Hi,
Sorry you feel this way, but hang on things will get better. I've been sick with adrenal and thyroid problems for 23 years, since I was 15. (I have Chronic Fatique Syndrome and Fibromylagia). Not much was really known about adrenal exhaustion until the last few years and I've found alot of info. thanks to the internet. Most doctors aren't schooled properly on adrenal and complex thyroid problems. I would look into seeing if you have a thyroid problem too and if so that needs to be treated first before the adrenals. It is best if you go on natural thyroid medicine (Armour) instead of synthetic. You can try glandulars and herbs but for most people for adrenal problems you need prescription Hydrocortisone (Cortef) anywhere from 20-40mg. You should really do saliva testing at
http://www.canaryclub.org
for $141 (Diagnos Techs). This includes adrenal, thyroid, and sex hormone testing.

I would go to website

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

for more info. Very good site on adrenal and thyroid issues. The forum has since closed down but some moderators have moved on to other places to help people and it is listed on the site. For adrenal problems specifically you can go to

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/


Val runs it and she knows more than most doctors. She can help quide you with your saliva results.

To look on the bright side I would say now rather than earlier is the best time to come down with AE as now there are some good doctors (very few) who know how to treat it properly and you won't have to go down the hard road searching for 23 years for answers like I have. I'm still not well but I'm starting to get to the bottom of things. It's tough to be knocked down in your prime. I feel my youth has been taken away from me and all momentus things in life I have not been able to accomplish.

Another thing you can check out is if you have Candida or not. Do the "spit test". Often thyroid, adrenal and candida all go hand in hand.

Take care,

C

Catmusicfreak has given you excellent advise. The possibility of candida, and leaky gut syndrome, sprang immediately to my mind as well. However, I have no confidence in the "spit test". I would also strongly suggest a hair mineral analysis. Many MD's tend to check the patient for mineral and vitamin defeciencies last, if at all.

The extended treatment with Antibiotics may have killed off all the beneficial bacteria in your small intestine. As a result, a yeast named candida albicans may have taken over. It can be a very long and difficult task to rid yourself of the candida, but it can be done.

Most allopathic doctors (MDs) do not recognise candida. However, if you can find an MD who is familiar with candida that would be a very good place to start.

sorry to hear about your problems, but don't lose hope. one thing that caught my attention is where you said that there is no cure for adrenal fatigue, and that is simply not true. I could be wrong, but i don't think you have it. that being said, the number one thing you need to do is to get properly tested. you say you are going to an endo soon, so you're on the right track. depending on what you find there, the best test for adrenal function is the saliva test, which you can find online. i used clymer healing center and had a good experience, with the whole process, and especially the information with how to heal myself, which i have been doing, slowly but surely. let us know how your endo visit turns out, and good luck. remember, adrenals do fully heal and people get their lives back. it's tough because it is not a high priority for medical doctors in general. so you really have to get the right program, but it can be done, and is done. it's funny, i am 38 and going through this, and i am very bummed at times because i feel like i have almost lost three years of my life, and thinking these are prime years with old age around the corner, and i have often thought(silly mind games), that i wish i had had this earlier, like around 20, gotten it over with and then my thirties would have been more about getting out there and living. so, for what it's worth, you will have plenty of time to get through whatever it is you're going through, although it may not seem like it right now.

ithappens,

You’ll probably be glad to know that there are cases eerily similar to yours. Before reading your post, I didn’t think anyone had gone through some of the things I had. But apparently it happens…

Because I’m 27 years old now and I took Accutane at about 20 years old to help clear an Acne problem that was lingering since I was about 17. It got really bad at about 20 for some reason, spreading to my face as cystic acne. I also had it very bad on my shoulders throughout my teenage years. I took Accutane and it cleared my Acne but it gave me pretty much all of the bad psychological side effects while on it. Some cleared coming off of it, some didn’t, some new ones came out of it…

If you’re willing to trust what I can tell you from experience I’ll say these things.

I have chased whatever “illness” you seem to be describing for years since the fallout. I crashed hard much like you describe, and it came out of nowhere seemingly, almost overnight. I couldn’t do ANY of the things I was doing before. I developed pale skin, very dark under eye, bad responses to foods – almost allergenic or diabetic type, course hair and skin, cold extremities, lack of sexual desire and tremendous ED, rare infections, etc. Almost like my whole body just shut right down on me all of a sudden. I went to doctor after doctor. Tried drug after drug. Realized that I needed to start doing my own research and figuring out what this actually was because nothing was working, answers were different from each doctor, and my health was impacting my life greatly.

Unless someone has recommended this endocrinologist, or unless you want to see it for yourself, keep in mind that you will probably not get the answers you need from this doctor. The so called “hormone specialists” are usually bull headed and number driven (within a numbers system that isn’t accurate). I highly recommend you get a saliva panel done from DT at canaryclub.org. Don’t even play around with doctors yet. Get a hormone test that will mean something to you. This test will show your cortisol intervals, thyroid, and estrogen/testosterone ratio. While doctors won’t give it the light of day, you have it as your inspiration. What doctors don’t know is that they tend to be more accurate than blood tests for everything but sex hormones. Even sex hormones will show at least what’s wrong although amplified from what I’ve seen. These hormones do their work in your saliva, not the blood.
http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/salivatesting.htm.
For example, I was getting completely different blood hormone results from saliva. Blood showed within range (all an endo cares about), while saliva showed a MESS.

Yes that’s right, I took the above test when all else was failing. I had almost lost my job at the time…

What did the results show? Flatlined cortisol (adrenal) readings across four intervals of the day. Hashi’s thyroiditis with a sky rocketing TSH with low FT3s and FT4s, and estrogen dominance of an 80 year old man. I’m not kidding it finally showed what I was feeling. This was my ammunition. The problem is, many doctors don’t look at saliva tests because they could get in serious trouble for doing so. Whatever you do, don’t take blood tests as accurate. You need saliva tests side-by-side to see the greater picture. But this story gets wider let me say…

The next steps aren’t clearly defined for everyone. But if your hormones are out of whack you need to know why. I have been on hydrocortisone (steroid replacement for cortisol), dessicated thyroid (natural pig thyroid diced), and a prescribed aromotase inhibitor (to drop estrogen and improve testosterone – it’s a ratio). All of them have made it so that I can cope. It’s been months and I feel better. But nowhere near I did, still. And I’m at a standstill. It has been clear that all of these things are a bandaid. There is something else going on.

I must say - watch out for the hormone spiral. Hormones are a symptom too. If your hormones are out of whack, they follow your body and how it is operating. If your body is sluggish, your hormones will be too. Only exception is pituitary (and I chased this for a while realizing it wasn’t it).

I think I’ve found my answer and some people in this thread have pointed it out to you. Acne was probably your first sign but your story seems to indicate you were a healthy person growing up. Anyways, that was my first sign and I wish I knew more of why the acne was there to begin with.

You would be wise to try a very strict detox diet with Candida Albicans in mind because that’s what I’m looking at now. I think the acne started because of toxins in my body, quite possibly a build up of Candida at the time. You will want to do some PH tests as well to see where your body is in terms of acidity. If you’re like me, you have Candida, toxins, and a bad PH. It’s all about reversing these things. You may need hormone support while you do it though… it sounds like you’re in rough shape. Get that saliva test done to start, and do a search for a Candida questionnaire online, get some PH strips. Try this too – cut out items with Sugar and sodium to see how you feel, do you still have the downs? How about hot water with lemon how does that make you feel?

And have you ever been on Antibiotics for a long period? The reason I ask is because my derm put me on Minocin for about 6 months, an antibiotic, to try and get rid of my acne. Did you know that this is how Candida grows out of control? Antibiotics kill the same guys that protect Yeast overgrowth.

You should research the Master Cleanse. its the Lemonade Diet and cleans your entire body out very well. this is what you need.. to cleanse. There are a couple good books, the originator Stanley Burroughs. You can find plenty of info on the net and theres a forum here at curezone. I have a report with clear directions that I wrote for my entire family and many friends that I can share with you if you like. shoot me an email and I will email it to you. By the way, they ALL had awesome success with it! Here's my email: sbecotte@hotmail.com

You should research the Master Cleanse. It's the Lemonade Diet . it cleanses your entire body out very well. This is what you need.. to cleanse, then restore. There are a couple good books, the originator Stanley Burroughs. You can find plenty of info on the net and theres a forum here at curezone. I have a report with clear directions that I wrote for my entire family and many friends that I can share with you if you like. shoot me an email and I will email it to you. By the way, they ALL had awesome success with it!
Also, you will need to get some good probiotic supplements to take afterward to replenish your colony of beneficial flora. I recommend Garden of Life Primal Defense. Theres also a good one by Country Life called Daily-Dophilus(this one is cheaper). Or, the cheapest and most effective is to make your own cultured vegetables and kefir. Check out BodyEcology.com .
Also, in an unlikely event the candida isnt controlled, you can look into Zappers. Read the book Cure for all diseases by Hulda Clark . Zappers kill parasites, bacteria and viruses in the body. I have the Terminator II. Go to this website: Toolsforhealing.com
Also, look into Lugol's Iodine for adrenal problems, it helped me. Go check out the Iodine forum.

Good luck. you can write me with any questions.

hey hows it goin dude. i just wanted to let you know what worked for ME. ive had pretty much the same problem except my problems were triggered by life stress (death of family members, etc.). anyway my symptoms were pretty much IDENTICAL to yours, im 24, and my problems started at about the same time you posted this message. anyhow im starting to recover remarkably and i feel it would be an injustice if i didnt "pay it forward". so heres what worked for me:

Liver Flush protocol- although some people on this board may not agree, i did the flush about 6 times with only a day or two break in between. this worked wonders for general health but i still didnt have the vigor i used to. this step is crucial though.

vit. c and pantothenic acid- i used high doses of vitamin c to "bowel tolerance" along with about 1000mg of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) daily. those did WONDERS for restoring my adrenals. my vit. c levels were around 20g/day. you can pick up B-5 powder and ascorbic acid powder dirt cheap at
http://www.1fast400.com.


anyways, thats what did it for me. the bags/darkcircles under my eyes disappeared within 4-5 days and my energy came back as well. there, my good deed for the day ;)
feel better soon