Hi guys,
I have been having a lot of stress this year and been under a lot of pressure. Often times I felt like I'm close to a nervous breakdown.
Around May it started that I had days where I felt physically weak and exhausted, both physically and mentally.
There are days where I just have to lie down in bed during the day in complete darkness. Sounds also annoy me.
When people address me or want something from me I am short tempered and talk fast.
All the time I thought this was a neurological issue because I also have a muscle rigidity which looks like parkinsonism.
That's why I thought it's neurological. But the neurologists who I went to said that it's not parkinsonism. But they also
couldn't tell me what it is. One neurologist suggested I should get my spinal fluid checked out. That's scary.
Then I went to another neuro and he said that in his opinion this is not necessary. I don't know who's right.
Since May the symptoms have not gone away but have only gotten worse. At first I only had the rigidity only in a few places but now
it affects all muscles! I feel it exactly when I move. The movement of the body isn't fluid but it stutters.
My stress tolerance is also very low. If I for example get into an argument with another person then this can already
cause me to feel shaky and physically weak (especially the major muscle groups).
I have been to a few neurologists now and they did nerve testing and found nothing wrong.
What scares me now is that one neurologist said that this could have something to do with cortisol!
The other neurologists I saw before did not even mention this!
I wasn't thinking of this at all. But the symptoms would make sense.
Now I'm really worried that my adrenals could be exhausted because of the stress and also the amphetamines (for ADHD).
From what I know amphetamines additionally raise cortisol levels. I assume that amphetamins put even more stress on the adrenals.
In January I switched from Vyvanse (D-amphetamine) to DL amphetamine syrup. When I started with the DL syrup I was surprised cause
I could take pretty huge single doses (~ 20-30mg) without really feeling much.
Because of this I also dosed higher. When I took Vyvanse my max dose per day was around 30mg D-amphetamine.
But when I was taking the syrup after a while I stopped counting the drops and instead I just took a small teaspoon of it either one time or multiple times per day.
A teaspoon contains maybe 15ml which means that every dose which I took delivered around 30mg DL-amphetamine which is a rather high single dose.
But since I didn't feel "hyper" I assumed that I don't get any benefit from the L-amphetamine and that I should only count the D-amphetamine content which
I get with every dose.
In short: My overall doses of DL amphetamine were much higher. I didn't take the same doses every day. Sometimes I'd just take 1 dose (spoon),
other times maybe 2 doses or 3 doses.
I'd assume that maybe the highest total amounts of DL amphetamine were around 70mg/day.
Since I didn't really get many side effects (except fast pulse sometimes) I didn't really
think that this could be risky cause people who abuse stims take much higher doses.
But now I'm scared what if I fatigued my adrenals with the DL amphetamine?
I'd assume that L amphetamine which has more systemic side effects
than D amphetamine is more unhealthy for the adrenals.
I looked at the pharmacy bottles and counted how many milligrams of DL amphetamine have been in the bottles
which I bought since January this year. The total amount is around 2000mg. This means that from January til September (that's when I finished
the last bottle) I have used 2000mg DL amphetamines.
I also take thyroid hormones for hypothyroidism. Been taking the same dose for 12 months now.
But a few months ago my TSH was almost 0. My intern said that my dosage might be too high.
So there is a chance that I'm a bit hyperthyroid cause my dose is too high. This also wouldn't be good for the adrenals.
What I have also been noticing for 1 year is that I can eat pretty much whatever I want and not put on weight which is unusual for me.
In the past when I wanted to lose weight I'd have to count calories and eat clean. Now I can eat junk food and still keep my weight or even lose
weight! I thought that this was a side effect of amphetamines. But I read that not being able to put on weight can also be a symptom of adrenal fatigue.
Anyway, what sucks is that as far as I know in order to find out if a person has adrenal fatigue you need to do a stimulation test (ACTH test) where you're injected
ACTH which stimulates the adrenals to produce cortisol and if the cortisol doesn't go up after the injection then this means you have AF.
I am not keen on this test. I don't know how safe this is. If the adrenals are exhausted and you try to stimulate them then I don't know what could happen.
I have now reduced my thyroid hormone dose and also stopped taking amphetamines.
Any comments? I really wonder how amphetamines affect the adrenals. I don't really understand how and why they put stress on the adrenals.
Amphetamines only block the reuptake of DA and NE in the brain. Even if DA and NE are able to pass through the blood brain barrier and then get into the blood stream
then why would this stress the adrenal glands?
For example if you inject testosterone and your serum testosterone levels go up then this also doesn't put extra stress on the testicles instead it makes them produce less
testosterone.
If amphetamines raise stress hormones then should this not reduce the stress on the adrenals cause they have to produce less stress hormones on their own? Obviously not.
I have been having a lot of stress this year and been under a lot of pressure. Often times I felt like I'm close to a nervous breakdown.
Around May it started that I had days where I felt physically weak and exhausted, both physically and mentally.
There are days where I just have to lie down in bed during the day in complete darkness. Sounds also annoy me.
When people address me or want something from me I am short tempered and talk fast.
All the time I thought this was a neurological issue because I also have a muscle rigidity which looks like parkinsonism.
That's why I thought it's neurological. But the neurologists who I went to said that it's not parkinsonism. But they also
couldn't tell me what it is. One neurologist suggested I should get my spinal fluid checked out. That's scary.
Then I went to another neuro and he said that in his opinion this is not necessary. I don't know who's right.
Since May the symptoms have not gone away but have only gotten worse. At first I only had the rigidity only in a few places but now
it affects all muscles! I feel it exactly when I move. The movement of the body isn't fluid but it stutters.
My stress tolerance is also very low. If I for example get into an argument with another person then this can already
cause me to feel shaky and physically weak (especially the major muscle groups).
I have been to a few neurologists now and they did nerve testing and found nothing wrong.
What scares me now is that one neurologist said that this could have something to do with cortisol!
The other neurologists I saw before did not even mention this!
I wasn't thinking of this at all. But the symptoms would make sense.
Now I'm really worried that my adrenals could be exhausted because of the stress and also the amphetamines (for ADHD).
From what I know amphetamines additionally raise cortisol levels. I assume that amphetamins put even more stress on the adrenals.
In January I switched from Vyvanse (D-amphetamine) to DL amphetamine syrup. When I started with the DL syrup I was surprised cause
I could take pretty huge single doses (~ 20-30mg) without really feeling much.
Because of this I also dosed higher. When I took Vyvanse my max dose per day was around 30mg D-amphetamine.
But when I was taking the syrup after a while I stopped counting the drops and instead I just took a small teaspoon of it either one time or multiple times per day.
A teaspoon contains maybe 15ml which means that every dose which I took delivered around 30mg DL-amphetamine which is a rather high single dose.
But since I didn't feel "hyper" I assumed that I don't get any benefit from the L-amphetamine and that I should only count the D-amphetamine content which
I get with every dose.
In short: My overall doses of DL amphetamine were much higher. I didn't take the same doses every day. Sometimes I'd just take 1 dose (spoon),
other times maybe 2 doses or 3 doses.
I'd assume that maybe the highest total amounts of DL amphetamine were around 70mg/day.
Since I didn't really get many side effects (except fast pulse sometimes) I didn't really
think that this could be risky cause people who abuse stims take much higher doses.
But now I'm scared what if I fatigued my adrenals with the DL amphetamine?
I'd assume that L amphetamine which has more systemic side effects
than D amphetamine is more unhealthy for the adrenals.
I looked at the pharmacy bottles and counted how many milligrams of DL amphetamine have been in the bottles
which I bought since January this year. The total amount is around 2000mg. This means that from January til September (that's when I finished
the last bottle) I have used 2000mg DL amphetamines.
I also take thyroid hormones for hypothyroidism. Been taking the same dose for 12 months now.
But a few months ago my TSH was almost 0. My intern said that my dosage might be too high.
So there is a chance that I'm a bit hyperthyroid cause my dose is too high. This also wouldn't be good for the adrenals.
What I have also been noticing for 1 year is that I can eat pretty much whatever I want and not put on weight which is unusual for me.
In the past when I wanted to lose weight I'd have to count calories and eat clean. Now I can eat junk food and still keep my weight or even lose
weight! I thought that this was a side effect of amphetamines. But I read that not being able to put on weight can also be a symptom of adrenal fatigue.
Anyway, what sucks is that as far as I know in order to find out if a person has adrenal fatigue you need to do a stimulation test (ACTH test) where you're injected
ACTH which stimulates the adrenals to produce cortisol and if the cortisol doesn't go up after the injection then this means you have AF.
I am not keen on this test. I don't know how safe this is. If the adrenals are exhausted and you try to stimulate them then I don't know what could happen.
I have now reduced my thyroid hormone dose and also stopped taking amphetamines.
Any comments? I really wonder how amphetamines affect the adrenals. I don't really understand how and why they put stress on the adrenals.
Amphetamines only block the reuptake of DA and NE in the brain. Even if DA and NE are able to pass through the blood brain barrier and then get into the blood stream
then why would this stress the adrenal glands?
For example if you inject testosterone and your serum testosterone levels go up then this also doesn't put extra stress on the testicles instead it makes them produce less
testosterone.
If amphetamines raise stress hormones then should this not reduce the stress on the adrenals cause they have to produce less stress hormones on their own? Obviously not.
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