Hello everyone,
Here's a short version of a long story. Years of fatigue, digestive issues, constipation, insomnia, mood issues, hormonal issues and an overabundance of doctors and tests, I found a book that seems to describe just about everything I have been experiencing. For the first time I didn't feel so alone and I had an explanation for what seemed too overwhelming to look at.
I've seen so many doctors and been poked and prodded in so many places, and no one until a few months ago even mentioned adrenal fatigue. I had always known that my adrenals must have been overtaxed because of the extreme stress I had lived with for most of my life. But I didn't give that enough credit until I read this book. The name of it is "Adrenal Fatigue...the 21st Century Stress Syndrome" by J. Wilson.
What I have learned is that when your adrenals are "tired", it throws everything else off in your body, especially your hormones. I had been self medicating for years with coffee to wake me up, sleeping pills to help me sleep, anti-depressants, anxiety meds, and whatever else I could find to help me keep going. I had to survive to support my family and I had to survive to be who I thought I needed to be. What it would have takn to really address this adrenal issue would have required that I slow down, deal with the things/people in my life that were draining my energy, and risk letting go of the strong exterior I had built to survive. I was a bodybuilder, a trainer, a coach and an example for a lot of people. I was the strong one that others always turned to for wisdom and advice. How could I stop or even slow down? I thought I couldn't until I was forced to by major digestive issues that landed me in the hospital. That was 3 years ago and I am still trying to figure out what to do to get well. Doctors have stuck tubes in every orifice, x-ray, biopsied, CT scanned me left and right. I've had tubes of blood drained out of me in the hopes of finding what was making me sick. But until a few months ago, no doctor, not even the famed Mayo Clinic, even mentioned adrenals. They threw more meds at me, more tests at me and shook their heads.
Being forced to stop was the greatest thing that could have happened. I must be incredibly strong to have survived what I did. But I don't feel it now. I feel tired all the time and things keep going "wrong" with different parts of my body. No doctor has even asked "What is at the root of all of this?" So I'm asking and looking and praying. When you have Adrenal Fatigue, so many symptoms pop up that look unrelated and you think that there must be something else wrong. But what I've learned is that without fully functioning adrenals your whole body is effected. Allergies, food sensitivities, crazy hormones, those long sleepless nightsa and feeling overwhelmed by the simplest things, are all related. Its a snowball effect throughout your whole system.
I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome almost 30 years ago and adrenal fatigue is part of that. But there's more and over the past 30 years the effects have shown up as a further evolution of that illness. Not addressing the root cause for all of these years has taken its toll.
Now I'm not saying that there aren't other things to take care of. I've been to specialists to deal with the individual "parts" of me that aren't functioning well. I feel like I've been sticking my finger in the dyke and I'm running out of fingers.
If you have these symptoms, you might want to check out this book. Its not a simple diagnosis with a pill to take, but at least it is a start in a direction of things to look at. We're not crazy or lazy and it helps so much to read it in black and white. If you go running to your doctor with this, they will probably tell you that your blood work doesn't show a problem, so you may have to take it upon yourself to do what's necessary to get well.
I truly hope this helps.
Debra