How to fix possible light version of AF
I am hoping to get some opinions on what seems to be a light version of AF and how to fix it.
I am a 22 year old with low stress, good mindset, and decent overall diet.
The story begins last summer when I was still sleeping normally and everything was fine except for the fact that even though I would sleep normally for 8-9 hours a night, I would feel tired in the morning.
I went to the gym and lifted weights 4x/wk in the summer and I didn't experience any adverse effects and I was getting stronger and gaining muscle.
Before returning to school I went to Mexico and that is where my symptoms started. I ate a cannabis brownie at the beginning of the trip and although it was strong, it wasn't anything crazy. However, during the trip I started waking up at the middle of the night and that is when my insomnia started. Note: I don't do any drugs and have only done weed once every few weeks via smoking. I have since stopped.
I thought it could be
parasites or something else from over there although I have 0 symptoms of that.
I kept going to the gym and my sleep was on/off with some days ok and some days not. One week straight though I slept normally and felt good but then it went back to insomnia. Quite random.
I then started taking magnesium, vitamin D and K2, fish oil, zinc, then added some probiotics and resistant starch. I took vitamin B for two months but that didn't solve anything so I stopped taking it.
Those didn't solve anything although I still take them (except for B vitamin) since I know they are good for you.
I also tried GABA since I know cannabis reduces GABA but that didn't solve it.
I started taking ashwagandha and still take it (I tried taking it at morning and then switched to night) but that hasn't really solved anything although it looked promising in the beginning.
I did take a cortisol manager which reduces cortisol at night and had really bad reactions to that. The night I would take it I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until 2-3 hours later. But the next night I couldn't go to sleep at all, it felt like I had slept already and throughout that day it felt like I was running on adrenaline. The next couple of days it progressively returned back to normal.
I thought I might have a thyroid problem but some things recently point it to just being an adrenal problem. I started eating brazil nuts for the selenium but the good effects haven't lasted.
I recently started getting pains in my adrenal area throughout the day.
So basically what I am experiencing is: I wake up after anywhere from 3-5 (usually 4 hours) hours of sleep and then either I can go back to sleep right away for another 2-3 hours or I have to wait another 2-3 hours before going back to sleep. One thing to note is I used to get extremely tired when it was time for me to sleep but now not so much. I don't crash and am still normal in most regards. The sleep issue is the only thing and it is mild compared to what others here experience. Also, my immune system is fine since I thought I was getting sick recently but it went away completely without anything really adverse happening. Also, I always wake up during REM sleep when I am dreaming. It is not a panic wake up, I just wake up.
I have cleaned up my diet and continue to clean it up since I am home now and not at college where I had less control of what ingredients were put in food. I am on a mostly low carb (only eat slow carbs for the most part although I do eat pasta every now and then).
I am not sure if it is a blood
Sugar thing because there have been nights where I have had pasta for dinner, which isn't good for AF but then gotten 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep and felt great the next day.
I don't really have too much stress so this came out of nowhere for me. I also stopped going to the gym for the past few months since I wasn't sure if it was helping or hurting me.
I have not yet gotten a cortisol test but I assume that is the next step. I am wondering if anyone has any comments based on what I have described.