Sluggish, foggy thinking, low motivation,...
FunkOdyssey 23 Feb 2006
Poor clarity of thought
Poor focus
Poor concentration
poor short-term memory
"brain fog"
Often tired, sluggish, fatigued
Low motivation, can't persevere
You know what that is? A laundry list of symptoms of adrenal fatigue and/or hypothyroidism. The former is more likely for most people. This is seriously something you should get tested -- the saliva cortisol tests are easy, inexpensive, and can be ordered and performed by yourself without a doctor. You owe it to yourself to check that out before you drop hundreds of dollars on nootropics trying to treat an undiagnosed medical problem.
That list of symptoms is not something a healthy younger person should chalk up to a normal deficit that requires nootropic assistance. Or if you're an older male for example, those symptoms could easily be caused by low testosterone.
This is a useful little self-diagnosis matrix for adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism: http://www.drrind.co...ecardmatrix.asp
simple 24 Feb 2006
purerealm 24 Feb 2006
FunkOdyssey 24 Feb 2006
There are some different approaches to treatment. The mainstream medicine answer would be to throw you on a high dose of hydrocortisone (like 30+ mg) or prednisone or something. That will suppress your ACTH levels to nothing and your adrenal gland will atrophy and shut down. Not good.
A better approach is to merely "supplement" your adrenal gland output with something like 10-20mg of hydrocortisone. That will ease the load on them and give them a chance to recover without shutting them off. You'll probably need to supplement DHEA as well... lots of blood testing in order here.
I am currently dealing with adrenal fatigue myself. I am going to try something a little less researched than the above therapy, but makes sense in theory. The adrenal glands use coenzyme A to produce all of their hormones from cholesterol. Pantethine is an important precursor to coenzyme A. Pantethine is manufactured from pantothenic acid (B5). The conversion of pantothenic acid to pantethine is apparently a demanding one, and can falter in some situations (adrenal fatigue?). In this instance, cholesterol will be high (its not getting metabolized by Coenzyme A) and hormones will be low (from pregnenolone on down the chain). Thats what my current picture looks like.
Its well established that taking pantethine lowers cholesterol by increasing coenzyme A. What researchers have not really looked at is whether it boosts output of adrenal hormones. However, it should in theory, so I ordered some.
While I've been waiting for my pantethine to come in the mail, I stumbled on an adrenal fatigue support forum where some people reported major improvement with pantethine supplementation (300mg 4x daily). So the leaps in logic that I've taken seem to have some real world support.
If pantethine and vitamins and porcine adrenal tissue and some adaptogenic herbs (rhodiola, ashwaghanda) don't straighten me out, I'm going the hydrocortisone route. I'll keep you posted.
jegrx 24 Feb 2006
There are alot of posts on the nootropics forum from people with symptoms like these:
Poor clarity of thought
Poor focus
Poor concentration
poor short-term memory
"brain fog"
Often tired, sluggish, fatigued
Low motivation, can't persevere
You know what that is? A laundry list of symptoms of adrenal fatigue and/or hypothyroidism. The former is more likely for most people. This is seriously something you should get tested -- the saliva cortisol tests are easy, inexpensive, and can be ordered and performed by yourself without a doctor. You owe it to yourself to check that out before you drop hundreds of dollars on nootropics trying to treat an undiagnosed medical problem.
That list of symptoms is not something a healthy younger person should chalk up to a normal deficit that requires nootropic assistance. Or if you're an older male for example, those symptoms could easily be caused by low testosterone.
This is a useful little self-diagnosis matrix for adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism: http://www.drrind.co...ecardmatrix.asp
Could it also be linked with hypogonadism (is this similiar to hypothyroidism)? I'm in the process of diagnosing possible hypogonadism, or hypothyroidism it seems.
opales 24 Feb 2006
FunkOdyssey 24 Feb 2006
multi (currently LEF + super booster till I run out, then ortho-core + LEF b complex and chromium polynicotinate)
jarrow pantethine, 300mg x 4 daily
enzymatic therapy rhodiola (called simple energy), 205mg of 3% rosavins/1% salidrosides, 2x daily (before breakfast and lunch)
jarrow ashwaghanda (sensoril 8% withanolides), 450mg x 2 daily
aor adrenal tissue, 250mg x 2 daily
Getting more sleep (8 hours, 10pm bedtime). Apparently staying awake longer, in specifically the 11pm - 1am range calls for an extra cortisol boost that you wouldn't normally have and really contributes to overworking the adrenals. Also switching my green tea to decaf; I think all the caffeine from 6-8 cups of green tea (you don't notice it because of the theanine) was whipping the dead horse that is my adrenals.
Paul Idol 24 Feb 2006
I'm apparently not the only one who gets really sleepy from ashwagandha, so if I were you, I'd be really careful with a high dose like that.
-Paul
goku 21 Feb 2007
Did AOR's adrenal help you Funk? Any advice?
And does anyone know how much cortisol is in AOR's adrenal? In Isocort -- a similar supp -- there is apparently 2.5 mg of cortisol per serving. No idea with AOR's product though.
Thanks.
major 24 Feb 2008
Would like to learn of op's progress. I'm also trying to learn more about Adrenal Fatigue and which supplements work best.
zoolander 25 Feb 2008
Has someone already said that?
Anyway....I'm funking Matt Damon
FunkOdyssey 25 Feb 2008
I ended up discontinuing all of the adrenal related supplements after a period of time, although it was so long ago I don't remember exactly why. I don't think they were having enough effect to justify the cost. Over time, I improved taking just Ortho-Core and fish oil, and making sure to get enough sleep and avoid some foods that seemed to bother me (wheat, beer, etc). I was also under some very stressful circumstances when I wrote this original post -- I was living in the ghetto, had my car broken into, people screaming and fighting in the middle of the night, and to top it all off I received a phone book in spanish without the option for an english one. Clearly I was out of place.
After I moved into a nice townhouse in a good area, combined with avoidance of problematic foods and better sleep, I was feeling nearly normal. I started on wellbutrin and that cleared up the rest of the sluggish, foggy thinking and low motivation, but after maybe five or six months that was no longer effective. So, my struggle with this is still ongoing, but I'm in alot better shape than I was originally and honestly I don't think supplements had anything to do with that improvement.
zoolander 25 Feb 2008
FunkOdyssey 25 Feb 2008
spaceistheplace 25 Feb 2008
This is a useful little self-diagnosis matrix for adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism: http://www.drrind.co...ecardmatrix.asp
Thanks, that was really useful. I fit the adrenal fatigue description almost perfectly.
acantelopepope 31 Oct 2009
I have a thread for all of this in the bioscience forums, but I'll post a summary here:
A couple months ago I had some blood work done in an attempt to identify the cause of these exact symptoms in myself. Besides some elevated liver enzymes and extremely low cholesterol, everything was in "normal" range, including a TSH of 3.5. It turns out that 95% of healthy people have a TSH below 2.5--
"...Until those data become available, a more precisely determined reference range for TSH of 0.3–2.5 (Fig. 1
) will permit detection of individuals at risk of overt thyroid disease and should prompt their additional follow-up to confirm progression into thyroid dysfunction and thereby justify initiation of therapy. We will probably never have an absolute cutoff value for TSH distinguishing normal from abnormal, but recognition that the mean of normal TSH values is only between 1.18 and 1.40 mU/liter (7) and that more than 95% of the normal population will have a TSH level less than 2.5 mU/liter (10) clearly imply that anyone with a higher value should be carefully assessed for early thyroid failure. Thus, we believe that a TSH level between 5 and 10 mU/liter deserves confirmation and, if confirmed, warrants treatment. More judgment is required until more definitive data are available for the management of those patients with TSH values between 2.5 and 5.0. Assessment could include a review of their personal and family medical history and serum cholesterol and TPOAb levels, and the decision as to whether to initiate a trial of levothyroxine therapy is based more upon the "art of medicine" at this time than the science.
Pasted from <http://jcem.endojour...ull/90/9/5483>"
Well, $2,000 later in supplements and I still basically felt all the symptoms, except I began getting headaches with startling regularity and dizziness upon standing.
On Monday I schedule an appointment with an endocrinologist. Hopefully this will lead to an end to this "madness".
I have noticed that Pregnenolone and DHEA, rhodiola, Maca, and Magnesium have had the most noticeable effect. I have tried over 60 distinct supplements in the past few months.
Dorho 31 Oct 2009
My mother started thinking something was wrong when she began feeling tired and depressed and she had fluid stacking up under the skin, for example in eyelids. The doctor just thought it was fat accumulating in the eyelids and said that she should simply eat less. But she wasn't fat at any point. Things got really dangerous when my mom's cholesterol levels rose so high that she started having numbness in her hands and feet. Well, she was then diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and probably has to eat meds to combat it for the rest of her life.
FunkOdyssey 31 Oct 2009
In my [new] opinion, the symptoms of adrenal fatigue are caused by something entirely different from any kind of dysfunction with your adrenal glands, such as chronic infections, celiac disease, stimulant abuse, high levels of stress, dietary factors, etc. This leaves "adrenal fatigue" in the same category as other junk diagnoses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, which describe a collection of symptoms without informing you of the etiology. All of them are dead ends so far as as effective treatment is concerned.
acantelopepope 31 Oct 2009
In the 3.5 years since I first posted this, I have actually come 180 degrees around to the position that "adrenal fatigue" does not exist.
In my [new] opinion, the symptoms of adrenal fatigue are caused by something entirely different from any kind of dysfunction with your adrenal glands, such as chronic infections, celiac disease, stimulant abuse, high levels of stress, dietary factors, etc. This leaves "adrenal fatigue" in the same category as other junk diagnoses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, which describe a collection of symptoms without informing you of the etiology. All of them are dead ends so far as as effective treatment is concerned.
Even if "adrenal fatigue" is not the cause of these symptoms per se, what is it in the body you suppose is damaged by "stimulant abuse [&] high levels of stress"?
Perhaps "adrenal fatigue" doesn't exist in the way that it's conceptualized, but how about excessively reduced levels of cortisol? Or depressed levels of hormones like Testosterone?
Besides that, hypothyroidism is pretty damn real unless the thousands of people on stopthethyroidmadness.com are all lying, as well as the increasing number of doctors who are testing for B12, ferritin, vitamin D, free T3/T4, thyroid anti-bodies, etc., not JUST TSH.
The issue here should not be whether we have determined the most semantically precise term for feeling completely shitty emotionally, spiritually, and physically, but rather if we have determined the most likely culprits. It's better to start somewhere and learn something than dismiss the discussion because it might possibly be described more accurately with a hundred more obscure titles.
FunkOdyssey 01 Nov 2009
Even if "adrenal fatigue" is not the cause of these symptoms per se, what is it in the body you suppose is damaged by "stimulant abuse [&] high levels of stress"?
Perhaps "adrenal fatigue" doesn't exist in the way that it's conceptualized, but how about excessively reduced levels of cortisol? Or depressed levels of hormones like Testosterone?
Besides that, hypothyroidism is pretty damn real unless the thousands of people on stopthethyroidmadness.com are all lying, as well as the increasing number of doctors who are testing for B12, ferritin, vitamin D, free T3/T4, thyroid anti-bodies, etc., not JUST TSH.
The issue here should not be whether we have determined the most semantically precise term for feeling completely shitty emotionally, spiritually, and physically, but rather if we have determined the most likely culprits. It's better to start somewhere and learn something than dismiss the discussion because it might possibly be described more accurately with a hundred more obscure titles.
The problem with adrenal fatigue is that the adrenal glands do not become fatigued. Accepting adrenal fatigue as the diagnosis for someone that feels completely shitty is dangerous precisely because it distracts from the real culprits, as you get caught up with testing cortisol and DHEA levels, taking adrenal supplements, taking hydrocortisone, etc. Someone may have abnormal cortisol or DHEA levels but it is not because the adrenal glands are malfunctioning (unless you have Addison's disease). Its worrying about the smoke and ignoring the fire.
Hypothyroidism is of course very real and I am on thyroid hormone replacement therapy myself.
Healthy56 24 Nov 2009
I'm getting the adrenal tissue from them, but I want to go alot higher with the pantethine than they have in the formula, and I don't know if I want to mess around with licorice extract (glyzyrrhizin) just yet. It seems like a tricky supplement with some powerful effects. Here's what I'm trying for the moment to fix my adrenals:
multi (currently LEF + super booster till I run out, then ortho-core + LEF b complex and chromium polynicotinate)
jarrow pantethine, 300mg x 4 daily
enzymatic therapy rhodiola (called simple energy), 205mg of 3% rosavins/1% salidrosides, 2x daily (before breakfast and lunch)
jarrow ashwaghanda (sensoril 8% withanolides), 450mg x 2 daily
aor adrenal tissue, 250mg x 2 daily
Getting more sleep (8 hours, 10pm bedtime). Apparently staying awake longer, in specifically the 11pm - 1am range calls for an extra cortisol boost that you wouldn't normally have and really contributes to overworking the adrenals. Also switching my green tea to decaf; I think all the caffeine from 6-8 cups of green tea (you don't notice it because of the theanine) was whipping the dead horse that is my adrenals.
I've had some great success with a new Verde Botanica herbal mix (called Energy Reserves) which is really a Rhodiola supplement, but backed up by Bacopa, Schisandra and Eleuthero. Man, I am getting a nice Rhodiola buzz, along with the kick provided by a good Bacopa to the brain and an energy surplus from the other adaptogens. I add additional Rhodiola when necessary with Mind Body & Spirit. Working well.
PhDStudent 26 Mar 2010
I am going to try something a little less researched than the above therapy, but makes sense in theory. The adrenal glands use coenzyme A to produce all of their hormones from cholesterol. Pantethine is an important precursor to coenzyme A. Pantethine is manufactured from pantothenic acid (B5). The conversion of pantothenic acid to pantethine is apparently a demanding one, and can falter in some situations (adrenal fatigue?). In this instance, cholesterol will be high (its not getting metabolized by Coenzyme A) and hormones will be low (from pregnenolone on down the chain). Thats what my current picture looks like.
Its well established that taking pantethine lowers cholesterol by increasing coenzyme A. What researchers have not really looked at is whether it boosts output of adrenal hormones. However, it should in theory, so I ordered some.
I actually had the same idea a little while back. This is a practical possibility of an hypothesis gaining in popularity http://www.imminst.o...showtopic=39704 I think pantethine can be beneficial, perhaps sublingual even better, but everything has to be fixed at the same time not just going high in pantethine. Determining what exactly is everything is the hard part. Right now im thinking it would involve lots of vit a & d, saturated fats, very low unsaturated fats and carbs, correcting any zinc/magnesium deficiency, thyroid deficiencies, etc. Having loads of amino acids could be a big step (knowing what exactly is the goal could help narrow this down, for example glycine, ornithine and arginine for the pituitary, tyrosine for the dopaminergic system, lysine for GH). Choline is likely to be low from the previous high stress, in which case fatty acids DHA with something like cdp choline could provide benefit. Adaptogens like Rhodiola might have a role by giving temporary relief to jump start the process. It's not simple, but the last word hasnt been said about this idea.
Edited by PhDStudent, 26 March 2010 - 07:07 AM.
full_circle 26 Mar 2010
outsider 26 Mar 2010
The Immortalist 27 Mar 2010
jorgy72 27 Mar 2010
<h1 class="title">Psychological stress induces hypoferremia through the IL-6-hepcidin axis in rats.</h1>Zhao M, Chen J, Wang W, Wang L, Ma L, Shen H, Li M.
Department of Naval Medicine, Second Military Medical University, 800 Xiangxin Road, Shanghai 200433, PR China.
Anemia is a widespread public health problem. The psychological stress decreases serum iron level and inhibits erythropoiesis. However, the molecular mechanisms involved, leading to iron mal-regulation are not well known. We used a communication box paradigm to induce psychological stress and found that serum iron level decreased after 3d while liver iron storage increased after 7d. Moreover, psychological stress up-regulated expressions of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and hepcidin, while down-regulating ferroportin expression after 3d. These changes were blocked by the injection of IL-6 monoclonal antibody. In conclusion, the IL-6-hepcidin axis is up-regulated by psychological stress in rats, resulting in hypoferremia and increase of hepatic iron storage
What is interesting about this is the relationship between the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 and hepcidin as the role that this cytokine plays in many diseases is well known. This reaction of the rat made more sense when I read about the link between iron and healthy dopamine levels. It would make sense from an evolutionary point of view for an animal to lower its dopamine production when confronted by a pathogen so as to just settle down and rest while the body fights off the infection. It seems from this study that it took 3 days for this to occur from a psychological stress since it definitely wouldn't be an advantage in an acute psychological stress. The link between IL-6 and hepcidin is well documented now. In my teens through my mid twenties I had brutal Restless leg which along with Adhd has been linked to a problem with low iron even when iron stores seem normal. The next study shows how quickly a pathogen can cause the deterioration in mood of a human. I wonder how much of this is due to upregulation of hepcidin due to interluekin 6?
<h1 class="title">Inflammation causes mood changes through alterations in subgenual cingulate activity and mesolimbic connectivity.</h1>Harrison NA, Brydon L, Walker C, Gray MA, Steptoe A, Critchley HD.
Wellcome Trust, Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK. n.harrison@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
BACKGROUND: Inflammatory cytokines are implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. In rodents, systemically administered inflammatory cytokines induce depression-like behavior. Similarly in humans, therapeutic interferon-alpha induces clinical depression in a third of patients. Conversely, patients with depression also show elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines. OBJECTIVES: To determine the neural mechanisms underlying inflammation-associated mood change and modulatory effects on circuits involved in mood homeostasis and affective processing. METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized crossover study, 16 healthy male volunteers received typhoid vaccination or saline (placebo) injection in two experimental sessions. Mood questionnaires were completed at baseline and at 2 and 3 hours. Two hours after injection, participants performed an implicit emotional face perception task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Analyses focused on neurobiological correlates of inflammation-associated mood change and affective processing within regions responsive to emotional expressions and implicated in the etiology of depression. RESULTS: Typhoid but not placebo injection produced an inflammatory response indexed by increased circulating interleukin-6 and significant mood reduction at 3 hours. Inflammation-associated mood deterioration correlated with enhanced activity within subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC) (a region implicated in the etiology of depression) during emotional face processing. Furthermore, inflammation-associated mood change reduced connectivity of sACC to amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and superior temporal sulcus, which was modulated by peripheral interleukin-6. CONCLUSIONS: Inflammation-associated mood deterioration is reflected in changes in sACC activity and functional connectivity during evoked responses to emotional stimuli. Peripheral cytokines modulate this mood-dependent sACC connectivity, suggesting a common pathophysiological basis for major depressive disorder and sickness-associated mood change and depression
This is just the tip of the iceberg there is lots of information out there. I find the relationship between inflammation,hepcidin and dopamine very interesting. There are so many things that can cause inflammation out there and combined with the prolonged psychological stress that many people are under it is no wonder so many people are suffering. There has been recent research I believe showing rapid antidepressant effects from a cox2 inhibitor. Any thoughts?
<h1 class="title">
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