New to forum: Lyme-adrenals-weight gain-blood pressure-heart rate

Hi all, I'm new here, but have been reading/lurking for a while. This has been a super helpful site, and now I feel like I need to post my own questions.

I believe I have had Lyme for a while, but only got diagnosed a few years ago. Illness, then later a pharmaceutical, both triggered what I understand to be Lyme flares/toxic backlog(I was suddenly allergic to everything, among many other weird symptoms). Prior to that, my adrenals seemed low functioning and I had always had low BP, but never enough so that any doctors were concerned. Before the flares and Dx, it was always odd to me that despite regular exercise, I didn't seem to get much more endurance or build much strength/speed.

Long story short, until recently my adrenals have been low, sleep affected, energy levels low, BP low (90-low 100s/60s, even 80s/high50s) - and heart rate on the higher side (past few years in the 90s, resting or low activity). My ND put me initially on adrenal support supplements and something to help manage cortisol levels. That helped, but seemed to plateau. In the meantime I have been steadily gaining weight. I am also in that delightful middle age female stage where hormones are shifting and weight gain is normal. But it is hard to increase activity levels still. I do walk and bike but get winded very easily. My ND recently added very low dose of hydrocortisone (5mg, but I actually take less, more like 3.5 - I seem to react strongly/badly to full doses of many things). Suddenly my blood pressure is up(doc says it could be the weight gain, but that has been going up for months, this jump in BP really correlated with the hydrocortisone), even elevated after things like driving short distances. My heart rate was lower (like 70). So I thought to try less hydrocortisone, my BP went to normal range (118/68) but heart rate was back up -107!. That scares me a bit, I often feel the racing heart, get winded climbing stairs, but now it is with a higher blood pressure. Not sure what to do. Or how to better manage my weight like this.

Have any of you had experiences like this? What have you done to resolve this?

Side note: for Lyme treatment, I take an herbal tincture based on Buhner, and Samento. I also get ozone once a week (being doing the last 3 months). These together gave me a strong Herx with swollen lymph nodes, low fever,etc that lasted several weeks recently, so taking it easier with the herbs right now. The adrenal/heart rate/BP weight thing is a side show to that ongoing effort.

Thanks - this was a long post.

Hi Girlie, yes my ND is Lyme Literate. The herbs I'm taking are based on Buhner protocol. I think some of the herbs would be used for Bart, but I haven't focused on confections yet.

Detoxing...ok, it's true I don't really do that consistently, mainly if I feel I am herxing, so I will step that up. You are correct, the BP/heart rate thing really does interfere with life!

Hi Fine whine,

Kudos on the name by the way. A lot of people have adrenal issues with lyme. I also had POTS/heart issues attributed to lyme but I think it was actually more directly correlated to adrenal issues caused by lyme. I took a few supplements to help. I used Rhodiola Rosea though there are many more. Definitely check with your ND about your adrenal support. I do know a few people that had similar hormonal issues when they were middle aged. I was only 28 at the time so that definitely wasn't it!

Hope you start feeling better soon.

~beth