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Re: Supplements for brain fog?- Larry

Posted by KaraS on July 25, 2004, at 18:42:42

In reply to Re: Supplements for brain fog?- Larry » KaraS, posted by simus on July 25, 2004, at 9:57:23

> > Hi Simus,
> >
> > From your name, I pictured you as a male. We have so much in common that I was going to ask you to marry me ... that is until I read that you're also experiencing menopausal symptoms!
>
> Hey, if my husband ever gets tired of me and takes off, I will let you know! We could move to Massachussettes. LOL But after 20 years, he is pretty much immune to me now. Or should I say numb???


I used to live in Massachusetts. It's too cold there. I won't go back. I'm afraid we'll just have to remain pen pals.


>
> > I've always felt oppressed by the morning people of the world. When I was a lot younger, I used to think that everyone was like me and hated getting up early. I remember wondering why they didn't offer those standardized tests for college or graduate school at a time when people could actually do some thinking. I figured it was part of the intentional torture of the whole thing.
>
> I agree completely. As a teenager I had a Garfield poster on my wall that said, "If God had wanted people to see the sun rise, He would have scheduled it later in the day."
>

Good one!

> > It was such a shock to find people who preferred the early morning hours - people who would choose to work a 7:00 AM - 3:00 pm shift when they had other options.
>
> Hey, I married one! What a schedule we keep! He actually likes going to bed at 8:00PM and leaving for work at 4:00AM. That is just about the time I am starting to sleep well. I joke with him saying that God is keeping me nights because I am a snorer and he needs to get some sleep. When we first got married, I would get SO mad at him for being able to lay down and fall asleep within literally seconds of his head hitting the pillow. Well, I wasn't really mad at him. It was just out of frustration because of my own struggles with sleep for years before that. And I was only 22 at the time.
>

That must be why your marriage works - you never see each other!


> > Later on in years I would hear people talk about doing something at work at 8:00 am while they were "fresh". I couldn't believe it.
>
> These are the people who always give the advise, "Just go to bed earlier!" Gee, I never would have been able to think of that on my own. Duhhhh
>

Yes, I've always loved that kind of advice too.
I'm so tired of dealing with people who just don't get it!!!!


> > I would be like a zombie all week and then Saturday I would sleep until at least noon. I'd spend the weekend recovering from the work week and then I'd start the whole thing all over again on Monday.
>
> Exactly my experience. After years of this, I developed a dread of Monday.
>

Same here but then I think most people in the work world a while have that same dread.


> > Do you mind if I ask what you are on sick leave for? Is it related to the adrenal fatigue and urticaria? If you'd prefer not to talk about it, I certainly understand.
>
> No problem. It is kind of a long story, but here goes... I was undergoing some severe emotional stress from my youngest daughter being emotionally abused by her teacher. That continued for some time (I pulled her out quickly, but then we had to deal with the principal, the school board, etc. It was a mess.), and into last fall. I was on Effexor at that time (ADs for about 8 years prior). I was just hanging on emotionally, and I thought it was from the meds just not working anymore. I didn't think about the problem being the stress itself. So my doctor changed me to Lexapro. I went through the withdrawal from the Effexor and the typical side effects of starting a new AD. That whole thing went VERY badly. Then I found out the Lexapro wasn't working at all for me. I went downhill rapidly. But with SSRIs, you have to wait a couple of months to see if they are going to be effective. Well, after the two months, the answer was NO, IT'S NOT WORKING! Not only that, my doctor put me on Seroquel as a sleep aid. It turned me into a zombie, so I stopped after about 3-4 days, but it took a couple of weeks to recover from the effects of that. Also, for some unknown reason, my doctor switched me from regular Xanax (for sleep) to the timed release form. That made me even more tired during the day and sleep became even more elusive. By this time, I pretty much slept all day and shook most of the night. Oh, and I became addicted to the "all-day" Xanax, which I broke on my own and went back to a low dose of the regular Xanax just at night for sleep. So my doctor took me off of Lexapro cold turkey and put me on Wellbutrin. That shocked my system, and made me complete sleepless and borderline psychotic for a few days. This added physical stress was just too much for my body. That is when my legs "blew up like balloons", among other things. Anyway, during this whole thing I had taken so much time off of work, and when I was at work I found myself ineffective at best. So my doctor advised me to take an indefinite sick leave. I did, and they understandably replaced me soon after. But it was a good thing. I am now doing well on the Wellbutrin/Xanax combo, and I have had time to discover/research/treat the adrenal fatigue issue. I am not where I want to be, but life is very livable again. =)
>

We really do have to be our own health care advocates. What the doctors don't know could fill many text books.

> > While I'm reading about your situation and keeping mine in mind, I'm starting to get more of the big picture here. I'm becoming more convinced that I do have adrenal fatigue and I'm seeing more of the interrelationship among the various illnesses. The constant stress on my body of working the 8-5 and not sleeping, many years of depression, lots of other major stress in my life, along with the candidiasis all contributed to my immune system dysfunction. The immune dysfunction manifested in the thyroid condition (Hashimotos is an autoimmune condition), the allergy problems and the urticaria. The CFS fits in to that as well - I was susceptible to it because of my immune dysfunction and the CFS then became an additional stressor on my body.
>
> I think you will find the book very helpful. It is very thourough yet very readable.
>

I'll definitely get my little paws on it sometime soon. Unfortunately I'm going away on Tuesday for a few days and have 10 million things to do before I can leave so I won't be able to get ahold of it until I come back.


> > > One other disturbing thing I experienced was severe edema in my legs. It was to the point that my lower legs were bright red and hot and very, very painful. I even had trouble bending my legs very far at the knee because of the swelling. That has diminished too since I started treating the adrenal fatigue. (My family doctor prescribed "walking" more, which didn't help.)
> >
> > That's very strange. Is that a result of the adrenal fatigue or do you know why you got that?
> >
> Yep, adrenal fatigue. It took a LOT of research to figure that one out, because my doctor was no help.
>
> > > > I must sound like a mess to you but surprisingly, I still present well. Ironically, I still look like I'm in good shape and I look younger than I really am.
> > >
> > > Hey! Since I have all the same symptoms, I want the "present well" too!!! But sadly, after years of Paxil and then double-dosing on Benadryl all day long for two years on top of that, I now have a LOT of weight to lose.
> >
> > After I posted that paragraph, I was sorry that I sent it. I thought that it might have come off as bragging. My intention, however, was to show that no one understands what I'm going through because they look at me and I can appear normal - happy, healthy, younger and in shape - when the truth is the complete opposite. I often hear from my family and friends that "you have so much going for you" and they're thinking (and sometimes saying) "why can't you get your act together and make a success out of yourself"? Then I really feel like a total loser. Well, maybe I do have a lot going for me but it's not of much use if I can't drag my butt out of bed in the morning and I have so little energy and motivation!!
>
> I understood you completely. I was just joking. I had the adrenal fatigue well before all of the additional weight. I had a great job (engineer), a great husband, two wonderful children, a nice house, etc., but life was so oppressively hard for me because I was always exhausted. I had many comments like, "What is wrong with you? You have everything going for you. What's your problem? Snap out of it." They were convinced that I could just "think happy thoughts" and it would all be instantly better.
>

I knew you took what I was saying the right way because of your joking response. I just wanted to clarify for anyone else reading my post so that they wouldn't misinterpret what I was saying or why I was saying it.


> > To get back to your comment about the weight you want to lose. I recently dropped about 15-20 pounds once I stopped taking a small amount of a tricyclic antidepressant in order to sleep at night. Maybe once you're completely off of the meds that were contributing to the weight gain, you'll find it easier to lose it. Having a lot of extra weight on you can be a huge depressant in and of itself - but then I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.
>
> I am no longer gaining weight, but I was so sick and I am just now starting to feel strong enough to try losing, There is hope...
>
> > What did you change your medication to instead of Paxil and is it helping? What are the supplements you are taking for adrenal fatigue?
>
> I am on 150mg Wellbutrin, and 1mg Xanax for sleep. There is quite a list of supplements that help, but vitamin C is at the top of the list. I take a good multiple, vitamin C and quercetin, B3, B5, B6, B12, calcium/magnesium/zinc, borage oil, and ginseng, ginger, ginko and green teas. There are more supplements that I take, but those are the main ones. Dietary changes such as avoiding sugar and caffeine, as well as lifestyle changes are very important too. It is all covered in the book.

I have a lot of vitamins and supplements in my daily routine but I've gotten sloppy about taking them. They include lots of B vitamins and Ester-C, calcium/magnesium, zinc, evening primrose oil, a little bit of fish oil. I'm really sick of taking them all but I'm going to get stricter about it. I'll definitely add an adaptogen and l-tyrosine (per the article that Larry advised I read) plus some other things. I'll keep you posted. Let me know how you're doing also.

Be well,
Kara



> Good luck and God bless,
>
>
> Simus
>


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poster:KaraS thread:359642
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