The stress hormone

I talked with my doctor yesterday. She said my tests were mostly normal (as expected), but my cortisol is way off. By night time it is nearly non-existent! So that explains a lot! It explains why I don't sleep well and why I am so tired all the time. She still feels, as do I, that there is an underlying condition that we haven't discovered yet that would explain all of my symptoms. She believes I may have the MTHFR gene mutation, which would be interesting, and she wants to run another few tests to see if we can get to the bottom of this and help me get better!

For right now, she wants me to start right away on Adrenal support supplements to see if that will get my cortisol levels back in line. If I don't feel any better in a couple of weeks, steroid treatment is next. I am hoping and praying the supplements will do the trick!

Another part of this is rest. I need a lot of it! From everything I have been reading, a period of rest and less stress is vital to healing the adrenals and balancing cortisol levels. I've already cut a few activities out of my weekly schedule. There are a few I am going to keep for now, but I am hoping to have no more than a couple of weekly activities on my plate by the end of April. This may seem drastic, but I want to get better, and if taking a break from everything for a while is what needs to happen, I am going to do my best!

Resting is going to be hard though. I like to do things, I like to be around people, I like to spend time doing things with my boys! However, not only have I been reading about the need to rest to recover, but I feel strongly the Lord has been calling me to take a time to rest. Not only do I need to rest in order to recover physically, I believe I need a time to rest and seek the Lord. A time to saturate myself in His Word and grow closer to Him.

So if you don't see me around much, you know why. If you do see me around, know that I have planned and prepared for this outing carefully.

Diet, light exercise (such as a brief stroll), supplements, possibly medication, focusing on my relationship with the Lord, and rest, rest, rest. That's what I'm going for over these next few months. I am hoping and praying that it will all make a difference and that I will be healed! However, as I said in my last post, whether He heals me or not, I will praise the Lord!