Training with Adrenal Fatigue/HRT

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
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Just curious how many out there may have experienced working through some sort of Adrenal Fatigue. On KSman’s suggestion I got Dr. Wilson’s book on it, and its like reading my biography…and the doctors initally were diagnosing me 4 years ago as an “adrenaline junkie”, which turned out after numerous surgeries and illnesses, to adrenal fatigue…but none of them really took the time to explain anything to me, nor do I think other than mentioning the name and saying like “yea you got it” and low hormones, didnt do anything…

so now Ive moved to West Coast, am on HRT, and feeling better slowly…my natural tendency is to want to rip the hell outta everything training wise, and get back to where I was before all of this mess started. However, knowing that I was always a chronic overtrainer/workout addict, and now that I have hormone issues, immune system issues, as well nursing tons of old injuries that have come back to haunt me-I cant go pedal to the metal.

I think I got by on good genetics and good adaptation since Ive been training hard my entire life since about 6th grade (now 35), and I just pushed through pain and injuries, rehabbed and avoided numerous surgeries, etc. Then once I had a big kicker botched surgery with internal infections, it was a domino effect of all kinds of health issues and follow up surgeries, wrong medications, too many anti biotics, etc…

and now all of those injuries I gutted out or pushed through and forgot about for the most part, after 3 years of inactivity and illness, have come back to haunt my ass.

I used to train 4-7 times a week, heavy olympic and powerlifting, MMA, and lots of track intervals and speed and agility drills (I worked out with the college teams I trained). Now Im lucky to get 3-4 workouts a week in, at seriously lower intensities, volume, and duration. And it seems what little info there is on adrenal fatigue, that when you are tired or sore, to not push it…but hell thats a flip of the coin every morning I get up.

Somedays I feel okay, other days I feel like I played a football game the day before and on the way home got jumped and beat with a baseball bat. Things are improving, but its so damn slow…I guess Im just eating my humble pie in learning patience. I used to hover in the 10% bodyfat range, now am easily 20% with all of it being in my belly and love handles-a problem Ive NEVER had in my life.

I talked to the doc about cutting calories to drop weight, he said heck no not with adrenal fatigue and low natural hormones for a period of years, that my body would hold onto the fat more if I tried cutting calories right now. He said to let the HRT do its thing, and dont be surprised if I put on weight before I lose weight…but Im already way over where Id want to be, but thankfully after initially gaining weight on HRT, it seems in the past 6 weeks to have reversed itself and I dropped about 15 pounds. Still though my belly makes me want to puke.

Also at one point I think my cortisol was sky high, a time when my bicep happened to snap off without any effort causing yet another surgery…but now the last 3 months the blood tests and saliva tests, all show low cortisol…so I dont know if thats part of the reason my body and joints can ache like hell something fierce at times…although its getting better slowly.

Well I could write a book about my situation, but Im still in the middle of it and would like to start writing the chapters about overcoming it. As far as training if one were healthy, I know how to do that…right now though, even with the best thought out plan, there are days my mind and body just do not want to cooperate and they are totally random.

Whether its aches and pains, or cramping, or the recurring upper resp infections that can get pretty nasty, if I try to do the traditional planning out the next couple of months, week by week and day by day broken down into detail, its likely I wont be able to stick to a plan. So for now is it best to just go day by day training off of instinct? Id so love to be back into MMA 3-4 times a week, and lifting 4 days a week emphasizing olympic lifts and variations…but if its going to hold me back in the long term getting better overall, I do not want to try to push it.

I guess although Im so thankful for HRT, I thought that it might make me bounce back in no time haha…wishful thinking…I just wanted to wake up with abs again, guns and wheels ready to rock.

One thing Ive never really done in my life is bodybuilding, as Ive always been a competitive athlete or in occupations that being athletic could mean keeping your ass alive. Im wondering, if doing more isolation work would be less taxing on the overall system, and help me at least get some hypertrophy going and maybe help with at least looking better which would make me feel better.

2

bluecollar,
I too am on HRT and I have been fighting adrenal fatigue for a few years. I now have a great doctor that really changed my life. I used to want to sleep every afternoon even with 8 hours of sleep, and never felt like I could catch up. I take quite a few supplements now and if I don’t take them, I start wiping out again. I was under the impression that after a period of time the a.d. would go away and I wouldn’t need to take the supplements forever. There are some that after being treated the symptoms go away and stay away, but I wasn’t one of those “lucky ones”. As long as I take my stuff , life is good.
If you would like to know what I take, PM me.

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I’m dealing with adrenal fatigue as well, even though I’m only 28. Currently take hydrocortisone and will eventually cycle that with Adrenal Cortex extract. Luckily, I have a friend, who is an integrative medicine M.D. and does my labs, etc. Adrenal fatigue can take a while to go away, as long as 36 months. I have learned the hard way that emotional stress is one of the key culprits, along with overtraining and psychological stress. Hope to get this thread going…

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Thanks Rehabman. Is your screen name related to some of the problems you are dealing with?

Crap, 36 months…Im an impatient son of a gun and wanted to kick this thing in the ass as soon as possible…but from what Im gathering thats part of the reason that got me here in the first place, is burning the candle at both ends trying to force stuff to happen…and if it doesnt, break down whatever walls are in the way and keep the pedal to the floor…

I am not on hydrocortisone yet, doctors mentioned it but wanted to see how I did with all the HRT stuff first, and supplements…if it would help with energy though come another month or so I might have to ask about it. I was on Adrenal Cortex but the doctor I am with now didnt think it was necessary, he would rather me be taking DHEA, Pregnenolone, inj B12, inj B complex and some other inj vitamin cocktail once every two weeks, we are doing gluothione by inhaler because his new office isnt doing nutritional IVs yet (I was doing them at another office but my insurance ended up not covering them and $300 an IV is out of my league, although I did feel benefits), anti oxidants, EFAs, etc.

Yea Im sure my emotional stress contributed to some of this, but I am in a better place now and dealing so hopefully it is helping. I went through a 3 year process of botched surgeries, crappy workers comp doctors throwing tons of medications at me, and being told I was so sick because I might have cancer or some other mysterious GI disease they just couldnt find yet…and in the end after years of delays with workers comp process, come to find out the top doctors in the country said I didnt have any trace of any disease but rather was given the wrong medications, excessive anti biotics, etc, and that made me sick. So the stress of workers comp, being told I had a disease they couldnt find, and going from someone who trained daily and sometimes twice daily, to no training at all, stressed me out pretty good. Not to mention a medical retirement from a job I loved…so towards the end I know the emotional stuff kicked my ass on top of all the physical surgeries and illness.

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Bluecollarjock,

               your story sounds similar to mine!  I got burned out at the end of college...worked two part-time jobs while attending a top 30 university and maintaining a 4.0.  Was given WAY too many antibiotics.  I have been through this a lot and can help you with what I know.  GI distress is another stressor to the adrenal glands so remember at some point to have a gut health test done to look for sIgA levels, bad bacteria(pseudomonas, etc.).  Also, the ALCAT test is good to reveal food sensitivities.  If you are sensitive to a food and consume it regularly, this is another stressor to the body.

Sounds like your doc really knows what he is doing. IV glutathione is fucking AWESOME! My tests showed I’m deficient in it, so I felt like I was on cloud 9 when I got this stuff! Another recommendation is to Google the HeartMath Institute. It teaches you how to balance the autonomic nervous system, parasympathetic vs. sympathetic balance. Remember, muscle grows when you are in the parasympathetic state, so this is crucial. Twice daily training is a big no no at this point! Being patient will pay dividends in the end. Some of your impatience is likely due to a depletion of GABA and the other calming neurotransmitters.

I hope this helped!

My name reflects my career–physical therapy. Truth be known, I probably like and know more about nutrition/integrative medicine than physical therapy.

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Wow, thanks for that post. Im hoping we get back to nutritional IVs soon…Im not sure how good the inhaler/fogger type gluithione thing is, but he said its the best alternative for now and if it helps a little its worth it. As far as HeartMath I will check it out, I did a lot of reading about that back when I was developing training programs for govt, along with using heart rate monitors to track peoples spikes during high stress scenario training. I dont have the cash but did look at some of their home program stuff.

Twice a week I am doing something similar, its meditation combined with bio/neurofeedback. The one program is from Wild Divine and is measuring heart rate, I think heart rate variability, and skin reaction of some sort. Then they have wires attached to my head tracking how my brain waves are or something…I call it my Jedi training…ha…but we do all kinds of mind-body stuff and I like it alot. I would love to have some sort of program at home to get more reps in. I do have the “Stress Eraser” which I think is HRV too, havent been using it lately though…heck I was more into meditation and practicing these sorts of things when I was healthy!!! Now what used to come easy and natural is a total chore.

Ive done some MRT food sensitivity test and it came out pretty good as far as me not having any issues. I do not know if Ive done a siga level test of any sort?

My doctor did mention GABA, he prescribed GHB/Xyrem at bedtime to increase GABA, growth hormone, and dopamine. Stuff rocks my world, I cant even get near the full dose.

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I am a physician and am not quite sold on the entire adrenal fatigue concept but I am convinced that a sort of “adrenal fatigue” occurs with overtraining. I found this out the hard way 3 years ago when I combined a heavy 5X5 program with a hard running program of 25-30 miles per week. My cortisol levels got zapped and I had to back way off for awhile. I don’t think I ever fully recovered but I am at least now able to train relatively hard, albeit not at the levels that lead to the overtraining. So I guess my advice would be to back way off of your training for awhile. If you want to take some of adrenal support supplements recommended by your doc they might help you but not as much as proper recovery, IMO.

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Thanks doctor. I was out of training for 3 years due to all the surgeries and sickness, and doctors not knowing exactly what was wrong so telling me I couldnt train…so Im trying to rehab and recondition myself, and obviously would like to get jacked again as soon as possible…but I think an important take home is that I cant try to rush things and have to continue to take it slow…

Have you ever read any of Dr. Mariano’s stuff? Or Dr. Wilson’s (not an MD) book on Adrenal Fatigue?

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Yes, I have read Wilson’s book. It was a good read but I didn’t like the absence of peer-reviewed studies to back up his claims regarding adrenal fatigue as distinct disease entity.

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Copy that. Im trying to read up on Dr. Mariano’s site (The Definitive Mind) to see how he classifies these things…if there is any merit to Wilson’s book Id like more follow up resources…because that book reads like a damn checklist for my life and symptoms the past apprx 4 years.