Water Retention During Adrenal Fatigue/ During Peri-Menopause

[30poundsMore]

Hi, good to see you are around here still.
Well i take nothing since i am drug sensitive, and the Endocrinologist, said years ago when i was at my worse that i didn't have Addisons or Cushings, just Adrenal Fatigue, my Insulin was high, but now i know why, AF  !!
I am sick of being a water balloon woman and waddling about, it looks like i overeat, when i dont.

I am sure that having Fibromyalgia is stressing the Adrenals as well, imagine being in constant pain for 31 years (i am now 50)

Now i am sure of it, my intense salt cravings really were right around the time the weight dropped off in the past, but it is not now, perhaps because this is the "Big" one...MENOPAUSE.
What is a woman to do?
Cant take Progesterone, it might imbalance it the other way, Estrogen Dominance? i have heard it all.
Anti Estrogen Teas, or Adrenal (natural from health store) Supplements make me panicky LOL!!!
too sensitive, it's like my Adrenals are telling me to WATCH EVERY DANG THING I DO, i can barely tolerate sugar.

I took Senna Tea once for constipation and nearly wore a whole in the floor pacing and panicking, it is funny now, but wasn't then.

So here is where i am confused and read about it and am still confused, let me see it i can make sense of this.
During the initial stages of AF, we make too much Cortisol and Aldosterone, then as it progresses, we make less of both, but since i am still bloated, i ASSUMED i was still making too much Aldosterone, but now i read the the Salt cravings are a sign of LOW Aldosterone and Cortisol
so why am i still swollen? well, no Doctor can answer that for me,and they think it is not a big enough deal to test for the Aldosterone, since everything came back normal in the past.

One thing i can say for certainty, is that during the beginning of this AF, i did NOT crave salt.

I have tried many AF forums, but still no clear picture yet.

My theory is that maybe the body is trying to Hold on to Salt because it needs it, REGARDLESS of the stage it is in.
Then when the (Peri) Menopause subsides, it will level out, since the Hormonal changes are my particular cause of water weight.

I have to drink only when thirsty, NOT becasue some Website says that MUST drink 8 glasses of water a day.
whenever i try that, i am VERY sorry the next day, too little water, and i feel tired, so i just Listen to my Body, same thing with Salt, LISTEN, sometimes things are too salty for me and other times, i TEAR up the Kitchen looking or Salty foods.
I crave Potatoes boiled and sprinkled with Salt, so i must be craving the Potassium as well, Potatoes have Vit C too.

I should be eating less TV Dinners, but it is hard to get to food fast enough when your Blood Sugar Drops, and preparing things ahead of time is hard when you have kids and a busy schedule.


If  this water retention gets better, i promise i will come back and tell you all, plus what ever i did (or didn't) do.


Any thoughts or knowledge is WELCOME  :)

[30poundsMore]

Wow,

yes, i read that High insulin can cause water retention, that is why i think (in my opinion) that these Diabetes type II meds make people gain weight.
I was hoping that it wasn't the high insulin that was causing the edema, because i am a HUGE sourdough french bread fan, and although i get it without sugar, i can eat it this particular carb  all day.
I am a big steak fan and like cheese, although dairy gives me a headache (food sensitivities) Leafy Greens Every night!!
But I dont want to be on a low carb diet every day, i wish i could, however when i can make it one day low carb, i lose 2 lbs (water of course) but it is hard to follow, and gets gross after a while.
I cannot tolerate Chromiun, Magnesium, Potassium or Calcium in pill form they all drop my Blood sugar, how weird, all the "iums"

B 6 even drops my BS.

My Thyroid checks out okay, i made those Doctors do every test in the world, and test them again.
I dont believe everything Docs says though, remember i have "Fibro" a "Hypochondriacs" Disease, and it took my OBGYN  years later after the onset of the Fibromyalgia, to find out i had Chronic and Acute Epstein Barr Virus (hence the swollen gland on my neck in 1984 that doctors scratched their heads at... duh)
So basically a person can misdiagnosed or under diagnosed for YEARS!

All my tests from the Endocrinologist are packed away in my boxes from when i moved back to Calif. from TX.
Hard to dig out.
Bout time i had new ones.
Back then, they even did that 24 hour Urine test on me when you have to pee ONLY into the urine container.
Yuk.
All was normal except the Insulin, CRAZY, i was having panic attacks every hour on the hour for month, you think SOMETHING would show up.

Anyway i am glad that is getting better, just the BS and Edema.

My pupils were sooooo tiny during the worst part of the AF.
Back to normal now, what a trip.

All this began the night i started having chills and night sweats>>>>the beginning of the PERI-MENOPAUSE NIGHTMARE !   2009.


Thanks, keep the comments coming, it helps alot to talk about this, i wish i knew about forums in 2009 when this started.

[Barb135]

Do you have a thyroid condition?  I only ask because we're a thyroid forum and while the adrenals kick in to take up the slack for failed thyroid, they typically, settle back down, once a person's thyroid is balanced out.

Additionally,  many doctors believe that fibromyalgia is related to un or under treated hypothyroidism, since the symptoms are often the same and many people with fibromyalgia, who are given thyroid hormones, find that symptoms are alleviated.

If you've been tested for thyroid condition, please post your latest thyroid related test result, with reference ranges, so we can get a better idea of the testing/treatment you are receiving.

[Red_Star]

I've had severe insulin resistance and even after a long overnight fast my insulin was very high. High insulin retains sodium which is why high insulin causes fluid retention. I also had low magnesium and zinc due to insulin resistance. Low magnesium is another cause of fluid retention actually.

My other reasons for fluid retention includes a 25 cm ovarian cyst, hypothyroidism, subacute kidney failure.  One of my ex doctors though I had fibromyalgia but the pain was due to severe magnesium deficiency. I had severe magnesium deficiency due to a combination of insulin resistance, stress (from surgery in my case) and high doses of vitamin D.

When my adrenal fatigue was at its worst my pupils fluctuated in the light so fast it wasn't even a second between fluctuations and when running the edge of a pen or spoon across my abdomen the skin turned white and spread over 2 inches.