Why have i never had Adrenal Crisis or been close to it ?

[fendertele]

I'm really confused and under educated when it comes Hydrocortisone and stress dosing and how life threatening it is, as far as i can remember none of this was explained to me when initially put on it which seems strange going by how serious i have read it is in other posts.

I am on 15mg a day and have been for over 6 years and in those 6 years i have been exercising hard, boxing, had life or death situations involving work... and so on.

And i have never felt this shakes,headaches, vomiting or blacking out ?

In my most recent meeting with my endo i was told that my body despite my tumor shrinking is still not producing it's own cortisol.... so i know for a fact beyond the 15mg i put in daily that my body is not able to produce in times of stress.... so how is my body been surviving these extremely stressful moments ?

[Buckupnow]

If you ever vomit and don't have an adrenal crisis then your adrenal glands can and do work.

[fendertele]

hey niko thanks for the reply.

Yeah i am  slowly feeling better now that i have switched to a paleo diet... my energy levels are steady all day and i'm finally losing weight while working out.... i have also been taking an extra 2.5mg pre workout to help out my adrenals and i feel it has worked.

I have also not had to take my omneprazole for acid reflux since beginning the diet.... i think diet plays a massive part in healing the body and esp the adrenals... something i overlooked for years.

But i was just confused as i have been in some life threatening situations and never had to or knew to take more HC....and i have never went into adrenal crisis or shown symptoms of being close to it, and was confused as i have been told my body can't produce its own cortisol therefore there is no way my body was producing to help with the stress... so it must be adrenaline or norepinephrine as you put it.

So yeah my new diet, a tiny bit more HC pre workout and making sure to get salt back into my body after workout has changed things big time for me.... that i struggled for years with.... my hormones are finally beginning to balance.

thanks.

[TheLightSeeker]

Hi fendertele.

The 15 mg Hydrocortisone is considered low indeed, however, your body is likely using its back-up (adrenaline and norepinephrine) in times of heightened stress, should the 15 mg Hydrocortisone be inadequate or depleted.

Having said this, have you had any recent adrenal stress profile testing?

It is important to know and monitor how your adrenal system is functioning, as each adrenal hormone has its own set of functions.
Using some of these for back-up to fill in for low cortisol, cannot be sustained indefinitely, specially when  stress is chronic or prolonged.
It could take years sometimes, before any serious symptoms appear though.

There are many variants and the adrenal system- actually the endocrine system in general- being so complex, that it would be next to impossible to
confirm anything 100%, without going through a barrage of lab testing and analysis.

Consider yourself blessed with a good constitution, nonetheless, it might be wise to lighten up your stress load, to prevent any unwanted consequences.

Best wishes.
Niko