Anyone suffer from Adrenal Burnout?

Emjay

Emjay

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I have been feeling pretty run down the last few months, and my recovery time after hard training has been very long. Three / four days I am wiped after a hard session (like HIIT or VO2 max work). I went to get a panel of blood tests done, and they came back and my cortisol levels were very low. My Doc was very concerned I may have had Addisons. We did follow up tests and they came back negative - thank goodness. But I am in complete adrenal burnout.

Anyone suffer from burnout? How did you recover? How long did it take? How did you train?

I am trying to train for a very strenuous 2 week mountain climb in the Himalayas in 6 months. Will chat to my doc in a few weeks about it. But I wanted to find out if anyone has experienced this and how you recovered?
 
AFAIK Adrenal fatigue (which I assume is the same thing) is pseudoscience.

Intensive training requires a great deal of discipline and consistency in nutrition and sleep, otherwise you're going to have problems. Also keep in mind, as you get better/faster/stronger, your workouts take a greater toll.
 
Jings said:
Have you checked your oxygen saturation recently?
Click to expand...

Good question.

Yup - it's actually slightly above average for a woman my age. My iron levels are pretty low though (sounds very odd - but I have been anemic my whole life), which have been treating with an iron drip and supplementation for around 6 months now.
 
koffiejunkie said:
AFAIK Adrenal fatigue (which I assume is the same thing) is pseudoscience.

Intensive training requires a great deal of discipline and consistency in nutrition and sleep, otherwise you're going to have problems. Also keep in mind, as you get better/faster/stronger, your workouts take a greater toll.
Click to expand...

Burnout is a thing however.

I am an endurance athlete, btw. I have been training for years. I have peaked at 14/15 hours per week before, so I am not new to this. I know my body, and it should not take 3 or 4 days to recover from a hard session.
 
What is your mood like lately? Are you getting enough good quality sleep?

You know, if you’re an athlete and still anemic it’s possible you’re deficient in something other than iron that’s affecting your blood.
 
How are your stress levels? Mine has a direct effect on my recovery times and the only way to sort that out is to deal with the stress and take a break.
 
NikeXT said:
What is your mood like lately? Are you getting enough good quality sleep?

You know, if you’re an athlete and still anemic it’s possible you’re deficient in something other than iron that’s affecting your blood.
Click to expand...

Mood is good. Quality sleep is on and off, and I am working on that actively. All checked out and my Doc is addressing nutritional deficiencies. My bad sleep is linked to stress. I have picked up a correlation there. Doing all the things to fix my sleep (or trying to).

B-1 said:
How are your stress levels? Mine has a direct effect on my recovery times and the only way to sort that out is to deal with the stress and take a break.
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Stress is super high. Always is. I train hard. Have a stressful job and doing a Masters now as well. But, I counter that by meditating, eating really well, and taking forced breaks in the evening, take a lot of leave and try manage my stress. I definitely think stress is what led me here. Probably been a little too gung ho and it's caught up with me.

Looking for some recovery stories. Or some tips on how to manage stress and recover from burnout. I don't want to let go of my trip this year. :crying:
 
Emjay said:
Stress is super high. Always is. I train hard. Have a stressful job and doing a Masters now as well. But, I counter that by meditating, eating really well, and taking forced breaks in the evening, take a lot of leave and try manage my stress. I definitely think stress is what led me here. Probably been a little too gung ho and it's caught up with me.

Looking for some recovery stories. Or some tips on how to manage stress and recover from burnout. I don't want to let go of my trip this year. :crying:
Click to expand...

That unfortunately sounds like a pretty good recipe to get to where you are now and your body going this is enough now.
Its taken you good amount of time to get there so you are not going to solve it with a quick fix.

The good news is you still have plenty of time to make changes so sit yourself down and be realistic with yourself and how you can get things back in your control.
In my case my Garmin watch has been pretty good with helping me identify stressful situations and some of them have been quite unexpected like lying down in my yard listening to music.(in my case I was going into over thinking mode working through issues and causing stress even though I thought I was relaxing)
 
Emjay said:
Burnout is a thing however.
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If by "burnout" you mean overtraining, then absolutely. I googled "Adrenal burnout" and everything pointed back to "adrenal fatigue", so I'll stick to my initial comment. Addisons & Cushings = real conditions. Adrenal fatigue, not so much.
Your doctor suggested Addisons, which is entirely reasonble given low cortisol. Elevated cortisol is required for elevated motabolism, i.e. exercise, so this would make sense.
Emjay said:
I am an endurance athlete, btw. I have been training for years. I have peaked at 14/15 hours per week before, so I am not new to this. I know my body, and it should not take 3 or 4 days to recover from a hard session.
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I did not suggest otherwise. But MyBB tells me you've been on these forums for 19 years, so I imagine, like me, you're not too young to be immune to the effects of age on training and recovery. 15 hours a week is a lot - I could do it on a student sleep schedule and student-budget-friendly diet, but these days that level of training demands I do everything else right all the time. I'm just pointing out that maybe you should consider how much you can cope with until the cortisol issue is resolved.
 
might be something in the water where you live?
or like everything mental and punishing, the mind is the ultimate decider of how the Body reacts to X.

if you in a good mood, just got paid/ laid and happy and content in your corner, all the results will be positive.
but if something off, everything is affected, after all the Human body is an extremely sensitive machine.
 
Yes. It's due to stress.

I think that what people can often miss is that although (as per your OP) one may be managing one's stress very well, there is still a finite amount of managed stress a person can shoulder.

In my case it was a job that I had to leave, no amount of meditation, sleep hygiene or vacation time can completely cancel out the effects of a toxic environment.

Management is just that, dealing with the kark as it happens, it is not addressing the root cause.

Therapy is often helpful when navigating a 'root cause' lifestyle change.
 
Sh#t....

Guess i'll have to go see ol'e doctorro then. Been feeling like this since last year November but didn't take much note of it. But then again what can you expect working in retail :(
 
I have a friend who suffered from alcohol burnout.

He used to do burnouts with his Ford Ranger 3.0 diesel up till like 3rd or 4th gear.
I was always amazed at htf he managed to get it right.
 
UB40 said:
Are you vaccinated?
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1mjZ33k4qBCF2.gif
 
I could say that I have "adrenal burnout", but @SlinkyMike is on the more appropriate route. I am also there. Just don't talk about it. I never quite understood why people advertise things like having ADHD and so on.

Therapy helps, but you need to adapt too. Maintain consistency by adhering to a routine. Good habits and all that.
 
Emjay said:
I am trying to train for a very strenuous 2 week mountain climb in the Himalayas in 6 months. Will chat to my doc in a few weeks about it. But I wanted to find out if anyone has experienced this and how you recovered?
Click to expand...
Sorry, can't really help with advice but I am curious about your foryhconibg to your trip to the Himalayas, it's on my bucket list.
 
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