How many of your are being tx for both adrenal and thyroid issues? I know dr. rind makes the connection but I was wondering how many endo's do.?

After plotting my temps...I am believe I have both...will be interested in what my endo..*8/22/05

I was diagnosed with borderline underactive thyroid and honestly the meds don't seem to be helping lately. So, after much research, I am going to try virgin coconut oil! I don't have medical insurance right now so going to the doctor is out of the question, so hopefully this will help! My Mom is having the same syptoms as I am so she is going to try it as well. Keep us posted on how you are doing with this! I had a cooperating teacher, when I student taught, who had adrenal problems and she swore I had the same...hopefully, after I get this dental stuff done, I can find a job with medical insurance and get to a specialist and get it all figured out. Best of luck.

I don't think regular doctors or endo's acknowledge adrenal issues at all unless your adrenal gland just out-and-out fails. Its hard enough to get them to prescribe the T3 component of thyroid hormone!

Good luck with the coconut oil, I didn't see any positive results with it. Getting onto natural thyroid was what it took for me to feel "good" again.

I agree with Nancy.

I had to go to a naturopath to get some help for my adrenal problems.

Ok ladies...share more here! I don't even know what a naturopath is!

MD's give antidepressants to people with adrenal complaints. Quietone, were you able to make progress on your adrenals? I just can't seem to do anything for myself, the biggest problem being the fact that I can't sleep. I have had this problem to some degree forever I think. Which started it (adrenals or thyroid) I'm not sure, I assume adrenals. I've heard you need to fix the adrenals first, but does the thyroid just come along then or do you have to support them at the same time?

I wish I could answer your questions about the thyroid, but I can't. I thought at the time I had a thyroid problem, but they kept coming back "normal."

But I didn't feel normal. That's when I went to a naturopath. I just wanted someone to agree that it's not ok to feel so crappy all the time!

As I was telling Miss Scruff, one of the big signs for me was feeling so exhausted at 8:00 a.m., and finally feeling like i had energy at 6:00 pm. I've always been an early riser and go to bed early but I was staying up past midnight sometimes.

I am going to check and see if I can find the entry I made at that time on what I was taking. I haven't had a problem since, but I have been trying to have my quiet, meditation time every day and not letting things get to me as much. That is a big part of it...destressing.

Ok, i can't find it. Then I started typing and erased all of it...ho, hum. But this is what I remember.

*First, dessicated bovine adrenals. You have to be careful and get the real, pure stuff. Mine had a a blue label, but I can't remember the name.
*Quit caffeine.
*Quit Alcohol.
*Quit smoking.
*A good B vitamin.
*Siberian ginseng (this is not the same as the Korean or other kinds).
*Quit sugar.
*Meditate every day.
*Be in bed by 10:00 pm every night.
*do not (if you have tired adrenals) start a rigorous exercise program or a rigorous diet program...just makes them more stressed out...be gentle with yourself

That's all I remember about it right now.

Hi mbcs:

I'm being treated for both thyroid disease and adrenal fatigue. I'd suspected AF for quite some time but it worsened on thyroid meds. Now I'm on Cortef and Nature Thyroid and I'm feeling great...... finally.

As Nancy says, it's difficult to get Endos to acknowledge AF. They'd prefer to prescribe antidepressants.

It's harder to find someone to treat the adrenals along with thyroid, than just thyroid alone. Even within holistic doctors and naturopaths, it's difficult to get effective treatment b/c often they only want to treat with vitamins and minerals. I wasn't willing to wait 6-12 months to heal my adrenals before being able to start thyroid meds.... well, in actuality, I'd been doing an adrenal "program" for quite some time without complete improvement.

Good luck with your journey. Be prepared that it will be a difficult one, but hopefully we can help you along the way.

I think Wilson's Thyroid Syndrome addresses both adrenals and thyroid at once (not thyroid disease but the conversion of t4 to reverse t3 due to stress). Actually I don't really know this, it is just my impression from what I have glanced over, I have lots of brain fog. I go to a naturopath who specializes in thyroid issues and has some sort of certification to treat Wilson's. She felt the adrenals needed to be worked on and hasn't said anything about adding in t3 (Wilson's protocol).

Quietone, I don't do any of the habits that you said to quit plus I have taken the bovine adrenal thing and a mixture of ginseng, licorice and some other herbs. I continued to get worse while on these. I was breastfeeding at the time of the herb mixture and wasn't at the maximum dose though. After I weaned I tried the bovine thing and didn't notice any difference. I wonder if I am beyond those things. My blood pressure dropped about 20 points last year and I also tend towards hypoglycemia, can't multitask etc. so I assume cortisol and DHEA are low. I also can not sleep at all which is why I am posting in the middle of the night. Were you in an earlier stage of adrenal fatigue while you were treating it with these things?

I agree with the destressing, I have felt better now that the kids are out of school and a couple of them have been away visiting grandparents. It's been an uncharacteristically relaxing time. I'm trying not to exercise too hard, but I love to push myself in the weight room. I'm not going really heavy right now, so I hope that's ok.

wcollier, does Cortef contain cortisol? Do you have your saliva levels monitored for cortisol? How about DHEA? I'm asking because I am terrified of taking hormones but I'm starting to think I'm never going to get better just allowing them to "rest". Besides, I don't know if they actually are resting considering sleep is the impossible dream for me. Did you try the glandulars and herbal things and find them useless?

Hi Jende:

I personally think that Wilson's Protocol woud be horribly stressful for someone with adrenal issues who isn't being treated. Just as small amount of T3 made me hyper.


Yes, Cortef contains hydrocortisone, but in much smaller doses than Prednisone. Prednisone is 5 times more powerful, so you get the idea that cortef is used very safely.

I had saliva tests that showed me borderline AF, but my symptoms were SCREAMING AF, especially when I was put on thyroid therapy and couldn't tolerate small doses. So I don't have a lot of faith in any of the tests. I've had one blood test since starting and my levels are in the normal range, they aren't high. My DHEA levels were very low. I'm currently on 25mg of DHEA and 20mg of Cortef.

I totally understand what you say about sleep. I hate taking medications, but I was forced to take hypnotics for a number of months. Without sleep, you're chasing your tail and you'll never heal. Best to bite the bullet and work on getting to sleep, even if it means chemically-induced. It's the only time I'll take drugs (of course, hormones aren't drugs).

There's a natural product in the US (it used to be sold in HFS) called Xyrem that you can take. It's the best sleep aid, but it's controlled b/c it was the "date rape" drug. If you can get it, it's great. However, it's very expensive if you don't have a plan.

I'd been trying to get "healthy" for 4 years. I'd been on a candida diet, low carb diets to control my hypoglycemia, SPII to help my adrenals, a boat load of supplements, you name it. Then my throid went. I was getting better, but not completely better. Maybe that's why my cortisol levels came back borderline b/c I was a lot better than I used to be 4 years ago. But it just wasn't getting the job done. When I went on thyroid therapy, all hell broke loose and my Fibromyalgia came back. I was a mess from starting thyroid therapy with poor functioning adrenals.

I tried Isocort, which is adrenal cortex glandular, but they gave me urgent diarrhea. I'm not a huge fan of glandulars b/c they can cause problems, but they're an option for people who can't get Cortef.

I wouldn't be afraid of taking hormones if your body needs them. What's bad is taking hormones when you DON'T need them b/c balance is so important. Low is just as bad as high.

You can't imagine the relief I feel that I was given the opportunity to try Cortef. My life would still be miserable without it.

This is interesting. Do you function like a normal person would while on the hormones? I read James Wilson's book on adrenal fatigue and he talked about cortisol being an option but the problem being that it shuts down people's adrenals so they had problems coming off. That's where some of the hormone fears come from. I wonder if DHEA would help me sleep.

I know I need to sleep. I tried immovane for sleep. It put me to sleep, but I kept waking frequently on it and would have to take another pill in the middle of the night. My MD then said I need an SSRI in the am. Anyways, the drugs make me feel lousy, dizzy and confused and my personality was really changing, so I went off. I wonder if I should start the immovane again and take 5 htp for serotonin. I'm in Canada, so the drug you mentioned would not be available for me. My doc only likes immovane anyway.

I have been working at this for awhile too. Sleep is my biggest obstacle and worst symptom. My energy actually isn't that bad considering. I have highs and lows and a tendency to become hyper. It's unfortunate that we have to figure out how to fix ourselves without any help from MD's. You have me seriously considering going to an anti-aging clinic that pratices outside of medicare. I could get hormones and monitoring etc, and they actually do believe in adrenal fatigue. Maybe this is what I need to see some progress.

I'm a fan of DHEA. Here's something interesting, maybe a slightly more objective view than you'll find at places selling the stuff:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30...ries/s10679.htm

Nancy, are you taking DHEA with good results? In this study were they giving DHEA to people who were not necessarily low in DHEA? Maybe if you are actually low and take it, then you wouldn't have the breast cancer risk because you would then have normal levels of DHEA.

Define "low in DHEA". I read that too and puzzled over that. I'm low in DHEA compared to a 30 year old woman, but am I low compared to the average 47 year old? That I don't know.

My doctor aims to get your DHEA back up into the higher part of the lab range. So I'm taking 20 mg right now.

I must say, that feeling of well-being is definitely true.