Nighttime Adrenaline Surges?

Hi Group,

I'm new here. My adrenal fatigue problem is not a serious one in and of it's self, I don't think, but is complicated by insulin resistance, IBS, and anxiety.

I have this insomnia problem that has gotten MUCH worse since starting treatment for my AF. I take Thorne Adrenal Cortex in the morning, and Seriphos about 1-1/2 hours before my highest cortisol reading at 4p.m.

My Adrenal Stress Index results showed that I'm kind of flip-flopped. 8 a.m. - low, noon, normal, 4 p.m. high, and midnight normal. I take the Adrenal Cortex in the morning, and sometimes some Tyrosine and P5P, to get going, but most days I go back to bed after I get my son on the bus at 6:45, so the tyrosine is only for the days I have to stay up.

I'm confused about why I would be having high adrenaline throughout the night? I go to bed by ten, sometimes read for a half hour or so, and then fall asleep. As soon as I'm asleep, however, I'm jolted awake with a racing heart and feeling like I'm being chased. In past years this would have become a full-blown panic attack, and I've gone to the hospital for them a couple times thinking I was having a heart attack. These days I just do some deep breathing to bring myself back down, but at that point I'm unable to fall asleep again. If I do manage to fall asleep, I'm immediately awakened again by the heart palpitations and adrenaline surge.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING??

I'm becoming so frustrated and a little scared. How long can a person survive on just a couple of hours of sleep a day, or very light sleep, if at all?

If I'm taking the Seriphos at 2:30 p.m. for my 4 p.m. cortisol high, how long does the Seriphos stay in my system? No one has ever been able to answer that for me, and I cannot tell when it's wearing off.

I'm wondering if the Seriphos is brining my cortisol too low, but on the nights where I didn't take it for my 4 p.m. high cortisol, I'm a lot more jittery with my insomnia so the seriphos at least seems to make me calm, even if I'm awake all night.

I'm at a loss, and don't know what to do. Last night I actually broke down and took 75 mg of Trazodone after laying in bed for a while and deciding I was going to have to bust out the "big guns". Well, that didn't help me sleep at all, and I just felt worse, but not tired. I ended up taking an Ativan, because I could feel my frustration ramping up and some really panicky feelings starting. When I'm so tired from only getting a few hours of sleep a day for days and days in a row, I have a very hart time controlling the nighttime anxiety.

Yesterday I got something called Suan Zao Ren from my naturopath, and they swore it would work miracles for me at night, but so far nothing. I'm trying to determine if it was supposed to work immediately, like some herbs do, or if I need to give it a few days.

Anyone have any ideas on how to bring down nighttime adrenaline?

Why DO we get adrenaline surges at night?

Why does it happen RIGHT when I'm falling asleep? I can feel sooo tired, and think "ahh, here it comes, I'm off" and then BAM! I'm wide awake. It's really a startling thing to have happen, and it's getting worse!

Thanks in advance for any insight anyone can provide! This looks like a great forum with many knowledgable people.

Ann Tweet