can a panic attack cause adrenal insufficiency? and a brief of my stmptoms

[mikehope]

hi

just wanting to know if this fits my issue, over a year ago, my grandfather had a stroke, he lives abroad, a few days o hearing of ths, i was exercising and noticed one eye was droopy, which lasted for 2 days, i began to have onsided headaches, then the same night i thought it was a lack of exercise so i jogged the night before, on waking up i was feeling dizy, light headed, was told by drs its depression, i was sure i was having a stroke, i began to have panic attacks, i thought it was due to a tooth infection, got that removed, the antbiotics i took hurt my stomach and deudneum, when i went to the drs again,he seen a history of liver enzymes being high.

my mind automatically associated the stomach and deodnum pains to liver, thats when i paniked morem, breathlesness too.

my grandad then di pass away, by this time i was exhausted, constantly having panic attacks, i became weaker and my allergies were becoming stronger, i had a fast heart rate for a day or 2 i tried forcing my self to exercise, i began to have hypoglycemia symptoms and low blood pressure even heart rate became slower, which is actually getting better now.

i dont have the hypoglyemia symptoms no more or the breathlesness, i can tolerate heat and summer this year round wel,

only thing i have now is alot of weakness, when i do try exercising it takes atleast 5 days of recovering.

ive lost alot of weight i believ thats due to the diet change i took out sugars and wheat.

i have been taking  vit b complex and i am taking zinc too, i have white dots on my fingers was told its either zinc or calcium, my calium levels were fine.


so to sum it up of what i experienced:

at the beging:

alot of panic attacks, feeling im going to die from a stroke
lighthead
breathless
weak
dizzy
raing heart rate for a few days, then dropping including bloodpressure droopping
sugar level dropping a few times ( tested for diabetes negative)
eye inflamation (treated with steroids)
body pains
brainfog
at this point i became a fully blown hypochondriac and anxious
these symptoms lasted for many months
.................................

today

im left with weakness of body, brainfog
i have notoced i have had on ocasions a slight burst of energy, very rare though, still waiting for it

when i exercise try to do weights, body doesnt feel strong to do it
feel like flu symptoms the body/exhaustion
blood pressure has come up and heart rate but not exactly to what oit was, i have lost alot of weight
again maybe due to removing sugars, i had a upper gastroscopy they seen gastritis and duodenitis, pobably caused by the antbiotics and a bacterial infection which will be getting treatment for.

what you guys think?

i may have had adrenal insufficiency but because of other factors my other conditions had worsened, causing a confusing diagnosis of the original problem.

[KaterinaM]

What you may have is adrenal exhaustion. I was close to the point of death before I was finally diagnosed after 8 yrs by a Physicians Asst. She looked at my face, saw the pigmentation and said it looked like I had Addison's Disease. She did the blood tests for it and discovered I had Adrenal Fatigue which has the exact same symptoms of Addison's. I was in a state of constant panic. She said there was no cure. I couldn't eat and was down to 86lb. She gave me a script for clonazepam and I was able to get a home care provider. I new I had to force myself to eat and remove every bit of stress from my life that I possibly could. Without the clonazepam I think I would have died. I also had to be put back on estrogen because my body could not tolerate being without it.  I had a total hysterectomy when I was in my early thirties and was on HR for many yrs. I stopped cold turkey when I was in the midst of adrenal exhaustion because I didn't know what was wrong with me and neither did any medical professional I went to till the one who finally diagnosed me so I  stopped cold turkey my hormones and clonazepam. It is disgraceful of the medical profession that I was forced to suffer for so long before I was finally diagnosed! I was doing everything I could to figure out what was wrong with me. It took a few years to gain back the weight but I have many food and medicine sensitivities and everytime I go through a crisis or trauma, they get worse. I was also born a Highly Sensitive Person (scientific name for it is Sensory Processing Sensitivity). I believe that fact also contributed to my downhill battle with panic attacks and adrenal exhaustion. Don't mistake adrenal fatigue with adrenal exhaustion. Adrenal exhaustion can kill you just like untreated Addison's Disease can.

[rumpled]

Your other organs last the rest of your life - why would adrenals burn out?
Unless there is a disease process, your adrenals should last all your life, logically.

I think you are talking about adrenal fatigue, not adrenal insufficiency.  They are different terms - one is a term used by alternative health sites and doctors, and AI is used my conventional medical doctors.

You quoted alternative sites. I am not familiar enough to comment on adrenal fatigue.

AI is not caused by stress.

[mikehope]

i think its called adrenal burnout, what many sites say it is due to the fight or flight' state

here's a example of a website

http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/adrenal_burnout.htm

http://www.safemenopausesolutions.com/adrenalexhaustion.html

[mikehope]

thanks for he reply
the eye drops were taken a few months after all these symptoms came about.

so AI can't be caused by the mind?stress of any kind. im sure I read it that it can be caused by stress becoming anxious panic attacks. how is AI caused? I had a tsh that was fine not had a cortisol test. so its highly unlikely I have AI

[rumpled]

No, panic cannot cause AI.
You had a lot of changes on your life - with your grandfather and your diet...

You were also treated with steroids - now that, that can cause AI - but it was eye drops. It can Cushing's in dogs as steroids are readily absorbed in the eyes (skin, lungs etc).

Have you had any cortisol or ACTH testing?