saraeli said...
Dr. Rawls's newsletter today was about adrenal fatigue, coincidentally: https://rawlsmd.com/health-articles/6-natural-adrenal-fatigue-solutions
Crushing fatigue and mid-back pain makes sense if you have taxed or under-supplied adrenal glands.
When this happens, you must rest. No way around it. Do not use any stimulants or push yourself at all. No suspenseful books or movies. Avoid stressful people and thoughts. The more depleted you become, the harder it will be to recover.
Look into HPA axis dysfunction, since an imbalance in one hormone system can mean imbalances in all of them (thyroid, pituitary, adrenal, hypothalamic, etc.). Treatment is holistic - sleep well, eat well, move your body, reduce stress, take adaptogenic herbs, and if you still are struggling then add an adrenal glandular supplement or endogenous hormones (yam-based progesterone cream or bioidentical hormones) if necessary.
Do you take any gentle adaptogenic herbs? Do you get enough quality sleep? How is your stress management routine?
If you are interested in an adrenal glandular supplement, then I would recommend Dr. Wilson's Adrenal Rebuilder. It contains no hormones, just components to support your system. But as with anything that affects the adrenal system, start very slow.
These days I read a lot about the Cell Danger Response (Dr. Naviaux) which is thought to be foundational to many chronic conditions. Adherents of this theory say that adrenal fatigue is not really a thing, and that the mitochondria are what needs to be addressed. The first step is to get your body out of the Cell Danger Response so that your mitochondria can have a chance to repair their function. This can be done by removing the threat (acute infection, severe stress, PTSD, etc.). Then supplementation to support the mitochondria can be helpful in restoring energy and healing. (This is very much the oversimplified version.)
Are you doing any sort of treatment right now? How do you feel between these crashes?
Thank you very much for the reply, I appreciate it.
In between the crashes I seem to be doing quite well (I have been treating for about
2.5 years and a lot of my symptoms have improved). I am a full time student, studying a masters degree, although I really worry about
my ability to work full time once I graduate. It's a big fear of mine.
When I get these terrible fatigue crashes I also get muscle twitching, nerve pain through my legs and back, muscular pain throughout my body, eye pain/blurriness. It usually takes weeks, if not months for the fatigue to lift to a level where I can function like somewhat of a normal person, and then all the other symptoms that come with the fatigue improve as well.
I just worry because this is one thing that seems to have gotten worse after 2 years of treatment and it is extremely debilitating.
I am not sure if it is a reaction to my treatment (massive herxing), or something else. It's very hard to tell because it often comes out of nowhere. By the way, I tested positive for lyme, mycoplasma, cpn, EBV, yersinia, and some other viruses which I can't quite remember (this was about
2 years ago).
Post Edited (destiny) : 9/5/2020 11:12:59 PM (GMT-6)