Tag: History

I certainly wish that was my reaction!  To be honest, when I was finally diagnosed, I was ridiculously relieved.  Finally a diagnosis.  A treatment plan, something I could hold on to and battle against.  It was the beginning of a new me!  But to hear where I was, you have to hear how it all started!

This photo was one of the most exhilarating afternoons of my life (that’s me in the orange) I had just completed my first MARATHON!  It was hell! But I was extremely proud. I had an amazing job as a Nurse Manager at a prestigious university hospital in TN.  I had successfully completed a $3 M construction project this year and had become ADDICTED to running and healthy living.  I knew my challenge that year was to run a marathon in December and I KNEW I was healthy enough for it!  As my training progressed, I felt great and knew I could do this. I was fueling appropriately and was on track… until I was out running an 18 miler one Saturday and landed in the middle of a park, unable to go on.  Exhausted, hot, and a bit dehydrated, I laid on the green grass and contemplated why… And the truth was, I had NO IDEA WHY!!!  I made myself get up and eventually got back home… it wasn’t pretty but I got home!  And after that day, I was really not able to run like I had been.  It became a chore, a battle, and I should have listened!  But, I didn’t! I continued on and continued to feel a bit sluggish and tired, and even contemplated not running!  But I didn’t LISTEN!!!  So I approached my marathon day in poor form but ran anyways.  I had a great 1/2 marathon at about a 12 min pace and was feeling good.  Then it all unraveled … BUT I FINISHED! And that’s all I’ll say about that!!!!  The weeks following my run I felt great.  Recovered easily and was back to my 3-4 miles and still proud of what I’d done. Then, at the 3 week mark, I started to feel awful.  I couldn’t walk up a full flight of stairs in my home without stopping 1/2 way and out of breath.  I was tired, crabby, emotional, etc. and I had no idea what was going on.  I saw a Nurse Practitioner who said I probably had some form of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and that I should change some dietary things and take some epsom salt baths and it would pass…  Pass it did… but, over the next year and a half, the fatigue passed slowly and I never really felt myself.  I cleansed my diet- soy free, dairy free, gluten free and ate a TON of fruits and veggies, started hot yoga (addicted!) and spent time with some great friends… I began to slowly feel better but had this nagging ache in my right shoulder that wouldn’t go away.

I then found myself living in Denver in May 2013 and the day after I moved, I felt awesome!  My shoulder pain went away and I started to slowly run again (uh…well did a slow walk/ run routine for a bit-HELLO ALTITUDE!) And slowly was feeling better and better.  I was clicking at work-pouring my soul into this new unit and overcoming severe obstacles there.  Major culture changes happened and I kept plugging along and thought it all was behind me.

WRONG!  There was a moment in time when I think my body had enough!  I felt good one moment, and the next, I was D-O-N-E, DONE!!!  I got home from work one night (how I got home, I can’t remember. I know I drove. YIKES!) anyhow… I got home from work, and crawled to the couch, curled up in a fetal position and prayed for rest! I was exhausted and truly thought for a moment, I was in severely bad shape! (OK.  Truthfully, thought I was dying!) We all use the expression, that you feel like you’ve been hit by a freight train?  Yeah, I now KNOW what that really feels like.  No, I wasn’t really hit-but I felt terrible!!!  You sleep for 10 hours a night, but wake up exhausted and want to lay down and sleep some more.  Your brain is in utter slow motion, shut down, and you sit in front of a computer screen and stare for HOURS unable to make the words or movements come! You cry for no reason at the drop of a hat.  You ache!!! OH YOU ACHE!  My joints and muscles hurt and felt like they had a mind of their own. Hello restless leg! WOW! You go to the grocery store and have to leave because you are so overstimulated… and even worse, you stand in front of your full fridge and pantry looking for food and can’t put anything together! And these words don’t even remotely do this justice!  I KNEW there was something severely off and so, I sought help!  I saw a NP at my hospital and had labs drawn- my iron levels were extremely low (transfusion level low) and she gave me 4 weeks to take an iron supplement and get my levels up.  She was sure that was the culprit.  I was quickly unhappy with the answers I was getting… I set out on my own to find the right answers. I saw a naturopath and another MD and finally an amazing Endocrinologist!  And after 2 months, I had an answer! You have “SEVERE” Adrenal Fatigue! WHEW!  Thank God!!!  I could have kissed him!  After talking with the Endo about my symptoms, he asked me to tell him what my last 4 years had been like.  After I related the majority of these years, he looked me in the eye and said, “I’m not a bit surprised you are where you are…”, and then…,”If you hadn’t been taking Juice Plus+, you wouldn’t have lasted this long, and would be in the hospital!”   WHOA!  THANK GOD FOR JUICE PLUS+ (I’ll tell you more about that soon!)

So, what is Adrenal Fatigue, you ask?  Well, I’m not going to rehash what you can read here.  This was the most informative, easy to understand website that was given to me. But I will tell you, in lay-mans terms, that AF is a fairly new, rising diagnosis.  There are many MD’s that don’t believe it exists.  But, they used to say that about Fibromyalgia, and Restless Leg Syndrome, and IBS, and now look at those diseases.  I am a RN and all of these diseases are new since I was in nursing school 15 years ago! Because of our poor SAD diets (standard american diet), we will see more diseases continue to pop up.  AF, however, is not just diet related.  It is STRESS related.  It is essentially, an inability of the adrenal glands to keep up with the demands placed on them and they utterly give up! Given our stress ridden world and our “get ahead” mentality, we are conditioned for this disease.  It is believed that approximately 80% of adult American’s suffer with some form of Adrenal Fatigue!  AMAZING!