Adrenaline spikes: Med detective needed, award given

@cleacock Have you ever spoken to someone at the anxiety centre one on one? Do they have specific suggestions for alleviating this problem? Many thanks for your help.

You can try extended release melatonin. Or try something stronger like Passion Flower. It acts like s benzo on me. I take a half dose but not every night. It does leave me a bit groggy the next morning and works a bit like a muscle relaxer. I don’t like that feeling but it does help me sleep.

Hi
A little over 2 years ago I began having the symptoms you described. The adrenaline rushes woke me every morning around 4am and the intensity of feelings from this began to grow over the next few hours until I was suicidal. This continued until mid afternoon then began to subside until my mental/emotional settled and I felt normal again, although exhausted. No longer suicidal, not even particularly depressed or anxious. Then I’d go to bed and it’d happen all over again. Groundhog Day! I dreaded going to bed but was so tired I had to. Only for the cycle to begin again. 2 months went by and I’d tried all the mindfulness and meditation to calm me, was seeing a psychologist but my body was telling me this was physiological rather than mental/emotional. The anxiety and depression were the result of the physical stuff rather than the other way around. Eventually I heard from someone about MTHFR gene mutations that created similar symptoms so saw a GP who specialised in that and Pyrroles Disorder. She ordered the test for Pyrroles and bloodwork to identify high levels of ‘free’ copper based on my history and current symptoms. She said I was textbook for Pyrroles and directed me to online resources to better understand it. She’d studied the condition at The Walsh Institute founded by Dr William Walsh.
She directed me to have the tests asap then after the tests to begin taking high doses of activated B6, magnesium and zinc. Within a week of taking this I began feeling better. We continued tweaking the supplements and adding some others as the main issue is that I undermethylate and have problems detoxing metals from my system. The excess unusable copper in my body (which has a specific way of testing for it) causes the electrically charged feeling in my body. I’ve realised I’ve recently been consuming lots of nuts and seeds high in copper.
The reason for finding your post is that I googled ‘adrenaline rushes in the morning’ as I’ve began having them again. However, it’s also been months since I took the supplements I’m supposed to. So I basically know why I’m having symptoms again but felt the need to do some research just in case it could be something else. After reading your post I realised it’s probably not something else! I’ve also recently been attempting to detox with ‘clean eating’. As my body releases toxins I have issues with clearing them from my system without correcting the pathways that are dysfunctional. So I’m getting back on the supplements ASAP and wanted to write about it here in case it’s helpful for you. I’m in Australia btw and the conditions I mentioned aren’t recognised by the general medical profession here. The Walsh Institute is in the US but several doctors here are getting the training as the markers for these conditions make sense to them. Most of them are inundated with more patients than they can handle who are being treated successfully with the right supplements to correct biochemistry. It’s a very fine balance that needs to be supported by blood tests to confirm what’s working and what isn’t. I’d say the first step is looking at the information on the Walsh Institute website then finding a practitioner who can test and treat you. Also find Pyrroles Disorder and/or MTHFR support groups on social media for more information.
Best of luck!

I experienced severe adrenaline rushes at night due to chemical sensitivity to a sick building. I was not able to work in that building or do my job (molecular biology researcher) and had to take disability retirement. That was above 10 years ago. The rushes subsided after I stopped working, but reoccur in response to anything stressful - too much exercise, travel, etc. I got on this forum to try to figure out how to eliminate them. Question for you: have you had new chemical exposures that coincide with your symptoms?

When I awake from an adrenaline rush, I have all kinds of skin sensations, varying from light vibrating to a feeling of tight skin that almost painful to dramatic “pulsing prickles” that make me think of electricity. Also occasionally a staticky sound in my ears. No sensation of panic though.

Have you ever studied or practiced desensitizing over a long period of time? I was born with eczema, allergies, and just plain whimpy health and suffered all through my growing up years, and then did the dumb choice of marrying a farmer. I was so desperate and couldn't afford or have the time for trips to the specialist so I did my own thing by gently exposing myself in small doses or amount of time to anything that made me itch, sneeze, cough, or feel bad. No one believed in me and thought perhaps I should divorce, but I was determined to feel better, and with the big garden and well balanced eating I got better in twenty years. In fact my basic health is pretty good despite living with a stressful husband while the marriage was a disaster. But I kept at it, and truly believe that desensitizing myself over the years a little at a time can be an effective cure and can alleviate many chronic problems.
On the other hand, my sister catered to her many "allergies" and died with chronic diseases that she declared were none of her fault. She also blamed the doctors, six of them, when her visits did not result in a fast cure. This is a worst case scenario, but I certainly know what it feels like to itch all over. I only had one panic attack and with the advice of my paramedic son and his friend, taught myself to not do that again without the aid of a psychiatrist. If we are born with sensitive bodies it can be a lifetime of effort to control or eliminate the exposures and to get sensitized to some exposure. Yes, I avoid poison ivy!

Dorisena, what you were able to accomplish is remarkable! Thank you for taking the time to share it. For my chemical sensitivities I went the route of avoidance, making my bedroom a safe haven from toxic chemicals and being very careful about everything I brought into my house. For a while I had to avoid stores, libraries etc. But after nine years my tolerance has increased and I don’t hesitate to go or do most things for fear of chemical exposure. Supplements, too, have helped. But, exposure to smelly caulk yesterday seems to have given me a very bad night’s sleep and a headache, so the problem is not completely gone.

@radeles Wow! I think I may have the pyrolysis condition you describe. I want to get tested but have some concern about going off my supplements. I routinely take 30 mg Cu every other day and 175 mg B6, because general metabolic testing showed that I am a very poor methylator. On this I have felt fairly well, but any extra stress will set off the adrenal rushes and it will take a lot of resting up to get back to “normal”.

I have had this on and off for about 8 years, and after seeing 70+ doctors - even at very prestigious medical centers of excellence like the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic - I finally found a physician that could explain (using lab results) why this was happening to me. My physician is trained in the Ritchie Shoemaker, MD protocol called CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome). Dr. Shoemaker found that, by being exposed to mold, some people’s body’s can’t detoxify/clear the mold and abnormal adrenaline/cortisol zaps can occur. Roughly 20% of the population cannot detox mold because their detox pathways are blocked. It turns out that the basement in my office has tons of mold due to my company having had multiple floods over the years. I’ve been with my company for 11 years and for the first 3 years I experienced very weird symptoms which I couldn’t explain. Then I began awakening multiple times each night with jolts of adrenaline/cortisol for about six months. After about six months I started to have lots of other symptoms that felt like MS, however MRIs did not reveal MS. For two years I went from specialist to specialist trying to get help. I then saw an integrative internist that identified that I was hypothyroid and had a TPO of about 1000 (so I had Hashimoto’s). When we began to treat with thyroid hormone, I did much better for about 5 years, but they my symptoms returned when my internist put me on low-dose Naltrexone (to try to eliminate the Hashimoto’s). Mold and other toxins suppress thyroid function so some of the zaps/jolts can be caused by insufficient thyroid hormone production, but according to Dr. Shoemaker, adrenaline surges can also be caused by an accumulation of toxins as they throw off the body’s normal processes. The Shoemaker protocol revolves around taking cholestyramine and other binders to remove toxins to get the body working again. Check out surviving mold dot com to learn about this and then either find a recommended practitioner on Dr. Shoemaker’s site or ask around to see if any practitioners in your area follow the protocol but just maybe are not Dr. Shoemaker-endorsed. By the way, Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof, had Hashimoto’s and other scary symptoms similar to ours due to toxic mold exposure and he, too, used the Shoemaker protocol to cure himself. He's got lots of information about this on his website, bulletproof dot com as well as interviews with Dr. Shoemaker and other healthcare practitioners that understand how to actually cure it. I hope this helps!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story. I think I have a kind of parallel case, but with copper toxicity. I am scheduled to see Dr. Mensah in his clinic near Chicago. From what I’ve read, he is an expert in this area. I think that the information and resources that you provided will help when I start detoxing copper. I’ve already had a taste of that when I tried part of the detox protocol on my own - really intense adrenaline surges ( but not as bad as when I was suffering from a sick building.) So I will read up on what Dr. Shoemaker recommends. Quick question - have you tried massages, along with the other things? Thank you for your help and I will keep you posted.