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Bupe suboxone fatigue, adrenal fatigue

T

tundra523

Greenlighter
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Messages
42
Ive been taking suboxone for a couple years now at about 2mgs and ive been developing some symptoms of adrenal fatigue recently. Fatigue, light sensitive eyes, feeling cold alot(in the am), asthma symptoms when i work out or play sports, and more.

It seemed to get worse when i was taking some sub before bed. Ive stopped that and its gotten somewhat better. Ive been taking vitamins and adaptogens, and i work out plenty.

Does anyone have any idea what else i can do. This is holding me back so much in every aspect of my life and i need a remedy. Please help!
 
I know people can say to go to the doctor way too damn much on here, but honestly that's what I would do.
 
Although sometimes seen in popular diet books or in alternative medicine, "adrenal fatigue" is not a recognized medical term.

Adrenal insufficiency can be diagnosed by blood tests and special stimulation tests that show inadequate levels of adrenal hormones, which is referred to as "Addison's Disease."

Proponents of the adrenal fatigue diagnosis claim "adrenal fatigue" is a mild form of adrenal insufficiency caused by chronic stress. The unproven theory behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands are unable to keep pace with the demands of perpetual fight-or-flight arousal. As a result, they can't produce quite enough of the hormones you need to feel good.
Existing blood tests aren't sensitive enough to detect such a small decline in adrenal function.

It's frustrating to have persistent symptoms your doctor can't readily explain. But accepting a medically unrecognized diagnosis from an unqualified practitioner (or self-diagnosis) could be worse. Unproven remedies for so-called adrenal fatigue may leave you feeling sicker, while the real cause continues to get worse.

The symptoms that you listed (sensitivity to light, fatigue, asthmatic symptoms, feeling colder) could be a number of different issues like anemia, depression, vitamin B-12 deficiency...or it could be symptoms of something underlying that is more severe like diabetes, hepatitis, hypothyroidism...IMO, I think it is unlikely that it's any of the last 3 I listed, especially because you said that when you changed your bupe regime, the symptoms were somewhat alleviated.

Can you begin to taper off the bupe? Again, IMO - I'd be willing to bet it's the bupe that's causing your symptoms, along with maybe depression? I have no idea, really, as I don't know you and only know the tiny bit you presented in your post.

What I DO know is that you DEFINITELY need to see a doctor, preferably sooner than later. Make sure you present all your symptoms and tell the doctor all the medications you are taking, including the suboxone, AND any supplements (vitamins, adaptogens, etc.) As I said, I suspect (and hope) it is nothing too dramatic, however - the symptoms you listed should not be ignored. As you stated, this combination of symptoms has you describing that they're "holding you back" in life - so GET TO THE DOC.

I don't know where you're from or how your insurance does or doesn't work, but 'round these parts, if I was you and truly suspected that there was some type of hormonal inefficiency or possible CFIDS (chronic fatigue syndrome), I'd ask my general practitioner to please refer me to an Endocrinologist (hormone/gland specialist) and have some blood work done along with presenting your symptoms to rule out some potentially serious issues and eventually focus on what's really wrong.

Good luck!
 
good post littlepenguin!

i feel you OP... i have issues with fatigue, and being cold all the time as well. however ive only just made the jump over to suboxone a few days ago, and dont think it has anything to do with it in my case. Maybe prolonged opiate use in general(on top of other health issues im sure)... but not just the suboxone. that doesnt mean u arent having negative side effects from your subs still tho.

like these guys are saying, id make sure its not a pre-exisiting med issue in your case.

not to be off subject here, but since it was mentioned, you guys have any issues when telling your GP you are currently taking suboxone prescribed from another dr??

i have a visit coming up and figure id better be honest, but im scared. last time i was there i told her i had nipped the opiate issue, when i really hadnt.
 
if i were you i would take 1000-3000mg of niacin daily, exercise, eat, drink a lot of water, and try to go a few days without the sub. 2mg is pretty low to be producing symptoms. i used to feel really winded and tired waking up when i was taking 16mg. once i took my dose, i was pretty much fine. it could be a symptom of some underlying medical condition or nutrient deficiency. if all this persists, go get a blood test so you can actually see your adrenal function. if you actually have adrenal insufficiency it should show up on a blood test.
 
littlepenguin said:
Although sometimes seen in popular diet books or in alternative medicine, "adrenal fatigue" is not a recognized medical term.

Adrenal insufficiency can be diagnosed by blood tests and special stimulation tests that show inadequate levels of adrenal hormones, which is referred to as "Addison's Disease."

Proponents of the adrenal fatigue diagnosis claim "adrenal fatigue" is a mild form of adrenal insufficiency caused by chronic stress. The unproven theory behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands are unable to keep pace with the demands of perpetual fight-or-flight arousal. As a result, they can't produce quite enough of the hormones you need to feel good.
Existing blood tests aren't sensitive enough to detect such a small decline in adrenal function.

It's frustrating to have persistent symptoms your doctor can't readily explain. But accepting a medically unrecognized diagnosis from an unqualified practitioner (or self-diagnosis) could be worse. Unproven remedies for so-called adrenal fatigue may leave you feeling sicker, while the real cause continues to get worse.

The symptoms that you listed (sensitivity to light, fatigue, asthmatic symptoms, feeling colder) could be a number of different issues like anemia, depression, vitamin B-12 deficiency...or it could be symptoms of something underlying that is more severe like diabetes, hepatitis, hypothyroidism...IMO, I think it is unlikely that it's any of the last 3 I listed, especially because you said that when you changed your bupe regime, the symptoms were somewhat alleviated.

Can you begin to taper off the bupe? Again, IMO - I'd be willing to bet it's the bupe that's causing your symptoms, along with maybe depression? I have no idea, really, as I don't know you and only know the tiny bit you presented in your post.

What I DO know is that you DEFINITELY need to see a doctor, preferably sooner than later. Make sure you present all your symptoms and tell the doctor all the medications you are taking, including the suboxone, AND any supplements (vitamins, adaptogens, etc.) As I said, I suspect (and hope) it is nothing too dramatic, however - the symptoms you listed should not be ignored. As you stated, this combination of symptoms has you describing that they're "holding you back" in life - so GET TO THE DOC.

I don't know where you're from or how your insurance does or doesn't work, but 'round these parts, if I was you and truly suspected that there was some type of hormonal inefficiency or possible CFIDS (chronic fatigue syndrome), I'd ask my general practitioner to please refer me to an Endocrinologist (hormone/gland specialist) and have some blood work done along with presenting your symptoms to rule out some potentially serious issues and eventually focus on what's really wrong.

Good luck!
Click to expand...


Thank you for the response.

Im sure the problems im having are from the suboxone. From what ive read and from what i can gather from my experiences is that dosing multiple times through the day and dosing right before bed was somehow making it so my endocrine system isnt going through the normal cycles of a normal day. No highs no lows. I am working on lowering my dose. I'm down to 1mg. 0.5 and 0.5 12 hours apart. It has helped alot but not completely. And one strange thing that contradicts the normal adrenal fatigue diagnosis is that im not stressed and almost never go into fight or flight. Im certainly not drepressed either. Theres nothing that would be cause my adrenals to be worn out. In fact they should be very healthy if not for the suboxone.

I believe that alot of side effects that people get from bupe/sub are from this sort of adrenal abnormality created by suboxone. And i will get to the doc soon but for now the symptoms are minimal from the changes ive made in my dosing. Other than the occasional tired day or when im playing sports it doesnt bother me. But i wish that there was more attention to this topic because i feel that its holding alot of suboxone users back and they may not even know it. Nutrition and exercise certainly have helped but if anyone has any other ideas or thoughts please chime in.
 
well it doesn't make sense for suboxone to be initiating a fight-or-flight type response, but it definitely makes sense that it would lower your adrenal glands' production of neurotransmitters if you consider the way your adrenal gland is stimulated. opiates are known to suppress the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA axis), which generally results in reduced testosterone. suboxone does it too. you would think suboxone would take a longer time because it's a partial agonist, but i suspect it could be the same if not worse. if you use a short-acting opiate, even right before bed, at some point in your sleep cycle your blood plasma will be low enough that your HPA axis can function for at least some period of time. when you're on suboxone, the HPA axis is suppressed for 100% of the sleep cycle. it's too bad you can't just press a button to turn off the sub once you're asleep...
 
it could very well be the HPA axis suppression thats causing adrenal insufficiency. this would lower your production of nearly every adrenal chemical, but especially testosterone. and low testosterone is linked to fatigue/lethargy. i never had severely low testosterone from it, but my testosterone dropped about 20% when i switched from heroin to suboxone. i have no idea what it was before i started doing heroin, but i definitely never felt fatigued before i started using opiates in general.
 
I agree its the HPA axis but there has to be a way to stimulate it or something. Oh and another symptom ive experienced in the past is that when id drink coffee or have any caffeine i would just get tired and feel like crap. Which makes sense. If theres no energy in the tank then its just making things worse
 
Have other people noticed their feet swelling and budging veins while on suboxone? I have never used needles so that wouldn't be affecting my veins. I don't know if I'm posting in the right place either...
 
I know this is an older thread but I wanted to add to it because I've been suffering from chronic fatigue for the past 2 years, and have tried everything from every kind of supplement and vitamin, sleeping more, reducing stress wherever possible, changing up my diet a few times and eliminating certain foods like meat, gluten, dairy, etc (the diet changes had absolutely no positive effects and led to crazy cravings), and doing anything else I came across that o thought may be helpful. Well nothing helped and I went to two of the top hospitals in the world (Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN)and spent about $10,000 in medical copays to see specialists including endocrinologists and had umpteen tests ran. Well unfortunately the answer was pretty complicated and it came down to: opiod medications suppress the pituitary and adrenal glands, resulting in hypopituitarism, which cause all kinds of hormonal problems in both men and women, and can cause symptoms such as extreme fatigue, hot flashes, depression and mood changes, irregular menses, hair loss, weight changes, and other symptoms. This apparently doesn't happen to 50-70% of people who are on long term opiod medications, but that 30% or more is still a big chunk of people who end up suffering. They suggest getting bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (I had the testosterone pellets put in) to regulate hormones and get symptoms to resolve.But for women who get testosterone therapy, they need to also address estrogen because low estrogen results in symptoms that are just as bad if not worse. Anyways I hope this helps, and to anyone in the future who comes across this, don't assume it's your thyroid or a vitamin deficiency causing fatigue- it most likely is low testosterone and estrogen that is causing your symptoms.
tundra523 said:
Ive been taking suboxone for a couple years now at about 2mgs and ive been developing some symptoms of adrenal fatigue recently. Fatigue, light sensitive eyes, feeling cold alot(in the am), asthma symptoms when i work out or play sports, and more.

It seemed to get worse when i was taking some sub before bed. Ive stopped that and its gotten somewhat better. Ive been taking vitamins and adaptogens, and i work out plenty.

Does anyone have any idea what else i can do. This is holding me back so much in every aspect of my life and i need a remedy. Please help!
Click to expand...
 
I realize this is a old thread but I have Addison's disease and just started on Suboxone yesterday now I'm worried. I told my doctor my complete medical history
 
Tfisher817 said:
I realize this is a old thread but I have Addison's disease and just started on Suboxone yesterday now I'm worried. I told my doctor my complete medical history
Click to expand...

Are you planning on being on it for a long period of time, or is it a quick taper?
 
If your worried, you can always have blood work done to see if your suboxone makes things worse.
 
urgh. I had no idea bupe could cause adrenal problems.
I've suffered from bad hypothyroidism recently, and even though it seems to be getting better I still feel SO shitty all the time, like "WTF is wrong w/ me" levels of shitty (though not as bad as I did when the thyroid issues were seemingly more severe) -- fatigue, depression, muscle pains/cramps, digestive issues, and on and on. AND lately I've been waking up every single day already well into withdrawal, and even though I IV my bupe (I shoot 2-3mg zubsolv 4-5x a day) it still takes a good 30min+++ for me to start feeling like one of the living (albeit still not 'good') after my morning shot. so, like 8-12hrs after my last shot of ~2mg (I always do a shot right before I get in bed to try and circumvent this...not working so far) I'm already in w/d, and even after I IV my bupe it still takes sometimes up to a couple hours for me to start feeling any better at all. I was, up until just this morning, not even sure if I was even actually in bupe w/d upon waking, or if I just felt shitty because, you know, I just felt shitty/mornings are now rough on me for some reason/sleeping is hard/whatever. but this morning I was dozing and basically awakened by a power outage (and accompanying *crashboom* from somewhere...still don't know what caused the power to go out, no lines down and I guess it was only our house, but FPL had it back on by early afternoon) like ~4-5 hours after I'd gone to bed, and I was NOT in w/d yet at that point -- I didn't really feel too awful, just tired. after an hour-hour and a half I went back to bed and slept for another hour and a half-2 hours, and THEN when I woke up I was most definitely very much in w/d and feeling like death, despite having done a shot 8ish hours beforehand.
I'm so damn fatigued all the time, I could honestly sleep ALL day long if those withdrawal symptoms didn't wake me up painfully every day!

I never figured the bupe itself was the problem. but this thread has made me rethink that. =/
ugggh guess I need to get my ass into the lab for that bloodwork I've been putting off for months now.
 
i know this is a subuxone thread butl i felt fatigued towards the middle or end of my opiate use whether it was nubain, oxycontin, heroin, or methadone..i remember tests being run and nothing came up..very frustrating
 
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