- To Change Your Mind - Details Matter
Adrenal Fatigue: Depression and Suicide
Notes On ADD: CorePsychPodcast
February 4, 2007Adrenal Fatigue 2: Depression and Suicide
February 10, 2007Adrenal Fatigue: Untreatable Depression and Suicide
Measurement Matters
We have been talking for multiple posts about depressive conditions that linger beyond the range of current meds – conditions that are refractory to SSRIs. -Conditions that can become worse with SSRIs. We started months ago addressing the fact that the SSRIs could make people suicidal, [prompted by an FDA inquiry]. So do SSRIs cause suicide?
Our answer to that remark: emphatically yes, and for many reasons not appreciated by the public or by many providers. Important starting place: often the SSRI itself is not to blame. I am on record as completely for the use of SSRIs as a treatment for depression. I am completely against using SSRIs incorrectly for the wrong diagnosis. SSRIs do not fix adrenal fatigue. Almost any psych med can make adrenal fatigue worse. Yes, SSRIs can make adrenal fatigue much worse. -So can stimulant meds, and so can atypicals [atypical antipsychotics like Seroquel, Abilify, any of them].
If a person is already severely depressed with suicidal ideation, how do you think they will feel if they actually feel somatically and emotionally worse, and more helpless and hopeless? Read Adrenal Fatigue, by Wilson to see more details.
Time for a brief review of adrenal fatigue: Let's start with symptoms first.
Questions Matter
These basic questions can begin the inquiry. None of these specific answers make the diagnosis, but can drive the questions more deeply. The whole point is: adrenal fatigue is treatable, but not with SSRIs – they collect neurotransmitters, not cortisol.
Let's see if these questions make any sense for you or someone you know.
- I am exhausted and depressed and medications do not help, or only help for a short time.
- I simply can't get through the fog in the morning, have no energy, and can't work.
- I have experienced long periods of stress that have affected my well being.
- I have had one or more severely stressful events that have affected my well being.
- I have driven myself to exhaustion.
- I overwork with little play or relaxation for extended periods.
- I have had extended, severe or recurring respiratory infections.
- I have taken long term or intense steroid therapy.
- I tend to gain weight, especially around the middle (spare tire).
- I have a history of alcoholism &/or drug abuse.
- I have environmental sensitivities.
- I have diabetes (type II, adult onset).
- I suffer from post –traumatic distress syndrome.
- I suffer from anorexia.
- I have one or more other chronic illnesses or diseases.
Look for the next post to add some more questions specifically on energy states, and making the diagnosis with clinical, laboratory evidence.
cp
8 Comments
Daniel,
I should have mentioned in the earlier post, my naturopathic doctor said I probably have adrenal fatigue and gave me free samples of the Cortisol Manger pills. I love them.
Jessica
Love those Naturopathic docs, they often do see the bigger biomedical picture! Thanks again, Jessica.
cp
Daniel,
I have been diagnosed with issues similar to you but still haven’t found them all. It is very frustrating and depressing but I have found some things that really work. For the tiredness (and in my case back pain) I take Cortisol Manager by Integrative Therapeutics. You can get it from Amazon.com. It is great, I felt better with the first pill. It helps me sleep at night and wake up during the day. If you go to the Integrative Therapeutics website you can get a free sample of 30 pills! I just discovered that today when showing it to a friend.
Good luck. Give it a try,
Jessica
Thanks Jessica,
Often cortisol variations, easily measurable and quite correctable, can turn around with these kinds of imprecise interventions. But if over the counter supplements don’t work take heart with these two points:
1. Adrenal fatigue problems are often the slowest to turn around of all the endocrine related issues – so be patient and feed your adrenals well.
2. Remember: other causes for fatigue remain discoverable even if supplements like this don’t work. Testing matters. Fatigue could be based on heavy metals, malnutrition, thyroid issues, depression itself, etc. One can’t find the real cause by simply giving an antidepressant or cortisol supplement, though such interventions may prove helpful, and often do.
Refractory, non-responsive challenges with any fatigue issue need careful lab measurement for precise interventions.
cp
I am currently diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, psoriasis, and arthritis, and I am having a partial thyroidectomy next week (Hurthle cell). But my true problems are much deeper and more extensive than my diagnoses. I have chronic tiredness, have an irresistible need to sleep during the day, and cannot get restful sleep at night. I wake up exhausted in the morning. I tell my family, and they give armchair diagnoses that my sleeping during the day is the cause, not the effect. I sought healthcare professionals opinions, and ended up at a psychiatrist, who prescribed Wellburtin and Vyvanse. When that didn’t work, the dose was increased. I eventually quit seeing the psychiatrist. I am also on levothyroxin, Androgel, Humira, Percocet, and Fentanyl patch. I take Benadryl for sleep.
I am in a bad place right now. I am unemployed, dependent on family, and see no hope of improving my life. All the little implications of malingering are starting to surface again, and if I press the issue that they are wrong to offer their reactive opinions on a medical issue, it causes a lot of stress in the household. I need to get out of here, but I see no hope of that. Everyone but my parents have given up on me, and if they die before I do, it’s not going to be pretty for me. I long ago quit socializing, including social media, because it just makes me feel more depressed and isolated. I came across this webpage while googling ‘tiredness and suicide’. I have no plan for such, but feel hopeless.
Several of the questions on the list apply to me, and some don’t. All I really want is a some medical help to turn this situation around just a bit. If I could manage to stay awake all day it would make all the difference in my life.
Daniel,
Every symptom encourages the finding that you have an undiagnosed, serious metabolic problem, likely associated with adrenal compromise and immune system deterioration over time. Adrenal deterioration, regularly measured in our offices with saliva testing, can respond well to treatment actions if first diagnosed and understood in the context of the complexity of your other problems. Just throwing meds at symptoms is helpful, but in the end often disappointing as the underlying issues don’t enter the light of day.
Regarding staying awake: some symptoms like that one are clearly treatable, but often end with the symptomatic approach. I’ve seen hundreds of folks with significant adrenal compromise short of Addison’s Disease that can be treated once identified.
Work w your folks to take diagnosis a bit further down the line and get you turned around. In my opinion, you’re quite treatable – may not be a perfect recovery, but you can come significantly back.
cp
I have exhibited many symptoms of adrenal fatigue, including anxiety/depression/mental fog/no energy, and am curious how to fix it? My psychiatrist prescribed me an SSRI and I had terrible side effects – thoughts of suicide, uncontrollable thoughts, racing mind, increased depression. Would an SNRI have a different effect? What is the most effective way to treat adrenal fatigue?
Ryan,
The AF is likely secondary, very likely secondary to immune dysregulation which sets serious imbalances in neurotransmitters. Supplements and meds often then bounce off. I have a whole protocol for assessing those problems from a data driven laboratory point of view, and can get that done long distance if you can’t make it to Va Beach.
cp