DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND ADRENAL FATIGUE SYNDROME

I've only ever heard of addisons or cushings. I do know that I have a mental condition in the same vein as depression and anxiety and doctors will either A: Not prescribe me hydrocortisone or only give it to me for less than a week

I would recommend asking your pharmacist how long you should have to deal with the side effects. Pharmacists usually know more about the actual drugs than the doctors do - it's their specialty. If they tell you it's not likely to stop, talk to your doctor and let him know that you need to try something different.

As for the SSRI's... some people simply have to be on them for the rest of their lives. That doesn't mean you have to suffer though - you might have been on the wrong one, or the wrong dosage. I have a family member who had to try quite a few meds before they were able to set her right. It sucked. But now that she's got the right one, at the right dosage, her life is so much better.

My own SAD and GAD are being managed without drugs, but I'm not a severe case.

I have had anxiety and random panic attacks since I was about 13. I refused to go on anything until I had the worst panic attack of my life 2 years ago. It lasted 2 weeks straight! I then went on Celexa and that changed my life. My anxiety has drastically reduced and my panic attacks have greatly reduced and only have lasted like 20 min. It didn't make me gain weight. I was lucky to find one that worked for me on the first shot. Sometimes you have to try 4 or 5 until you find the right one. I feel for anyone that suffers with this disorder.

I have lived with panic disorder (mild and intermittant) since i was 18. been on lexapro for about 5 or 6 yrs. not sure if my weight issues were due to SSRIs or just stress and depression in other areas.

Not sure about the fatigue issue.

Hi there. We're it the same age backet. In November last year I had my left adrenal gland removed because I had Cushings disease. I currently take 30 mg of Hydrocortisone steroids daily - this has come down from 100mg medicated. With Cushing your body produces too much hydrotortisone and this stops your body from processing fats and carbs properly, which equals weight gain - not to mention the 2 or 3 glasses of wine a night that I was having.

I have had to give myself a really big kick and say that I'm not going to use the steroids as an excuse to eat - Goodness, the first few weeks were really hard. I can relate with the family deaths as well, as I have lost my only sister and my mother in the last two years. All this stress doesn't help either.

My suggestion to you is - NO drinking - and if you can't give it up completely ... NO Drinking on what I call a 'school night' I personally am doing 'FEB FAST' so nothing for February at all.
And try and get out for a daily walk - you'd be amazed at how you feel once you've been out there for even 10 minutes.
Food... well you know what to do, have a treat if you want just not every day, downsize your meals, write down every thing you eat and see what you can change.

It's never easy but once you start it does get easier - to prove this I've lost 11lb since January

My adrenal gland is functioning, but, I have been on cortizol before. I was prescribed an anxiety med to go with it.. but was to anxious to take them. With good reason actually, the anxiety meds knocked my flat on my *kitten* for 12hrs straight. I was afraid to take them on work days incase I slept through my alarm.
Yes, they did create a super appetite. I was dealing with some medical and personal issues at the time as well, and I'm afraid I ate for a month straight (junk too... breakfast sandwhiches, triple burgers, you name it, I hoovered it). I'm not sure how much weight I gained at the time, but it was significant. If I ever had need of them again, I will choose foods that are great in volume (like popcorn, whole heads of lettuce, spinach), and increase my lean proteins.
The good news is that the side effects of medications typically taper off with in3 months (things like anxiety and appetite disturbances). Hopefully, in another week or two you won't notice those side effects any more. (For my the anxiety thing was only the first week or 2, and my appetite only kicked into super drive once I started tapering off the meds).

I'm not surprised it was a 'naturopath' that did this. There is no scientific evidence "Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome" even exists. Giving you cortisol, causing your appetite to go crazy - and aggravating anxiety and depression, something an MD or DO would have known - to address a syndrome that doesn't have any evidence based science to back it up was stupid. Please see a doctor.

How is your diet? I'm bipolar II and the quality of my life has improved greatly since I started eating the right number of calories and exercising regularly.

http://www.cheeseslave.com/is-it-adrenal-fatigue-or-starvation/

I take cortisone and have been for 15 some years now.... 5mg in the am and 2.5 mg in the afternoon... that is not the dosage my doc likes.....but its the dosage that I have come to find works for me. If you are taking it because your natural levels are low you should not have any crazy side effects because you are just replacing what your body should be making.... all those cray cray side effects that you read about on Google are for people who go on huge dosages for whatever reason. Think of it as a diabetic who needs injections to provide what the body can't... same thing with cortef.


if a doctor prescribed you the cortef.. Id say it's pretty important. I also have to take stress dosage... up my meds if I an under the weather or stressed.

I was diagnosed (by blood labs) with adrenal insuficiency a few years ago and was prescribed Cortef.

It sounds as if your dose of Cortef isn't right but you have the confounding factor of weening off the anxiety/depression meds. Did they give you an estimated time to return to normalcy from them? I think it will be hard to judge an accurate HC dose until then. Be prepared that the road to adrenal recovery can be a long one. Most people need a minimum of a year on HC, I needed almost 3 years, gradually tapering down.

Hi, I have severe GAD ( general Anxiety disorder) have been on meds for years and just got off my Celexa about 7 months ago. I take Zanax XR 1 ml a day and keeps me pretty even keel. But in the last few months have been getting break through panic. I am going to a pshycologist on Friday. Dont want to go back on the Celexa, hate the sweating!!Really bad, ( because of being fat still its worse) I am going to agree with Butterfly, make sure you don't have sleep apnea, I was tested in November and I have it. Not too bad but,I have the CPAP machine and feel really awake and not groggy in the morning. Getting up early was never my thing, but now I do . Took me about 2 weeks to get used to the machine but now sleep great with it. Getting 7 to 8 hours solid sleep. And no snoring!! I can sleep in my own bed again after 2 years. The sleep will also help you lose weight. That is an advantage of quaility sleep.
Hope you feel better soon , best wish's Ileen

Hi there,

I am sorry to hear about your health concerns. I know how tough it is to feel motivated to make changes when you are depressed and tired. I have seen a lot of success for myself with diet changes. I started with Dr. Hyman's book UltraMetabolism (you can check it out on his web site). Dr. Amen has written books with similar dietary changes with the point of view of changing your brain function. On his web site, you can take a test to see where you can make changes that will improve your own situation. Mostly, it's cut out the junk, eat organic as much as possible, minimize starches and sugars, etc.

In spite of me doing all of these things, I still suffered with fatigue and joint pain so awful that I could barely walk up the stairs! I finally had a naturopath care enough to look over all of the lab work I had done over 8 years and she suggested I have my parathyroid checked. Long story, but I finally had the surgery to remove TWO adenomas (in spite of the endocrinologists here saying that "it wasn't that bad") and it made a huge difference for me. The other problem I have is hypothyroidism. I wasn't feeling right until I was changed to Armour thyroid instead of Synthroid. Recently, a new doctor decided that I should go back on Synthroid because Armour is compounded and therefore not consistent enough in dosage. Within days, the terrible aches were back, my nails were peeling and ridged, etc. I was changed back to Armour and everything began to improve again.

I share my story with you so you won't give up trying to find your OWN answers. Doctors are not sufficiently trained in nutrition to know how to use food as medicine. If you educate yourself, you will find the answers for your own situation. Since my experience, I only go to doctors who are willing to be partners in my medical treatment rather than those who come to hasty conclusions and treat before they consider all options.

Don't give up! I wish you much success in finding the answers you need to improve your health as well as lose the weight.

Sincerely,
Cat

*cough* Excuse me.

I can sympathize. I've also been tired most of my life. I have woken up rested so seldom that I actually remember the last time it happened. It was an event.

I'm in a similar situation with adrenal fatigue, also diagnosed by a naturopath. It's being treated with supplements, though, and I'm not experiencing side effects. There are some very good books about adrenal fatigue that are worth looking for, and some changes you can make to your diet.

One recommendation is to go to bed before 10:30. I was sceptical about this, especialy as I have never slept well, but I do find that this makes quite a difference for me.

Friend me if you want. Good look with resolving this. I think there are so many of us with these vague symptoms that there must be something that is fixable. It's a shame doctors keep throwing anti-depressants at it. I've been depressed, and I've felt like this, and it's different.