Help, now that my thyroid is better, my adrenals are freaking out maybe?

[Not dead yet!]

I'm not even sure if I'm looking in the right places. My brain fog is too bad right now to be sure I'm doing what I should be doing. Ever since I've started this liver/GF/thyroid health kick, I've steadily improved. Now it seems there is a backslide.

Partly it's because I had to do a lot of acrobatic cleaning of the kitchen with nasty chemicals to get rid of years of grimy gluten in my oven. I had the usual muscle aches, then I was better, but now it seems I'm exhausted by the slightest stress.

I've kept up with Valcyclovir, but I'm sure that's missing other viruses.

I've kept up with eating liver (though no longer daily).

I've kept up with liothyronine at a lower dose, plus iodine.

I used hydorcortizone ointment on the muscle aches (especially the chest near the armpits), but not daily, only a few times, so I can't imagine it's a "drop" effect.

I've kept up with eating enough salt. The more my thyroid gets better, the easier it is for me to get nauseous and lightheaded without enough salt.

I've been forgetting fish oil and multivitamins lately. A lot. I've also been spotty on remembering to take DHEA.

The upside is, I haven't taken pain meds in nearly a month. Haven't needed them. Hardly need any meds at all except thyroid and valcyclovir. Of course, I'm glad to be off of them, but wondering if this is a withdrawal reaction, only occurring later.

I'm not sure how to characterize how I feel except I can get mildly upset by something and then I spend half a day exhausted and staring into space, rubbing my eyes and yawning because I need to "wake up."

What happened? I'm leaning toward adrenal exhaustion, showing itself after my thyroid has recovered a bit. Is there something I should do? Sleep more? I'm afraid to mess up my already messy sleep schedule, even more. What can I do?

 

[Jellyfish5432]

I've heard before that thyroid medication and increasing thyroid function can worsen the adrenals. Being more dependent on salt might also be a sign of lower adrenal function.

I don't tolerate iodine well. At first it gives me more energy, but I get too hyped up and later on I crash. I think that might be due to worse adrenals.

If you can find a way to support your adrenals, that might help. Honestly though, if you start on hydrocortisone to compensate for your thyroid medication, you might end up piling one medication on top of another.
Maybe you can find some more natural ways, like some adrenal or vitamin supplements?

If you can't compensate the effect on your adrenals long-term, I would lower the dose more.

 

[Not dead yet!]

Last evening, my husband went out to get my second round of Medrol (prednisone pack). I was barely half awake when he got back but he made me take two before I was totally out. It really helped. I slept deeply and this morning I'm about half better.

I'm wondering if I got glutened by something. I'm certainly not ready to certify my kitchen as GF yet, but it's much better and no new gluten has entered. Snyder's GF pretzels seem to give me a gluten reaction every time, so they're off my list of safe foods. Wondering if I could've crashed that hard from a small amount of gluten.

But since the prednisone is also an "adrenal" thing, I'm still guessing it's more of the adrenal saga. Can't really do much today. Guess I should listen to my body and nap.

Good to know that I'm not alone in suspecting that the thyroid issue was masking an adrenal one. My doc will be smug. He said it was adrenals very early on. The question remains, will he have a solution? Or will I be on my own with it? I've ordered ashwaganda (?), I generally do well with Indian herbs. Many years ago I used to drink a bottle of ginseng each morning. That will be plan B if plan A doesn't work out I guess.

 

[Remy]

I'm not even sure if I'm looking in the right places. My brain fog is too bad right now to be sure I'm doing what I should be doing. Ever since I've started this liver/GF/thyroid health kick, I've steadily improved. Now it seems there is a backslide.

Partly it's because I had to do a lot of acrobatic cleaning of the kitchen with nasty chemicals to get rid of years of grimy gluten in my oven. I had the usual muscle aches, then I was better, but now it seems I'm exhausted by the slightest stress.

I've kept up with Valcyclovir, but I'm sure that's missing other viruses.

I've kept up with eating liver (though no longer daily).

I've kept up with liothyronine at a lower dose, plus iodine.

I used hydorcortizone ointment on the muscle aches (especially the chest near the armpits), but not daily, only a few times, so I can't imagine it's a "drop" effect.

I've kept up with eating enough salt. The more my thyroid gets better, the easier it is for me to get nauseous and lightheaded without enough salt.

I've been forgetting fish oil and multivitamins lately. A lot. I've also been spotty on remembering to take DHEA.

The upside is, I haven't taken pain meds in nearly a month. Haven't needed them. Hardly need any meds at all except thyroid and valcyclovir. Of course, I'm glad to be off of them, but wondering if this is a withdrawal reaction, only occurring later.

I'm not sure how to characterize how I feel except I can get mildly upset by something and then I spend half a day exhausted and staring into space, rubbing my eyes and yawning because I need to "wake up."

What happened? I'm leaning toward adrenal exhaustion, showing itself after my thyroid has recovered a bit. Is there something I should do? Sleep more? I'm afraid to mess up my already messy sleep schedule, even more. What can I do?

How's your blood pressure? Do you have a thermometer where you can take basal temps for a week or so?

 

[Not dead yet!]

How's your blood pressure? Do you have a thermometer where you can take basal temps for a week or so?

My bp is pretty good, whenever they take it it's always normal. I do get some wierd effects from lying down. When I lie down, I often wake up all the way and then have to get up and pace a bit, but sometimes I end up staying up all night.

I have an electronic ear thermometer, but I keep hearing I need a "more accurate" one. I tend to take several readings until I have a number that I'm getting more than once. I don't have a set sleep schedule so taking my temp isn't going to be a pretty process. More like haphazard.

 

[Remy]

My bp is pretty good, whenever they take it it's always normal. I do get some wierd effects from lying down. When I lie down, I often wake up all the way and then have to get up and pace a bit, but sometimes I end up staying up all night.

I have an electronic ear thermometer, but I keep hearing I need a "more accurate" one. I tend to take several readings until I have a number that I'm getting more than once. I don't have a set sleep schedule so taking my temp isn't going to be a pretty process. More like haphazard.

You can look up Dr Rind and his temperature graphing method.

In a nutshell, if you temperatures fluctuate by more than half a degree, it is likely adrenal stress. If they are low, but consistently so, it points more to low thyroid function.