Does this sound like adrenal fatigue?
37y/o cis woman. I've been struggling for a few years with a number of symptoms (I'll get to those later) that I think are adrenal fatigue. I've been to two GPs and one endocrinologist (I'm seeing a second endo January) as well as a naturopathic MD and I'm also planning to go see my OBGYN. I've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's and I also have psoriasis (two auto-immunes). I do not currently take any pharmacological medication - previously I've been on an SNRI (tapered off in August 2023) and an oral contraceptive (came off in July 2022).
My symptoms include:
- heart palpitations with hot flash
- excessive sweating
- anxiety
- extreme mood swings - I cry so often over nothing
- weight gain only around the low belly area no matter what exercises I do
- trouble staying asleep, very light sleeping
- very fatigued in the afternoon, almost to the point of falling asleep without trying
- gastrointestinal upset
I've brought all these symptoms to doctors and I've had blood work done and when it comes back as in range I've been told some version of: you have anxiety, go see a psychiatrist OR seems like everything is normal.
Those various doctors have given me blood tests for estrogen, FSH, testosterone, cortisol, iron, T4, T3, TSH, progesterone, vitamin B, vitamin D - and many more. All are within normal range. I also did a saliva test for cortisol at the suggestion of the naturopath and that indicated that my cortisol production is low morning, noon, and evening with a small spike late at night. I brought the results of the saliva test to my GP and endocrinologist, GP told me to see an endocrinologist and the endo told me that saliva tests are not reliable and I should do a blood test (I did and cortisol is in normal range).
This has been going on for years off and on. I'm struggling to know what to do next or who to ask for help. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm really open to trying anything. Thank you.
Posted Nov 2, 2023, 1:15 AM UTC