Adrenal Fatigue has led to my first ever Kidney Infection

'When it rains, it pours' as they say...

My DH was so concerned about my health he forced me to visit the GP.  I'm glad I did, because after a clinical examination, he confirmed I had a kidney infection (on top of everything else!).

I had no idea my condition had deteriorated as much as that, as I presented with no fever or burning upon passing water, just lower backache.  It was only discovered upon clinical examination.  He put me on 250mg of antibiotics and sent me for a blood test.

As I said last time, I fully understand what's happening to my body.  Its trying to cope with TWO new eventualities:

1.  Adrenal Fatigue - probably caused by excessive bleeding and poor diet.  Anaemia was the first part of it, but now its a different kind of fatigue.

2.  Ovaries Stopped Ovulating - It's my belief that if my ovaries hadn't packed-up working, my endocrine system would not have put the extra burden on my adrenals to make 40% of my sex hormones, and in turn, this would not have compromised my general kidney function.

Adrenal Fatigue & Kidney Infection - Rolled into One
Looking back, I think I've been ill for about 6 weeks or so.  It was sort of, worse, than anaemia because it made me fall backwards, which I've never experienced before!

I felt really cold and even became a little incoherent.    But the really weird thing, as compared to typical anaemia, was that mental concentration was not as difficult to achieve as was physical  concentration.  Even maintaining my posture was almost impossible during the very worst of it.  Also, I kept fretting about and things I felt unable to do.  But looking back, I think the very worst symptom was that my legs just refused to do what I said.  I would try to stand up and it was like they were not getting the message from my brain.  I now realise it was chronically low adrenaline/cortisol that caused this.  It actually felt as if my legs were like lead or concrete, made of solid matter rather, than flesh and bone?  I was totally washed out!  

I never want to experience that kind of fatigue again, if I can at all help it!! 

So I decided I needed to get wise quickly to know how to get well, in the shortest available time.  I quickly found two things that have helped me a lot.  

1.  I started taking Adrenal Cortex Extract capsules (of Bovine origin), 50mg.  I take three a day.  I'm taking them as per the advice of Dr James Wilson, in his book Adrenal Fatigue: 21st Century Stress Syndrome.  His book does not specify whether you should take extract from Bovine or Porcine origin, but I note interestingly, that on his website, he sells the medication of Porcine extraction, only!  

The point of taking this medication is that it is supposed to help you recover from Adrenal Fatigue much faster than lying around resting, which is out of the question for most people.  It's recommended for moderate symptoms.  But for acute symptoms, you would need to take a much stronger composition in liquid form.

I wanted the liquid form but its not available in the UK and they wont permit shipping from the US for this product on amazon.com.    

From what I've read so far, if I visit my doctor with adrenal fatigue, he'll no doubt give me steroids - which I have NO intention to taking.  So, I'm self-medicating upon Dr Wilson's advice.    

2.  I also started taking Vitex Agnus Castus, two capsules of 400mg each, twice a day.  I'm taking this because, interestingly in contrast, it targets the pituitary gland and helps you to make more of your own progesterone as well as lowering prolactin levels.  A lot of women take this substance for fertility problems (presenting typically as low progesterone) and PMS, but also for menopausal symptoms (yippee!).  

Agnus Castus wont be a forever thing, but for the next few months, hopefully, it should help to level out progesterone levels, especially at night.  Because I'm finding that Natural Progesterone Cream is not really getting me through the night and I need to get up, pass water, then apply the cream, before I can go to sleep again.    

I've noticed two things happening while taking Vitex Agnus Castus.

a.  I perspire again!  Remember, I said I wasn't perspiring ages ago and that it worried me that I may be overheating because of this?  

Well, Agnus Castus seems to be correcting that situation.  It means I get less of those strange pulsating twinges across my head, which always remind me of a brewing migraine.  

b.  I've also noticed the reinstatement of slight panic attacks type anxiety symptoms in the afternoon.  

Its a wild guess, but I think Agnus Castus is helping me to make more testosterone again?  I need to read further into this, but always during my cycle, when I was making more testosterone, I would get quite anxious and have panic attacks.  This was very much part of PMS for me.

I'll monitor the situation regarding the increased anxiety, but I intend to persevere with Agnus Castus because I've thought for a long time that my pituitary was possibly not performing properly? even when I was really well, like 10 years ago?

So, you can see, I'm trying desperately to cope with several health issues at the same time:

1.  Adrenal Fatigue

2.  Perimenopause (last stages)

3.  Thyroid dysfunction (due to low progesterone production and low Iodine intake)

4.  Dieting (often at starvation levels)

5.  Possible pituitary dysfunction (since birth, no doubt)

6.  Oestrogen dominance (for the last 10 years)

7.  Low progesterone (definitely for more than 10 years)

8.  My first ever kidney infection

9.  Migraine (really bad last 14 months)

10.Ongoing stress (work and home)/

About the stress.  Remember I said I was suffering uncontrollable stress - mainly due to our dog's health?  Well I found out recently that the real reason I couldn't stop the stress, may have been because I was actually chronically deficient in magnesium.  

Since I read recently that 'magnesium puts the brakes on the flow of adrenaline'. 


I found that information out coincidentally, and was surprised that it was a subject that hadn't been covered in the book on Magnesium that I download a couple of months ago, called: The Magnesium Solution for Migraine Headaches
Well I suppose the emphasis of that book was really about pain relief from Magnesium.

Its a shame it wasn't covered, as the need for us all to have enough magnesium to prevent us becoming chronically stressed, is a wonderful preventative piece of advice, surely?  I wish I'd learned that when I was in my mid-thirties and going hammer and tongs at everything in my life: such as, organising charity events, bringing up children, working long hours, studying part-time, house renovations and alcohol consumption, to name a few...

Quite honestly, the life I've lived the past 15 years has really come home to roost during these perimenopausal/menopausal stages of the game.  I've had to ask myself: What kind of an old woman do you want to be?

1.  I want to remain slim
2.  I want to be fit - be able to walk 5 miles a day, if needs be
3.  I dont want to get Alzheimers - if I can supplement and avoid it, because I think it probably is a dietary disease.  
4.  I dont want Osteoporosis - my aunt had it, she died in a hundred little pieces, her deterioration was the most devastating thing to observe  - the poor thing, God rest her soul!
5.  I still want to do millions of things and have the energy for all of them
6.  I dont want my face or hair to deteriorate to the point of invisibility
7.  I want to balance my hormones and not end up an emotional wreck that buys crap from the internet to fill emotional holes.

(My GP confirmed: it is medically possible to come off HRT suddenly.  But reiterated that I should never have been prescribed it in the first place (by my private doctor), due to my history of migraine! - how comforting!!)

About DHEA
I've read that because I'm currently suffering Adrenal Fatigue, I wont be able to really notice the effects of DHEA until that's under control.   

Started a new book + feeling weird

Our dog's condition has stabilised, so he's going to stay where he is, we love him dearly.  We managed to have a major family discussion about it and decided we have to completely change the way we live, in order to keep him calm and thriving.  Dementia is so tied-up with anxiety, that if the patient becomes anxious, we've observed, its very difficult, thereafter, to calm them down.  In dogs, often this seems to lead to a chaotic outcome!

My own health has improved, but is a little strange at the present time.

I forgot to mention, that during my last (disgusting) migraine, I felt I was going to pass out, twice.  My legs just gave way and the second time, I remember I had turned quickly and momentarily blacked out. I didn't take any notice of these symptoms, as I was feeling so completely washed out anyway.  

And now I find my tummy is still out of order - 2 weeks later!    This may not be as strange as it sounds, considering I'm taking two lots of magnesium in tablet form now, morning and evening.

This is just what they warn you about when you take increased doses of magnesium in this form, that you'll more than likely, visit the bathroom a lot more!!

The trouble with me though, is that I don't think my tummy has fully recovered since my last headache - or was it a tummy bug?- and that was, notably, before I increased my dose??

I'm am a person that can put up with quite lot of stomach disorder, but migraines are just too painful.

So, the good thing is, that all residue of previous migraine pain has gone, but unfortunately, my guts are in a terrible state.  

My tummy is so bad that I've noticed that every time I have an uncomfortable sensation from my lower intestines, I get a momentary shooting pain straight to the site of previous migraine pain?

Its quite frightening, but entirely isolated.  I've also noticed that it happens more noticeably if I'm lying on one of my sides, but I can't remember which?  

The other thing that I noticed is that, a visit to the bathroom means I will feel very 'depressed' for about 2 hours afterwards?  This is very strange indeed, because usually relief from tummy trouble makes us feel hugely better?  (Reading further into that, turns out that 95% of serotonin is made in the gut, so it figures that after evacuating those stores, I should feel extremely low.)

Something is happening to me, and I don't really know the cause of it?  I'm pretty worried that addressing my magnesium deficiency has brought, other, more deep seated abnormalities to light, perhaps??

So, because I've been so ill recently, I decided to just slow everything right down and try and reduce the stress in my life as much as I possibly can, or at least stop taking on anymore new stress.

Quite often my job takes me out of town, the furthest I have to go is 180 miles, round trip, but sometimes, it seems, I can be in the car for about 2 weeks, or more, with few breaks for refreshment and shared driving.

My DH and I work together, and our dog is usually included on these journeys.  I don't think this system is going to work for us anymore but I'm determined not to make myself ill wondering how we shall cope!

My DH loves his dog to bits and typical of men, he doesn't seem to have really thought through how we are going to manage the dog's increased medical problems, and our responsibilities?  (Getting along with men is very strange at the best of times, they just think differently to us!)

Interestingly, I'm now reading a much more 'academic' book on migraine called:

Migraine (Neurological Disease and Therapy)

Much longer, and a lot more expensive than the average Kindle offering, I'm being richly rewarded for the investment.

Pages in Kindle format are not numbered, as you know, so after reading about 7% of the book, I came across an observation that mingled with earlier ideas I had about what could possibly be really wrong with me:

"vasovagal syncope" is mentioned several times in this book.

Remember, I said I thought my Vagus Nerve was 'over-sensitive' in an earlier post...

I should mention, I've had IBS in the past and I wouldn't be surprised if this vagus nerve sensitivity was a permanent result of that year-long illness.  I cross-referenced IBS causes again and found that stress or a single stressful event can cause IBS, and lead to ongoing hypersensitivity to pain and inflammation.  That seems to make a lot a sense to how I'm feeling now.  I cannot rule out that I'm actually having an IBS relapse, either...  

I take FeverFew for general inflammation issues (e.g. dry eyes and headache), and I take magnesium to smooth out my nerves, plus I take Rhodiola Rosea to boost my serotonin.  This leaves stress as the only thing I cannot seem to address.

Vagal Tone is the term you hear most often associated with arrhythmia and chronic depression.  I'm still looking into all of that.  'Vagus Nerve stimulation' seems to be the thing now, but frankly, I think I would prefer to cough a little to wake it up, if it needs waking...  

The other thing I noticed about my mental state (for that I mean, nerve health, energy levels, outlook and mood) at the present time is, I'm feeling suicidal again.

Please don't be alarmed, I doubt very much I will ever do it, but when things are out of whack, I think about it quite often.  Stress is just a thing I cannot seem to control, it just comes flying at me and suicide (in my mind) is a solution to all that pain.

It turns out that suicide victims have something in common, and that is that they tend to have a lot more serotonin receptors in the brain than average folk.  That doesn't mean they make more serotonin, but it clearly means the brain expects more.      

When I read this, I understood my feelings of suicide much better.  Basically, I will never be able to make the amount of serotonin that my brain expects, of if I do, I will only manage it momentarily - happiness is a fleeting thing, after all! - but my wanting to be happier and my despair at not ever being able to get there, probably has a physiological basis in my design?  

Once, I planned my suicide down to every last detail.  I had even pin-pointed the day.  As it approached and my preparations were in place, I thought finally about the incredible mess all that blood would cause and decided the carpets were more important than my so-called 'solution'....needless to say, I struggled on.  

I fully recognise that suicide is a pattern of thinking that I get into when things are particularly bad but it does not mean I will ever do it, just that, for some very strange reason, I think about it a lot.  I have absolutely no delusions of dramatic impact or self-importance issues.  Suicide is selfish, extremely hurtful to loved ones and just plain old wrong, most of the time....

  

I was so ill recently

I was incredibly ill two weeks ago.  It was devastating.  

I couldn't do anything for 2 days before the humdinger of a migraine, then for the 3 days it gripped me, then for another 2 whole days afterwards.  In fact, my head and scalp were so sore for ages after that, in desperation, I decided to step-up my dosage of magnesium to 800mg a day, with the addition of two B6 tablets.

Important differences about this last migraine

Strangely, this last one was unconnected to my cycle and  purely a result of a MASSIVE amount of totally uncontrollable and hideous stress, that I'd been expecting would happen in the next few months, but had no idea of the suddenness of the situation.

I was literally taken by storm and so were my nerves!

I always knew, no amount of medication was ever going to protect me from that inevitable emotional upset, as its been on the horizon for 12 months, or more.

Basically a member of our family, our darling dog, of almost 15 years, has dementia.  So two weeks ago we were cruising along and suddenly, his condition became a lot worse.  We had to have that BIG conversation that you eventually do, about pets.  It was awful, just awful!  I cried and cried and just fell apart.  

Because the whole thing was so depressing and I could feel my head starting to complain with all the pressure, I remember things started to form a weird, somehow familiar pattern, that I hadn't really appreciated as being typical precursors to a migraine attack?

1.  The first thing I noticed was I got really depressed and was crying a lot.  Crying usually gives me headaches, but this time my eyes were like taps that just poured for about 14 hours solid!  (You might think that was totally self-indulgent and it serves me right, but I dearly wanted to stop.)

2.  Then I noticed I was talking really fast.  In itself, this isn't usually detrimental to me, but combined with emotional topics, this can lead to my head throbbing uncontrollably.

3.  Then I noticed I was incredibly thirsty and had probably drunk as much as a glass of water every 30 minutes?  Until I realised I had to stop this, as it was going to give me another 'electrolyte crisis', especially in regard to salt.  

4.  Then I noticed my neck was incredibly stiff.  I started to rotate it and try this and that to relieve the pressure, but that's when I realised that the neck discomfort was not from anything I had consciously done, e.g. bad posture or concentrating over work for too long.

5.  Then I realised I was having sugar cravings.    

6.  Then I woke up the next day with one of the worst headaches of my entire life.  It was just AWFUL, truly, truly awful.  Again, ostensibly beyond the scope of human endurance.

7.  Then my sense of taste went out the window.

8.  Then my right thigh became really cold and would not heat up.

9.  I took soluble paracetamol (500mg) but couldn't take the migraine medication the doctor had given me because the headache had started during the night - as usual.  The other big mistake I made was that I ran out of ice.  There was some left, but not enough to kill the headache dead.  So it lingered for 3 whole days.  I was a zombie, a wreck, I wanted to die...  

10.  Then I got the most awful diarrhoea you can imagine,  like, every 15 minutes!!  I was absolutely terrified, freezing cold, shaking, crying, my head stabbing me with the sensation of 8 maniacal little dwarves with pickaxes going at my inner and outer cranium.  I said to myself, 'if one day in the future I have to die like this, with my damn head screaming at me and my guts down the toilet, I'm going to Switzerland, for sure!'  

The diarrhoea lasted about 6 hours.  But the headache continued for another 2 days!  It would kind of subside, then pop back up with a vengeance.  I counted at least 5 spots around my head that were killing me, you just couldn't touch them without my jumping out of my seat.  

I was so altered by the whole experience I started to stick sharp, cold objects up my nose?  I'm not sure where I read that that could help?  But honestly, by that stage if you'd told me to truss myself up like a shoulder of lamb and cook myself in a pizza oven for 45 minutes, I think I would have - lol!  

So, I don't really know what happened to me?  Did I catch a bug and a migraine resulted?  Was it just a horrible coincidence?  Or am I just falling apart with the stress of it all???

Because I'd read that book I mentioned last time, (see last post) I knew that my decision (about the dog) was striking at one of the core views I have of myself and turning the decision over and over, discussing ad infinitum implications of this and that and blah blah blah, cremations, holes in gardens, who's going to dig the whole?  Where do we pile the soil?  How much longer, is he in pain?  Do we tell so and so? etc etc.......  

I'm not saying reading that book suggested an interpretation of my problems, I'm saying that I'm the one pushing to have the dog euthanised, sooner, rather than later, and this is giving me a terrible crisis of conscience.

Its a very difficult decision and I feel totally alone in making it.  The burden is incredibly heavy on my soul, it is just AWFUL, really really awful.

I have to go, because I'm scared of more pain.

So now I'm taking 800mg of magnesium and after 36 hours, the residual pain from this last migraine is finally subsiding.  

I don't want to type anymore.  I don't want to think. 

Had a migraine  - but was only 25% as bad as the last!

I had a migraine on Saturday.  I woke up with it, as the house was too warm and I was wearing lots of extra layers, due to the big freeze last week.

When I stood up, it felt like 3% of the usual feeling: it was there, it was throbbing, and it would not go away.

I managed to function through it, even had a normal breakfast and went food shopping etc.  This was unusual!

By about 2pm though, it took a turn for the worse.

I noticed I couldn't taste anything.  Loss of taste is a sure sign I'm in for a migraine proper.  

Incidentally, this happened on the second day of taking progesterone and was preceded by a week of intense stress.

I had missed a couple of meals leading up to it and had eaten a lot of bread as a consequence.  I kind of missed how bloated I was? and the last thing I noticed was that my neck was tense, but stangely NOT painful.

I felt that particular blood vessel, that always gives me the migraines, pulsating for 2 days leading up to it.  It was very apparent but I kept hoping it would not turn into anything, but I noticed it all the same.  The vein at the side of my head was still flat, so I was encouraged that it would not escalate - little did I know!

All I could manage to eat the whole of Saturday was 2 green apples.  They helped a lot.  Then later, I had some tea.

I must add that I had eaten cheese for 3 days preceding the headache.  It was the really mature stuff as well.  

I suppose I made a lot of classic voluntary and involuntary mistakes.  

I reintroduced cheese because a funny thing happens to me when I used to eat it, and that was that I would get a momentary sharp pain in the right side of my mouth with the first mouthful.  This sensation has stopped since taking Magnesium.

I suppose because I noticed so many huge benefits in taking magnesium, I inevitably just pushed my luck.

In the end, I became very pale, I was using the neck massager, which helped a lot and the inhaler and an ice pack simultaneously.  Finally I became really cold, then found I had to go to the toilet.  

I drank some Andrews liver salts after that, which interestingly contain 17% magnesium!

It was definitely not as bad, by any means, as last month, and most importantly it didn't get beyond 25% of the pain, comparing pain thresholds, and lasted only a fraction of the time, as my last migraine before that lasted 72 hours, this one lasted only about 4 hours!

I will continue to take magnesium and hopefully in the longer term, I should see even greater benefits?  Well that's what the books say, anyway.  

It was definitely caused by stress and tension.  This week was particularly tough, I had big issues to discuss with DH regarding our business and other pressures had especially become chaotic too.  

Obviously, as I write about it now, I can see a very familiar pattern: stress plus missed meals, plus too much bread, plus constipation, plus cheese - oh, what a horrible scenario!!

One thing I used though, that seemed to work quite well, and possibly because of its effect on the electrical imbalances in my head, was a copper wire pronged head massager.  I can't remember where I bought it but you can get them everywhere.  Copper is best though, because of its electrical conductivity.   It was in the house and I was desperate.  Its only really works for me the first time i apply it.  You get a unique tingling sensation and it felt like a positive relief?  Maybe next time, I should use it earlier?  Although, I cannot help but think, once all the factors are in place to give you a migraine, its probably impossible to reverse it?

Sorry to sound a bit rude here, but at the end of the migraine, I had three successive bowel movements, which I knew meant the headache would finally end.  

After that a really WEIRD thing happened.  I had to start making dinner and it was going to be simple, as I was still so spaced out.  (My hair was standing up like a crazy bird's nest and my face was totally drained of all colour.)  So I turned the oven on and preheated it.  Put the whatever in and after 20 minutes took it out, wearing only 1 oven glove.   

As I said, I was so altered that I completely forget I had only one glove on and grabbed the oven tray with my other BARE hand!  Needless to say, I burnt my hand in three places, but here is weird part - I FELT NO PAIN!  My head continued to throb though.  

Its my personal belief that because of everything that was going on inflammation-wise in my brain, my body just FORGOT to react to my burned hand??   

Comments welcome!