I am 38 years old and I recently realized that I have a serious condition of Adrenal Fatigue. This shouldn’t be surprising considering I’ve been on
TRT for more than ten years as well as either Adderall or Ritalin for my ADHD.
And I’ve been under an extreme amount of stress over the past three years where I lost a job, broke up with a live-in girlfriend, was blacklisted from other jobs in the industry and was forced to move back into mother’s house.
I have since moved into my own place and started my own business, but the stress, of course, is still there in just trying to make a living. I’ve been self-medicating with my
TRT these last two years because I have no insurance and I don’t have any confidence in doctors anyway.
The problem is I can’t even function most of the time. I wake up in the morning and I have no energy and my brain is so foggy. I work from my computer most of the time and I usually can’t get into the work groove until 4 p.m. or so.
I am a chronic insomniac and sometimes I am so tired at having not slept the night before that I can’t function during any part of the day. At night, when I feel I am going to get a good night’s sleep because I am so tired, I suddenly become wide awake where my heart starts pounding and my mind starts running. So the pattern repeats itself.
I started taking Ambien and that worked at first, but lately I’ve developed a tolerance to it. Sometimes I pound a few beers and that makes me feel good for a while. Maybe it has something to do with the increase of
testosterone in the brain, as studies have indicated. But that is not a solution. Plus, the next mornings I feel worse than before.
I’ve been secondary hypogonadic since before puberty because I suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child. This is also probably why I have ADHD and have always been an insomniac.
Even though I always knew something was wrong with me because I never completed puberty, remaining in Tanner’s Fourth Stage instead of reaching the final Fifth Stage, doctors always told me I was normal. Not that they ever conducted any blood tests on me.
It wasn’t until I was 26 years old and had done some extensive research in the library (the days before internet) that I realized I needed to see an endocrinologist. He took some blood tests and my T level was 293, meaning I had the T level of an old man.
He gave me a prescription of
Testosterone and I ended up leaving to Europe for two years, so was never able to do any follow ups. It was around this time that I also got on Ritalin after realizing I had been struggling with ADHD all my life.
For the first few months, I felt like a new man. Actually, for the first time in my life, I felt like a man. My libido was excellent, my mind was sharp and my confidence was high.
And although there were times when I was able to have three orgasms in one night, something I was never able to do before, there were also times when I couldn’t get it up.
So this became the pattern for the next ten years. A few years ago I asked my endo why did the T seem so inconsistent. After all, I was under the impression that testosterone was supposed to increase libido, not decrease it.
He recommended I “double-up” my dosage, meaning I went from 200 mg every two weeks to 200 mg every week. That, of course, only made things worse.
In other words, not one of the four endos I visited during that ten year period knew anything about escalating E2 levels. In fact, it wasn’t until I discovered this forum that I learned about E2’s effect on the body from T injections.
Since joining this forum in Dec 2005, I started using
HCG and
Arimidex. But the problems still persist. My libido sucks or even if it’s good, my erections suck.
I now realize I most likely have hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue. I did the blood pressure
test where you take it laying down, then stand up and take it again immediately and my BP drops instead of increases. This is a sign of hypothyroidism.
I’ve also done the temperature tests and my temperature is always more than one degree lower than 98.6, indicating adrenal fatigue. Plus, I feel burnt out all the time. It’s been like this for the last two or three years.
Now I am on a quest to remedy my adrenal glands and normalize my thyroid. I started using OTC hydrocortisone cream and it makes me feel better.
I’ve since ordered Armour and Cortex, but I’ve read that I should probably take the Cortex before the Armour.
Would someone please recommend dosages and strategies to help me overcome this adrenal/thyroid issue?
I am a fucking mess and I need help. 
Re: I am a fucking mess and I need help. 
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