I'm having my Adrenals and Pituitary checked tomorrow and thought I'd post a last minute message to ask if any of you can give me a quick rundown of tests that may have helped you pinpoint endocrine issues particularly if you have have had prolonged feelings of adrenaline due to very drawn out periods (in some cases months, or in my case years) where you have been in an almost permanent state of "fight or flight" response. Since 2000 after taking an anti-malarial drug for prevention of Malaria (when I went holidaying in a malarial area), I had a nasty reaction where I convulsed for 12 hours non-stop. I was fully conscious at the time and am not epileptic but these stomach and abdominal muscle seizures (a bit like sit ups or stomach crunches) were extremely exhausting and painful and would come and go several times a month, up until about 4 or 5 months ago).
I took one Lariam tablet during a time of extreme stress and insomnia (which the doctor had not warned me about or bothered to check before prescribing the medication) and I have had a downhill struggle healthwise ever since.
I've had panic attacks ever since and blackouts, I've had chronic headaches, but MRI comes up clear in head. I have had prolonged Chronic Fatigue and FibroMyalgia type symptoms for almost a year now and had a 2 month period where walking to the bathroom was too much effort. My insomnia has been chronic for years, but more recently has improved slightly since quitting my job and yet I feel like my senses are Hyper-alert in terms of light sensitivity, sound sensitivity and smell sensitivity. I smell everything and when I feel a twisted "adrenal feeling" which persists often for days or even weeks at a time, I become extremely light sensitive as if my eyes are burning when I am in a normally lit room.
I have had numerous threats on my life in the past. 5 attempted hijackings and 1 smash 'n grab / car mugging as well as numerous other severe stresses, which I think have taken their toll. I suspect that I might have over sensitive adrenals or that the pituitary is perhaps hyperactive or not "talking" to the adrenals properly. Possibly Hypothalamus issues, but brain scan came up structurally normal.
I am seeing my first endocrinologist tomorrow after I had a strange fatigue reaction last week. I went to a computer arcade games room, just for fun, with my husband and played some "shoot-em-up" arcade games and got very enthusiastic, fighting off each computer character and obviously triggering some form of adrenal response.
Had fun for about half an hour but at the end of that, I felt weak at the knees and shaky. It was quite hard to control my legs steadily, but I managed to get it together, just felt very wobbly kneed and weak. I figured it must be something relating to adrenal fatigue or insufficiency of adrenaline, or something like that, and spoke to my GP who is at last sending me to an endocrinologist.
The tests are due to be done tomorrow afternoon and I would really appreciate your input and feedback if you've had similar issues to mine. Particularly relating to what sort of tests you have had done and the sorts of results that were helpful in diagnosing or pinpointing the problem areas.
I will probably ask to test for Adrenaline, nor-adrenaline, Cortisol, prolactine, aldosterone ... but I would be SOOOO grateful to you, if any of you could just drop me a quick email mentioning tests you had.
I suspect I might have adrenal fatigue or over active adrenals. But the funny thing is I also get nasty one-sided head aches, inside my Skull, just above the base of C1 and C2 vertebrae (at the top of the neck).
Don't know if there's some mis-firing going on between the pituitary and the adrenals, "crossed wires" or incorrect signals going on there, I do know that I am "hyper" sensitive to smell, sound and light and I frequently feel the typical "fight or flight" feelings in my thoracic and upper abdominal areas. I also have nasty pain on my lower right side, which felt like menstrual cycle pains (sorry, to mention this guys, but I think it is important to mention) but the only difference was that the pains don't seem related to my menstrual cycle at all and happen several times a week.
My body clock is pretty messed up to and have terrible insomnia episodes which last for days on end. Most I've been without sleep is around 160 hours, non-stop. Talk about feeling "spaced out" at that point. Was terrible.
Heart rate is fast almost all the time, I also have quick reflexes and often my senses are ultra-sharp, to the point that if someone talks at slightly elevated volume, I get earache or find it "too much".
I have my tests tomorrow. I am hoping the person I see actually does something constructive and doesn't put it down to being psychological as these experts often seem to do.
I played arcade games or "shoot-em-up" games this time last week and my body was physically fatigued and weak at the knees immediately afterwards. That's why I suspect adrenal fatigue. My GP thinks it could well be, but I will find out tomorrow hopefully.
Really so tired of all these tests now.
If any of you have any suggestions or can relate to what I've said, I'd love to hear from you before tomorrow's appointment. Your input is very valuable to me and might help as I'm sure there are lots of you out there who've had similar issues to what I've explained here.
Looking forward to your responses.
Happy new year by the way!!!!!
