intestines and stomach. The islet cell transplant didn’t take, so I’m now insulin dependent with brittle diabetes. Anyway, I’ve come to terms with forever being a diabetic…I suppose it’s a bit of a trade off for the pancreatitis. I still experience the same pain and symptoms after pancreas removal which blows my mind but the doctors tell me it’s like having an arm or leg removed..they call it “fantom pain syndrome”. My chronic pancreatitis is due to the CFTR mutation.

Vent:So I’m 5 years post pancreas removal, and my body has been struggling hard core with all sorts of chronic problems but what I need to vent about is how my body reacts with physical activity/stress/anxiety/seasonal/environment. I have a major problem with excessive sweating and it’s like my body no longer can regulate my core body temperature any more. Not only is it embarrassing to be soaking wet, dripping with sweat any time it’s hot or I exert myself in literally anything. Doing chores around the house? Sweaty. Running errands? Yep. Gotta walk outside in August to get into my car? Absolutely drenched. Let’s not forget to mention when my blood sugar is high or low…I look like I just got a bucket of water tossed on my head. I really really hate this and I have no clue how to deal with it anymore. Along with the sweating, I also get super overheated, but if I’m in the AC I have to wear a hoodie and cover up with a blanket.

I take cold showers and I keep a mini fan in my purse. I’ve been to the doctors a lot over the years and my lab work is always “normal”. I just need a doctor who will listen to me and take me seriously. It’s not just being hot or sweating outside in the heat. It’s literally ruining my life and I’m so tired of feeling like this.

TL;DR: Overheating and excessive sweating after pancreas removal, CFTR mutation, Insulin deficiency, possibly perimenopause related.

Hello all! So I (23 F) have been struggling greatly with what I think is HPA axis dysfunction for almost a year now. Before this, I struggled with severe anxiety (agoraphobia/panic disorder) for 2 years and left it untreated. Also dealt with other stressors as well. Physical stressors as well like over training, sicknesses, etc. Well things changed in April 2025 when I first started developing symptoms like air hunger and DPDR. I struggled with these weird symptoms for months and was told it was just my anxiety. Fast forward to December 2025, and my symptoms slowly started changing from what felt like “being stuck in fight or flight” to severe fatigue and feeling “sedated” all day every day (that’s the best way for me to describe how I feel; sedated like I took a Benadryl). I’m still struggling to this day and I cannot work, barely socialize, and can’t drive. I can leave the house once in a while but mostly stay home cause my symptoms are so bad. I listed my main symptoms below.
•Severe daytime drowsiness (feel sedated)
•Heavy eyelids
•Really bad DPDR
•Feel floaty
Now at night, my symptoms change. This is what makes this even harder to deal with. I feel like my body is in “hypo-arousal” all day until like 10am-5pm, then at night I flip into hyper-arousal. These are my night time symptoms:
•Air hunger (feel suffocated)
•Heart thumps (not fast but just hard)
•Feeling of “electricity” in body
•Alert
•Insomnia
Along with the day and night symptoms I also generally struggle still with my agoraphobia, bad physical anxiety and feeling on edge in places where I feel like escape is difficult. It’s not as prominent of an issue though and I’d say my fatigue and night symptoms is what I’m struggling with the most and putting my life on pause. I just wanna live normally again as a 23 year old!! lol

This pattern is affecting me daily. It’s the same thing every day where I feel functional at night then body flips into this weird hyper-arousal, only to wake up with sleep inertia, feel okay for first hour of day then the severe sedation feeling hits me and lasts all day until nighttime.

I’m writing this to see if anyone has been through similar and has any advice? I’d appreciate any advice and thank you to whoever reads this!
EDIT: I’ve seen many doctors and they either tell me it’s anxiety or I’m fine and they act like it’s not a big deal. I’ve been seeing an integrative medicine dr for a few months and he’s been helpful. He’s helping me try and flip my circadian rhythm. I put a photo of my saliva cortisol results below. I also did a 24 hr urine cortisol test. The reference range was 6-42 and mine came back at 6. My primary dr said it’s “normal”.

What’s destroyed my life and gotten progressively worse since February (I do pace and spend most of the day in bed)

weakness in legs when walking

tiredness in arms and shoulders

Excruciating neck and shoulder pain left side plus general joint pain

- extreme brain fog (caffeine may sometimes help but oftentimes doesn't, so I stopped and feel somewhat worse)

- I spend most, if not all, of the day lying in bed

- Constant feeling of dissociation

- Unrefreshing sleep even though I get 7 - 8 hours a night

- Physical activity causing a mental and physical crash, but I never feel "well." For example, walking up stairs is difficult for me, and if I have to help around the house with cleaning or whatever, I need to lie down. No matter how much I rest, I don't notice additional energy

- Hormones are declining (TSH is going higher, T3 is suboptimal, testosterone is going lower as confirmed by blood testing)

- Too tired to eat most of the time

- Sometimes I get painful headaches that I can't really explain. The other day I had a sharp pain in the back-right side of my head

- Loss of libido and erectile dysfunction

- Depression, but this comes with being stuck in your room for 18+ hours a day

- Feeling lightheaded when I go from squatting to standing, seated to standing, or lying to seated

- Burning pain in my left leg and random pain in my right arm (above elbow, below tricep)

- Occasional visual changes

- Constipation

- Hot flashes at night

- Anxiety spells

- Can't drive, can barely walk down the block

I have confirmed stage 3 adrenal fatigue but am wondering if ME/CFS is a more likely diagnosis because I have elevated levels of EBV, Coxsackie, and HHV-6

Anyway, I just quit my part-time WFH job today because I can't pull myself out of bed and don't see any hope for the future

Was on hydrocortisone for about two months. Helped temporarily and stopped working so I am tapering off. Also have tried immense amounts of Vitamin C, B supplementation, all vitamin deficiencies are fixed and I am getting incrementally worse on a daily basis. Even last week wasn't as bad as this week lol.

I spend most of the day with my eyes closed, and on the off chance I'm able to sit in my chair for an hour, I have to lie back down and close my eyes. I will just go ahead and say it; life with this condition or whatever this condition is masquerading as is not worth living.

Diet is adjusted to chicken, vegetables, nuts, fruit if I can handle the carb spike. Was low-carb for a while, but that came with its own set of problems. Is there any way out? My room feels like a prison cell. I close my eyes while sitting or standing on a whim and frequently have to lean on things or use supports around me to stand up and walk around.

Hi everyone,
I’m new here and wanted to reach out as I personally don’t know anyone who has experienced the same symptoms as me. I’m hoping to connect with anyone who has experienced something similar or is on a similar path.
Through my test results, I found out that my perimenopause has triggered a bit of a domino effect: flatlined cortisol, insulin resistance, Hashimoto's/thyroid dysfunction, and worst of all—constant, wild adrenaline surges and intense internal vibrations/buzzing. I’m absolutely exhausted.
I tried taking estrogen, but it made the adrenaline and internal jitters so much worse that I had to stop after just 4 days. My system just could not handle it.
Because of this, I’ve started taking **Utrogestan 200mg micronised progesterone on its own without estrogen** to try to calm down my nervous system and stop the constant adrenaline loops. I started it just over a week ago.
Has anyone else dealt with this specific combo of symptoms…flatlined cortisol, insulin resistance, thyroid issues, high adrenaline, internal vibrations? How did your body handle taking Utrogestan alone, and did it eventually help calm the adrenaline down?
I’d love to hear your experiences—it would mean so much to know I’m not alone in this! Appreciate any feedback.

My psych just prescribed 10 mg of this to hopefully control these awful morning wake up "zaps" that occur about after 7 hours of sleep. It's like a fight or flight feeling that feels like electricity flowing through my head chest and arms for about 10 seconds. And then it's followed by an intense feeling of dread. It usually subsides once I get up but it's a horrific way to start every day. I'm currently on 15 mg of Lexapro (switched to this about 4 months ago from being on cymbalta for about 16 years). I'm a 59 year old female also on HRT (estradiol patch and progesterone). Any advice, guidance would be amazing!

i’ve been struggling with severe adrenal fatigue ever since coming off steroids about two years ago. i tried to push through by continuing school part-time, but i eventually realized i was only getting worse. my pattern was days of feeling wired with adrenaline followed by weeks of crushing fatigue. this past may, i made the difficult decision to stop school because it became clear that the constant stress wasn’t allowing me to recover.

since then, one thing has definitely changed: my nervous system feels much calmer. the constant adrenaline surges have pretty much stopped, which i know is supposed to be a good sign. but instead, i’m left with overwhelming fatigue. i can barely string together good days anymore, and almost any activity seems to make me crash.

what confuses me is that i constantly read stories from people saying their crashes gradually became shorter and less severe over time. that just hasn’t been my experience. if anything, i feel like i’m stuck. i’m honestly at my wits’ end. i’ve been patient for so long, and this entire summer i’ve only had maybe two days where i actually felt well enough to enjoy life instead of being stuck in bed.

i’ve been doing everything i know to do:

-working with a naturopath who specializes in adrenal fatigue
- taking all of my recommended supplements, including vitamin c.
-taking licorice root and adrenal cortex.
- using celtic sea salt daily.
-keeping my blood sugar as stable as possible.
-following a hypoglycemia-friendly diet.
-trying to eat protein and healthy fats every 2–3 hours (this is the one i struggle with the most).
-removing almost every possible stressor from my life.
-meditating regularly.
- sleeping as much as possible. i sleep 10-12 hours each night and still feel awful
-going to therapy.
- getting massage therapy every two weeks to help with muscle tension.

i really feel like i’ve dedicated my life to healing, yet i don’t feel like i’m making any lasting progress. it’s incredibly discouraging.

has anyone else experienced something similar, where the adrenaline symptoms improved but the debilitating fatigue seemed to linger months after without improvement ? did things eventually get better for you?

i’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something like this, or any advice or encouragement you have.

Having this waves windows pattern for the last 4 years. During the episode i can't tolerate any thoughts everything feels emotionally unbearable.

My psych just prescribed 10 mg of this to hopefully control these awful morning wake up "zaps" that occur about after 7 hours of sleep. It's like a fight or flight feeling that feels like electricity flowing through my head chest and arms for about 10 seconds. And then it's followed by an intense feeling of dread. It usually subsides once I get up but it's a horrific way to start every day. I'm currently on 15 mg of Lexapro (switched to this about 4 months ago from being on cymbalta for about 16 years). I'm a 59 year old female also on HRT (estradiol patch and progesterone). Any advice, guidance would be amazing!

I am a 36F who recently had microadenoma removal but having a though recovery.
I am having night sweats, chest pain like someone is chasing me from sleep, low BP, dizziness and fatigue.
My endo started me on 15mg of HC but it wears out between 2-4am because I wake up like I was chased, hot, sweaty and weak. She drew labs and it was "normal" acth 20 and cortisol 10.6. I told her I don’t feel good so she thought I was perimenopausal.
She drew another lab because my last dose of HC was noon the day before for an 0800 appointment. My new labs are acth 18, cortisol 6.4 insulin 18.8 and estrogen 30 via quest diagnosis.
Endo is suggesting weaning me off steroid and starting me in HRT. OB doesn’t believe I’m I in perimenopause and is suggesting birth control but I don’t like the way it makes me feel. Endo isn’t willing to order the HRT like she suggested.
My life is very uncomfortable. I’m fatigued, emotional and cant even go to the gym because little speed walk causes my HR to be in the 130’s and I get dizzy.

Hi guys,

just wanted to ask if a single dude, living alone with a full time job can even get the amount of rest needed to heal itself.

I'm actually curious if anyone of you has healed itself under these circumstances as i feel like it is not possible for me, although i have a pretty relaxed, low stress office job working only 1 shift but no time for sleeping more than 7 hours a day and being disciplined 100% of the time with food and going to bed early on the weekends is brutal for me. I feel like i need more time for myself to heal but it's just not possible at the moment :( what can i do

Am I in adrenal fatigue? I just don't know. I don't quite understand what's happening to my body. The medical doctors think it could be some kind of tumor or growth, they've ruled out so many other possibilities already (within their scope). My Naturopathic Doctor thinks it could be Dysautonomia.

I thought it was Adrenal Insufficiency but the last morning cortisol blood draw showed 440 ish (I hadn't slept much and was waking up all night. Stressed out about the possibilities). I understand that into full blown Insufficiency, it wouldn't produce that much. So now I'm more seriously considering AF.

I'm searching through this group and finding people have all kinds of different symptoms. I'm finding it difficult to fully understand if I am in AF or if there is more going on. I do better with salt intake (1-2g a day). But once I reach a certain point, my gut hurts from all the salt. The salt makes me tired, emotional and feeling like I'm still missing or lacking something. Up to this point, I could not tolerate sea salt (especially magnesium, it was setting off a whole range of symptoms whe I would take miniscule amounts of it).

I've gone from May/June/July body freaking out: adrenaline episodes in the night, not being able to process any kind of stress, body spasm episodes (limbs flying all over the place for up to an hour), trouble catching breath after eating & exerting (discovered that salt helps), lost 30 pounds in 5 weeks (because my body couldn't process the food, seemed like it took too much energy), generally weak & cold, urinating frequently, constantly drinking water but dehydrated (especially at night), strong adrenaline responses become very weak now, salt craving for 1.5 years, nauseous until I got my salt intake up.

Now at this point my body is at a lot lower pace: no random adrenaline, not losing any more weight (maintaining at 30 pounds less), still cold & tired (low BP) after meals, still drinking (I felt like I was drinking too much so only drinking 48oz a day now instead of 66oz) but still feeling dehydrated at night. Anytime I lay down for more than 30 minutes, I have to immediately pee upon standing.

Anyway, sorry to babble on and on. Just trying to figure this all out.

Ok, I’ve never done this before but I’m gonna give it a shot.

I (17 F) and my boyfriend (18 M) have been dating for a little over a year. I was initially attracted to him because he was a gentleman and treated me right (for context I had gotten out of a year long toxic relationship a few months before we started dating). I didn’t find him super attractive but he was nice. Fast forward to now and I’m starting to have doubts about our relationship. I’m a Christian so I date to marry and believe that in a marriage the man should be leading the household. My boyfriend isn’t a strong leader and isn’t a motivated person. He spends a lot of his time playing video games and struggles to be productive. I on the other hand am the complete opposite. I’ve always been a natural born leader and a very motivated person. I brought this up to him and he has been working on it but the whole situation has caused me to take a mental step back from the relationship. I was pretty sure we were going to get married but now (because there’s a possibility that he doesn’t take initiative in his life and our relationship) there’s a chance that we won’t so I’m operating with a different mindset and it’s caused me to see a lot of things I didn’t before. Our relationship isn’t toxic or bad by any means but I’m just not feeling a spark. I’ve never been super attracted to him and I don’t find him very funny and I find myself wanting a guy that I’m more attracted to and who makes me laugh. He’s also pretty clingy which I thought I liked but I’m starting to feel smothered and like he’s relying on me too much. I know he’s working on relying on God more (I talked to him about relying on me to much) and becoming a stronger leader and more motivated and I have seen progress but I kind of feel like there’s so many things I need him to change and work on that maybe it’s not worthy it to stay. They’re things he should work on regardless but I’m struggling to be happy in this relationship and kind of want to leave. Over the last 3 months I developed Adrenal Fatigue and anxiety that is affecting our relationship and my ability to think clearly about our relationship. I was happy in this relationship until my anxiety got bad which was right around the time that I talked to him about working on his leadership skills and motivation. I can’t tell which one is causing me to doubt and be unhappy in this relationship. My anxiety has also caused me to lose the desire for physical affection. Whenever me and my boyfriend cuddle or kiss I no longer enjoy it and don’t really want to be physical anymore. I brought this up to him and told him that my anxiety is causing me to no longer enjoy physical affection and that I need to be less physical and he understood and we haven’t been super physically affectionate lately. I still kiss him goodbye when he goes home but even that I’m struggling to enjoy. I feel bad because I know my boyfriend enjoys physical affection but I just can’t give it to him right now. I know my AF and anxiety will go away and I won’t always feel like this but it really hard for me to tell if I’ve always felt like this and am just now realizing it or if my anxiety it causing it all.

I don’t really have anyone in my life who understands what it’s like to have AF and anxiety and I don’t know much about it myself so I was hoping to get some help from people who understand AF and anxiety more than me and the people around me do. Is this all in my head or are my concerns valid? Can AF and anxiety make you temporarily lose romantic/physical feelings for your partner, and how do you distinguish that from genuine relationship incompatibility?

Does anyone get a boost in energy and mood from dark chocolate? Or does dark chocolate make you worse?

I get a boost in energy and mood from dark chocolate and it’s quite pronounced. I know some may say it’s to do with magnesium, but I take 400mg of Natural Calm powder every evening, which is much more magnesium than would be in dark chocolate, and don’t get any effects like that.