After like 5 pm or so i just feel like i can barely get up and walk because i just don't have the energy to do it. If i push myself i get this knot in my throat and feel like i'm going to get a panic attack. On top of this i feel like i'm losing my mind at times. I don't know what else to do. I feel like taking an antidepressant to save my life at least, but i'm also afraid of the side effects like insomnia, or even my body giving its final crash. I don't know what to do. I ask myself how common is severe adrenal fatigue? i am a man of faith, so suicide is not an option for me, on top of that i love life, i love my wife and kids, and lately i wake up and look outside and always feel like crying. I don't know if this is good for me or not, but i cry like almost everyday, sometimes i fight it but the tears roll out regardless. I don't know what to do. I am not afraid of death, seriously i'm not, i know where my place is, but i look at my family and i feel like i just got to make it. I'm not some hypochondriac or i'm not totally exaggerating. Help!
my phone number is 832.741.0687, i would enjoy talking to anyone for encouragement, IN THE END ONLY GOD AND YOU GUYS KNOW WHAY I'M GOING THROUGH. Thank you, and if i haven't said it before, i have much love and respect for everyone on this forum. Carlos
I know this forum is primarily for the Science behind our condition. But i agree, after suffering with AF i have had plenty of time to reflect on life and what i have to do from here. No matter what i feel, i will not lose my integrity, i was a servant of my Lord and i will continue to honor Him no matter how bad it gets. I love God, that's me. I know not everyone here believes there's a God, but that's another argument completely irrelavant to our healing process right now. I accept people for who they are and truly wish the best for everyone, whether they believe in God or not. I just don't know what to do. I feel like turning to antidepressants, at least for a week.
Yo, I am on day 6 of antidepressant celexa. First day I felt worse, then after that I feel better each day. I realize how depressed I have been. I am taking 2.5mg a day, and will build up 2.5mg a week up to 10mg, maybe even 20mg, I am not sure.
Your body is very sensitive so it would be wise to take 1/10th of whatever dose the doctor recommends. I highly recommend celexa or lexapro. If you get celexa make sure to go to safeway, because they have the best generic form of it. Places like Wal-Mart have what may be inferior generics of the drug.
I will make a post above explaining why I am taking an antidepressant.
If you do consider trazadone. It has sedative properties and is often prescribed for insomnia. It is also completly non addictive. It is also one of the the milder anti depressants.
If you have AF be very careful when going onto anti depressants as they can give you extra energy which can bring on a crash. If you have access to hydrocortisone it helps to take 10mg to 15 mg for a few days to support the adrenals if you find the antidessants are a bit to stimulating.
In your case if you have exhausted all your options you might want to consider going onto 20mg to 35mg of hydrocortisone a day for 6months to give your adrenal glands and your mind a rest.
The only reason that an antidepressant would be stimulating is if you are taking too much. The whole purpose of an antidepressant is to reduce your brains signaling of norepinephrine. Raising serotonin reduces signaling of norepinephrine. However, raising serotonin excessively actually increases norepinephrine. So you have to raise serotonin just not too much. People like us are EXTREMELY sensitive and are absolutely going to freak out on a normal dosed antidepressant, where a microdose of about 1/10th the recommended dose would help us immensely.
Carlos, have you considered trying 5-HTP? Instead of an anti-depressant? ALso, look up on the net "The Pain and Stress Center." They have many natural products for anxiety, pain and depression. One thing I like about them, is there is a number you can call and speak to someone with medical experience to help you find what is right for you to take. I am also now taking adrenal glandular, as I'm weaing slowly off the hydrocortisone, which I've been on for a year now. This will help to actually rebuild my adrenals. But, even with this I"m going low and slow. It takes longer, but the body is more readily accepting of it.
Paulette
Oh dear Carlos, my heart goes out to you brother.
I earnestly know what you are going through, because I have gone through the exact same feelings many times over in the past. And I too felt like, Lord please just take me to heaven now, I can't take it anymore, period. !
And it was only my faith in God and thinking of the ones I love here on earth and I prayed and cried many times for strength and direction and that God would not let me go through more than what I could bare.
I suffered a full year off and on ( last year of starting in my 3rd stage of AF recovery) Took Valium, natural anti-anxiety pills, and still tried to follow a 100% pure diet and taking it low and slow with the suppliments, because they were backfiring on me. ANd that helped a little. It has taken me 2 years to achieve a 30-40% recovery, from 2% body functioning, where I could barely walk and have bad anxeity, depression, crying, severe lightheadedness etc. etc. etc. I stayed persistant with the program though and just concentrated on getting through one day at a time, I could only read and watch TV material content that was lighthearted and funny. And Psalms was the only book I could read. In desperation a year ago, I pleaded with my husband to take me to Ft. Worth TX to see a doctor from one of the Fibro. and fatigue centers, recommended by my past naturopath. We were still covered under my husbands insurance to pay for the expensive and extensive blood work, the first thing they did in the morning of my appointment. They took 8 viles and test results came back in full detail covering 8 pages. The doctor went over every word of the results, explaining and any questions I had, taking a full hour. That test was significant. It showed my cortisol levels were high at first, seratonin was extremely low, aldersterone very low, candida high, Epstein barr various carrier, high T3 and other things I can't remember all.
Putting me in natural hydrocortisone, even though my cortisol levels were high than, helped to re-calculate the feed-back loop from the brain to the adrenals, so I than got better regulated with my cortisol and when I did have stress of any kind, there was the extra cortisol to help my through and my own adrenals would not get so depleted.
Another life savor, was taking my vitamin C like a slow drip IV. This way my body readily accepted a very small intake, instead of being flooded with one or two large doses.
I use Twin Lab, "Super C" powder ( all whole food derived)
One tsp. contains 2,000mg. I put 2 tsp. into a large 16 ounce glass of water with half squeezed lemon and a little stevia, stir well and keep in the frig. and stick a straw in there and sip on it periodically thorough out the 18 hour day.
I believe when you are just so sick and nothing seems to be working, than I sought out with prayer and research to find a good doctor in this area, even if it was a 5 hour drive to Ft. Worth. Praise God, my husband agreed to take me, as he saw how crippling it was to my life.
Carlos, I will pray for you brother, and if you need to talk by phone, I could possibly call too.
As hard as it is and near impossible, try to keep a positive frame of mind and keep your mind off how you feel. When I'd feel real crappy, I'd sit in my big chair and read Country magazine or watch I Love Lucy, or try to do the dishes, but I had to do something or I'd go insane.At times taking a Valium was a life savor. ALso starting on 5-HTP helped some with the depression. It's hard to start something new when you feel so bad, and I was afraid to many times, but you won't know till you try and sometimes you have to get out on a limb and try something different.
Paulette
Paulette
Hi,
Sounds like your suffering is similar to mine. I posted about a week ago in desperation. I wanted someone to confirm that the symptoms I had could be from adrenal fatigue and that I wasn't going crazy or going to die. Started seeing naturopath - taking supplements and doing accupuncture. May feel a tiny bit better so far but nothing great. The fatigue, depression, anxiety is overwhelming. I generally feel a little better in the evening. Morning is my worst. I have difficulty explaining to people how bad I feel. My eyesight is even affected. Everything looks "blotchy" if that makes sense.. Have ringing in the ears, vertigo, pains, etc. Do you have any of these other symptoms? If I have success from my current treatment I would be happy to pass it on to you. If you could please respond I would appreciate it! God help us....
Carlos, I'm sorry your AF is so severe and you aren't seeing improvements. I just wanted to write and say that it does get better!! Looking back, I see now I was in stage 3D this past spring when I was in and out of the hospital with adrenals crisises. Back then my entire day was bad, and I was bedridden or couchridden. I did not have a single moment of feeling even slightly healthy, and I had not a single minute of joy. I was completely depressed, not because I was sad, but because AF causes this. I couldn't see colors or appreciate any beauty or joy in life. Then after a month of 3D, every now and again for about a 10 minute window of time, I would suddenly feel healthy and good, and with this brief window of health I actually saw and appreciated little things like sunshine, the smell of someone barbequeing, and I was able to actually smile. Then after 10 minutes, I would feel miserably sick and weak (you know all the AF symptoms)and the depresssion was instantly back. The depression INSTANTLY lifts when you start to physically feel better. So anyway, as soon as I'd feel sick again, I'd have to be close to home because my legs would buckle under, I couldn't walk, I'd feel nauseas and shaky, etc.
But, I would LIVE for those few and far between windows of time when I actually felt ok. They didn't come every day, but looking forward to this small event, a hint of health, no matter how brief, was what kept me going. That and I am spritual and don't believe in suicide either... also it would break my mother's heart, and I couldn't do that to her.
I applaud your bravery, as it is tougher to be a man with AF than a female with AF, I imagine. Women are 'allowed' to be weak far oftener than men. Also, it's tougher to have a spouse and children who depend on you when you have AF. So I do commend you because you are taking the high road and toughing this out.
Also, I have to say that you will definitely improve! I was, like I said in stage 3D. I never felt good at all, (you can check my past posts where I probably complained too much) and several times a day was at death's door, begging to just sleep and never wake up. In time, I started getting regular windows of time 10-15 minutes of time every day where I felt good, then longer stretches of time where I was feeling good.
Now I feel actually great for 3/4 of the day. I have about 1 crash a day, but that crash is mild compared to crashes of the past. It feels like I'm simply very tired and need to rest my head. 2 months ago, I had my first completely GOOD day, and since then, I sometimes have good days 3x in row. Thank GOd! I will write more about what I am doing to improve in a later post (I haven't taken any antidepressants), but I just wanted to write this to encourage you and anyone out there at death's door with AF!!!
Carlos, hang in there brother! I'm in a similar place as you right now and yes, sometimes I do feel like checking out permanently, but in the end that is not an option.
I remember that in a previous post you said that initially you were getting better, but then crashed again after pushing yourself with exercise - the same thing happened to me. I crashed the second week in March and really didn't stabilize until June/July and then crashed again in August after going back to some old bad habits (which seems to be common amongst AF sufferers).
This definitely is a difficult road to travel, especially since you have a family to look after, but use that as your source of inspiration. AF can take so much from your life, but I believe that it can be overcome, as shown by many who have come here before us.
Anyway, my point is that we crashed before and started to get better, which likely means we will get better once again! It just takes time and a whole lot of patience.
Reading this article from Dr. Lam's website helped put things into perspective and made me feel better because I know what's going on inside of me and what I need to do to recover:
Carlos,
Have you been to the doctor? I'm wondering if you are hypothyroid? I just found out I am, and I know mine is caused by my weak adrenals and made worse by my pregnancy. Any how I can't walk from one room to the next without getting very tired and very short of breath. A couple weeks ago I was fine! Well, not with my adrenals, but I could definitely walk around without feeling like my heart and lungs were giving out. And now I'm getting a tight feeling in my throat when I eat foods my body isn't handling well. Maybe the knot in your throat is similar to what I'm feeling. Any how what I'm doing now that is helping is cutting out most carbs and going back on a diet of meat and cheese. I just started yesterday and feel a difference already but to get good results you have to do it longer term. (Sometimes for me my body feels better just eating like half a big hamburger from a restaurant and some french fries I don't know why but buttery or fried potatoes along with a hamburger just seem to be a food combination with me that really helps!)
Cut out most foods wtih moderate to high potassium as this can make adrenal fatigue worse. We need more salt most of the time then anything else. It took a month of me eating this way (low carb high protein and high fat) the first time I did it to notice a good difference but a month is nothing when it comes to our health. And the longer I ate that way the more improvement I made. I found something on the internet once with Dr. Mercola and some other physicians and it discussed how eating the protein and fat and cutting carbs down to very little can cause the adrenal glands to rest. So please try it. I also don't know if you have tried it or not but try 1200 mgs a day of pantethine along with 1200 mgs of pantothenic acid, divided up 300 mgs 4 times a day. They have to be used together to work well. That use to help me immensely and especially with the high protein high fat low carb diet. But my body became too sensitive to pantethine and I had to stop taking it. Also sometimes my body gets to a point where it won't allow me to go without carbs so the low carb diet doesn't always stick, but when it does it is such an amazing help.
Mainly just listen to your body when you are trying out suggestions from others because everyone reacts differently.
I just wanted to add that your body needs fat to make the hormones you need. My adrenal glands literally hurt until I get a high protein and high fat food in. And I love to eat healthy but healthy fats like olive oil or flax oil did not do the trick it was pure animal fat that helped and still helps.
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Seriously, feel like i'm dying here 
