The Signs of Addy's Arrival

These are the symptoms of adrenal fatigue:

• Extreme and continual tiredness, not relieved by sleep
• Weakness, a feeling of depletion
• Inability to get out of bed in the morning
• Wanting to lie down all the time, which helps, but not really
• Low blood sugar
• Light-headedness, feeling faint
• Low immunity, achiness, feeling slightly sick all the time, sore throat
• Being overwhelmed by small tasks or the thought of walking from here to there (because you don't have the strength to do it)
• Increased effort needed to do everyday tasks; decreased ability to handle stress (even small stresses like the copier not working)
• Irritability, impatience, decreased tolerance
• Discouragement, depression
• Increased PMS
• Decreased productivity and motivation
• Memory loss, fuzzy thoughts, confusion
• Losing your balance while standing

There are some others I didn't experience, like craving salt, decreased sex drive, and increased time to recover from illness or injury.

Looking back, I started to realize something was wrong around the beginning of 2006, but I wouldn't admit it even to myself. I was supposed to be strong and keep the whole world running. By spring however I took the gargantuan step of admitting my tiredness in staff meeting and asked for prayer. I found a general practitioner in May and paid her a visit, and she suggested more snacks to conquer fatigue.

It was getting harder and harder to get out of bed as the year progressed. In July I had a party at my apartment, and Holly and I cleaned all day and entertained that night. For some reason I didn't enjoy myself as much as usual and realized it was because I was so tired. Two days later I had to take a sick day and "recover" from the party. This was odd.

I took August slow. But September hit the ground running jobwise, and as we moved into our office in October, I felt myself switch over to running on adrenaline exclusively. Somehow I got an A in my Spanish class, though I was "mucho muy cansada" to every "como estas?" I was happily dating and that kept me going, but when it ended, so did my high. In December I went to the doctor again (and all my blood tests were normal), started talking to friends and asking for help, and sitting on my couch every weekend night unless I forced myself to go out.

The New Year brought a new low of energy and motivation at work, and a new desperation to find answers and a cure. Gosh, it's a blur now. How did I get through that time? I finally told my boss I needed help, and he graciously let me take my sick leave in the form of two weeks part-time. That was a significant season, but by no means a cure.

In February I started taking Reliv, my "magic potion," which is a nutritional supplement shake, and felt better from day one. Oh how I love that stuff! and highly recommend it to everyone well or sick. It's like gold dust to me. You can read more at www.reliv.com or email me for the address of my distributor friend Joy.

In March my Mom found an alternative doctor in Atlanta who'd written a book called "Are Your Hormones Making You Sick?" which explained the delicate balance in our bodies and how one imbalance affects everything else. I got a phone appointment with him, and voila, all my symptoms pointed to adrenal fatigue, as I'd suspected, through reading books and talking to friends. I took a saliva test (spitting into four vials at four different times during the day...yes, vile, but not as bad as it could have been), the best test for hormone levels and adrenal function. My corisol levels (the stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands) were way low for the morning and the afternoon, and the doctor congratulated me for correctly diagnosing myself while I wimpered over my poor body and little depleted adrenals.

Thank God for alternative doctors, and a free country! He sent me some all-natural supplements that would help my body repair itself, "adrenal rebuilder" and a thyroid booster, and said I'd feel much better in a few weeks, and all better in six months (though it's taken some of my friends much longer to recover). After four weeks, I think the "much better" is starting to happen, although last week I was cryingly telling my boss I didn't know if I could recover in DC and was desperate enough to move home to Atlanta if that's what it took. Thankfully I felt much better the next day (maybe God wanted me to step off the cliff of faith) and then spring arrived in DC...the cure for all ills!

Right now I'm taking life one day at a time, rejoicing in the good days, enduring the bad, submitting to Addy's dominance of my life (and God's dominance over all things), and learning...oh...learning so, so much. So much that begs to be written. Thanks for reading. Thanks for being my outlet.