How to Overcome fatigue - Do Your Own Research

After my doctor diagnosed me with “adrenal insufficiency” last May (he said I was at the lower end of adrenal function based on my cortisol levels), he prescribed an herbal supplement called “Adreset”. I  was glad that he had not put me on cortisol, because several of my family members who also have adrenal insufficiency have had horrible side-effects from taking cortisol.  So I enthusiastically took the “Adreset” every day, thinking it would “cure” me. I immediately felt more energy, so much so that I was able to walk a few miles one day and put on a bake sale single-handedly at church.  But even from the first day, I felt overstimulated, like I imagine a person would feel if they were on Speed. I remember  jumping two feet when the neighbor’s chihauha barked at me, as freaked out as if a giant bear was about to eat me alive!

 After a week and a half of being on Adreset, I started having horrible nightmares, terrible heart palpitations, and felt like I was crawling out of my skin. I told Pete, I have to get off this stuff, or I am going to explode! I did, and spent about three days having crazy withdrawal symptoms, which he patiently helped me through. I felt like I would die if I didn’t have more Adreset, and he had to hide it from me. I felt, if possible, more exhausted then I had before taking it!

Okay, so Adreset was not the answer to getting over this fatigue. I was really discouraged at first, but after a few days I got tired of moping and decided to at least figure out why the Adreset hadn’t worked for me.  Through some internet research, I came across an article by an M.D. who specializes in adrenal fatigue, Dr. Michael Lam, which said,

“Long term use of stimulatory nutrients can lead to withdrawal problems and addiction. Though they might have other concurrent adaptogenic properties, many adrenal supportive nutrients commonly used are intrinsically stimulatory in nature in a setting of advanced adrenal weakness. These include ginseng, licorice, ashawanda, maca, vitamin B5, and vitamin B12, just to name a few.”

  I looked on the ingredients on the Adreset bottle, and sure enough, one of the ingredients was ginseng. I reasoned that I must have been at too advanced of a stage for it to work, unlike some of my doctor’s other patients who must  not have been as far along, as they reported loving being on Adreset. I was sooo thankful to have found out this information before doing more damage to myself! And to have found out about Dr. Lam. Through his “Adrenal Fatigue Center”, http://www.drlam.com, I have found so much good information about this condition and how to manage it.  I am by no means “cured” yet, but my periods of extreme fatigue are becoming somewhat  fewer and farther between. The last time my doctor took my blood tests, this December, he said my hormonal levels are improving, which shows that something I am doing is working!

Another really good resource I’ve found, while not by a medical doctor, is a blog by someone who has Addison’s Disease, which is basically complete adrenal failure. Since she is able to have an online business through her blog, and homeschool seven children while having this condition, I figured she was worth listening to J.http://anneshealthplace.com/blog/

I plan on going into, step by step, things which I have learned from these and other sources. But this post is already turning into novel, and it is 8:30, and a good night’s sleep is essential to overcoming any kind of fatigue. So goodnight.

How to Overcome Fatigue - Find a Good Doctor

 (I promised to write about my journey out of fatigue - here is my first post!)                                     

For years, I have known something was wrong. I would go for a trip out of town, and be so exhausted I would be in bed for a day or two afterwards. The last time I went on a three mile walk (this May), I slept the rest of that day into the next, and could barely do anything but cook dinner for a week afterward. Little things, like seeing a scary part of a movie, would make me jump out of my seat and wipe me out for the rest of the day. I have seen doctor after doctor about this deep, persistent exhaustion, and they would tell me, “You are just stressed” or “You are depressed”.  When I would try to tell them that maybe I was a little depressed, but it was just because I was really tired, and when I was rested I wasn’t the least bit depressed, they would say, “Depression causes fatigue.” I felt like screaming “You are not listening”, but I would just keep insisting that there was something else wrong. They would run the same standard tests for anemia, thyroid, etc. and come up blank. Their conclusion – another hypochondriac on our hands. My conclusion - like a good man, a good doctor is hard to find.

Then this Spring, after praying with Pete about what to do for my health, we heard about Dr. Adema through a friend.  He is an MD who also incorporates natural solutions into his practice. He is also funny, a good listener, and a Christian. After running some blood tests (which would have cost over 1000$ if our insurance hadn’t paid for them  - praise God for Pete’s Starbucks job!)  told me I had very low cortisol, or “adrenal insufficiency”, as well as a Vitamin D deficiency and  low progesterone. I finally had an answer for why I was tired all the time, and a starting place to figure out how to get better. Dr. Adema has helped me a lot, but unfortunately, not enough medical research has been done on adrenal insufficiency and even Dr. Adema hasn’t had all the answers. So I have also had to do a lot of my own research about how to recover. But that is a subject for another post.

The moral of the story is don’t trust the system. Just kidding. The moral of the story is keep looking until you find a good doctor, because they are out there, even if finding one is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Moxie in 2012

One of the reasons I started this blog last New Year’s was to hold myself accountable to accomplish some goals.  I fully intended to do everything on my “50 Things” list, but God had different plans. In May I was diagnosed with something called “adrenal insufficiency”, a condition where you have very low cortisol and therefore have quite low energy and a hard time dealing with stress, be that physical, emotional, relational, environmental – whatever! (Cortisol is the hormone in our bodies which help us handle stress – without enough, the littliest stressor can exhaust you). This condition runs in my family,  so I have to figure out how to get better for my families sake so we can all be able to live normal lives! Doing research, I realized that having unreasonable goals was completely incompatible with getting better, and that I would need to be very, very, very patient in waiting on some of these goals, and doing others s…..l…..o……w……l……y.

Despite this, I have had a good year. God has really drawn me closer to Him – I had a goal to pray and read the Bible every day, and I have had to keep this goal to keep my sanity! Some days I am very discouraged and just tell God how upset with Him I am that I can’t do more towards our future goals, and others I feel His presence so near, knowing He will get me through this trial and make me more like His Son in the process . Not only that, but it has changed Pete and I’s marriage completely. We communicate so much better, fight so much less, and act like two silly love birds. So I am thankful.    

Next year I have just  four goals: (1)  stay close to God,  (2) stay close to Pete, (3) take one day at a time, and (4) have courage.  Because you see it takes courage to get healthy when you have a chronic illness. You have to have to courage to make changes (like not eating ANY sugar, going to bed at least by ten every night, pacing yourself – this has been the hardest for me!). It takes courage to wait on what your heart desires more than anything else, to trust God for His timing. It takes courage to not worry about people thinking you are “lazy” and get the rest that you need, but to still love those people who are unknowingly being hurtful. It takes courage to have enough integrity to not overcommit, to not rashly decide to do things you may not have the strength for but to think them through first.   It takes courage to do what you can instead of giving into discouragement. It takes courage to say “no”! By nature I am not a very courageous person, but I know that God is with me and He will give the courage I need.

In light of this new goal of having courage, I have decided to, when I can, blog about “How to Overcome Fatigue”.  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort we ourselves are comforted by God.” Before now, I have been too scared of what people will say or think if I blogged about this issue. But in 2012 it is time to have a little moxie and write about what I am doing to get better and how God is helping me through, because I want to comfort others the way God has comforted me!