Feel Better after Drinking Some Caffeine/Adrenals

Possibly. Cortisol is variable enough that I found that my cortisol would often test in the normal range even when my adrenals were acting up.

What would happen is that my blood sugar would get slightly low (around 70 mg/dL) and this would cause adrenaline production and wake me up at night.

What showed up on the blood tests was, surprisingly, not metanephrines, but other byproducts of epinephrine production, primarily excess homocysteine. Also depleted vitamin C, B12, and carnitine.

The way I see it- dont overdue caffeine. If its particularly doing more harm than good, youll probably know.

"Shot" adrenals gives you the "tired but wired" feeling....edgy and tired combined. People who had that would understand this description. When you have that, caffeine will usually make you shakey and agitated - a sign to stop caffeine.

Since you dont get that way from it, prob no issue for you. Just dont get dependent on it, where you keep drinking caffeine the whole day - not good.

Post Edited (astroman) : 9/21/2020 12:46:34 PM (GMT-6)

All input is appreciated and good. Hoping it may help others, also.

All my levels of B-12, Vit. C and homocystine and normal. Haven't had carnitine tested. Wonder how others find their levels on those?

As can be seen with posts, I guess everyone is different with caffeine. Good point by astroman about the impact taking it has on system. Like so many things, I minimize use of caffeine as I make the decaf tea and mix in a little with caffeine. All are natural with no preservatives.

The odd part about it also is it seems to take me out of a depression, along with providing some energy. Anyone else experience both? For years, I've read pro and con about caffeine, so hearing from those on this forum is interesting. The depression is overwhelming. It had dissipated for a while.

A bit of caffeine (like a single bite of dark chocolate) makes me feel brighter in mood and energy, for sure. A regular amount of caffeine would ruin me, but a tiny bit can be nice. Unfortunately, I find that it makes me feel worse after it wears off. Do you feel more down or sluggish once it wears off?

I generally recommend that folks with any level of fatigue or anxiety avoid stimulants, since they can deplete and dysregulate the HPA axis. I do not want to risk that in exchange for the temporary benefit. Of course not everyone shares this concern or has this result!

running wild said...
All input is appreciated and good. Hoping it may help others, also.

I minimize use of caffeine as I make the decaf tea and mix in a little with caffeine. All are natural with no preservatives.

The odd part about it also is it seems to take me out of a depression, along with providing some energy. .

one explanation could be the Theanine in tea - its retained in decaf tea also i think.

it's an amino acid that competes for the same receptor as caffeine and tends to counter some of the wired feelings and HPA axis disrupting effects.

theanine on its own tends to be a bit of a mood stabilizer - its know to be good for anxiety for a lot of people ( my partner found it to be a significant help when she was having overwhelming anxiety attacks ) so you may well be getting a little lift from that or iit may just be smoothing out the caffeine

ref. testing - there are several ways to test the adrenals - but also a lot of controversy over the "adrenal fatigue" theory.
I think there may be some more modern theories in the functional medicine world - like it maybe its some kind of cortisol resistance phenomena from chronically raised levels - ( a bit like type 2 diabetes with insulin resistance ) I haven't looked into it in detail - but think I would start there if I needed to.

one of the simplest tests is a 24hr salivary cortisol test
where you spit into a tube 4 or more times in a 24hrs period and they test the cortisol levels to see if it's within normal levels at each given point and whether the morning/evening high/low pattern is cycling the way it should - or reversed or offset.

Garzie - I am going to ask abut having the salivary cortisol test. The adrenal fatigue is controversial, but I have read enough to believe the theory is real. All diabetes test I have taken have been normal. But it just seems to feel like adrenals are playing a roles.

Dmitry - Read some about immunomadulatory drugs, but will read more to get a better understanding.

running wild said...
All input is appreciated and good. Hoping it may help others, also.

All my levels of B-12, Vit. C and homocystine and normal. Haven't had carnitine tested. Wonder how others find their levels on those?

https://requestatest.com/carnitine-blood-test

Carnitine synthesis requires vitamin C and iron, so carnitine deficiency can be a sign of deficiencies of these.

If your vitamin C, B12, homocysteine, metanephrines, cortisol and ACTH are all normal, it's unlikely you have an adrenal problem. In that case you might want to look into other metabolic issues, such as blood sugar, insulin, thyroid.

Here’s the website.

https://www.zrtlab.com/contact-us/

I looked at the site and I think they may require a dr sig.

I know some of results weren’t in range - but I can’t remember any details. Lol

I think it was in 2014

I will look for my results.

Girlie - Thank you taking the time to find above information and posting. Very helpful, as you always are. Reminds me of Traveler. I often wonder how she is doing. When you mentioned it was 2014 when you had the test done, it hit me how much time so many have been dealing with all this. Has your fat/elasticity loss stopped?

I know exactly what you mean when you wrote "I used to be able to pinch my skin and it would stay that way for a few seconds." That's what mine is like around joints. I am still able to build muscle and started working out at Planet Fitness a couple months ago 3-4 days a week. It keeps the muscles and cardiovascular in better shape, but there is nothing around the muscle because the fat and elasticity is gone. Same goes for my forehead, and to a lesser degree, my face. I would get fillers again (did it once) but am concerned how it might impact Lyme or autoimmune.

Good to hear your skin now goes back in place. That is a good sign. I would work out more but I battle migraines that get much worse after working out.

running wild said...
I know exactly what you mean when you wrote "I used to be able to pinch my skin and it would stay that way for a few seconds." That's what mine is like around joints. I am still able to build muscle and started working out at Planet Fitness a couple months ago 3-4 days a week. It keeps the muscles and cardiovascular in better shape, but there is nothing around the muscle because the fat and elasticity is gone. Same goes for my forehead, and to a lesser degree, my face. I would get fillers again (did it once) but am concerned how it might impact Lyme or autoimmune.

Good to hear your skin now goes back in place. That is a good sign. I would work out more but I battle migraines that get much worse after working out.

yep - i think this is a common sign judging by the number of people on here that mention it - i also see a lot of quotes of things like " my skin retains marks from the bedsheets for hours after i get up in the morning " which is i guess the same thing.

from what I have read in the scientific literature Lyme et al cause an acquired condition in the skin - similar to the genetically driven condition called EDS. although it is not normally a key focus in the articles because it is mainly cosmetic rather than a severe cause of morbidity.

the mechanism seems to be the breakdown of elastin and collagen structures in the cells of the skin tissues ( and presumably in other body tissues throughout the musculoskeletal structure and perhaps other organs too) - whereas in EDS as I understand it, these same proteins are not formed properly in the first place due to a genetic fault. it is known that these proteins are the preferential food for Lyme spirochetes and that they modulate the release of inflammatory compounds ( cytokines) that breakdown these structures so they can better access their food ( buhner etc )

you will typically also see thinning of the skin in general and a fine wrinkled texture on close inspection of most Lyme patients. My partner has Lyme and suspected Bart and has the same thing.

the good news is that people with Lyme can recover their skin's natural properties after successful antimicrobial therapy - whereas those with true genetic EDS, unfortunately, cannot.
although i think it realistic to expect some premature aging of these tissues if you have been exposed to inflammatory agents for a number of years.

it may be that in Lyme disease these effects can be mitigated to some degree with the use of anti-inflammatory agents that try to counteract the changes initiated by the infection and dietary changes or supplementation with things like gelatin, collagen, bone broth etc

Post Edited (Garzie) : 9/25/2020 4:24:11 AM (GMT-6)