Adrenaline spikes: Med detective needed, award given

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!

Hello @sierrawoods... after taking myself to Mayo, we learned that I had been misdiagnosed by my home medical center with a rare endocrine condition, and Mayo figured out that all of my symptoms were caused by medications/drugs building up in my body for 12 years. They figured out the genetically, I don't properly-metabolize most medications, and the result of these drugs building up inside of me showed clinically as endocrine symptoms. Have you had pharmacogenomics testing done?

@sierrawoods Mayo Clinic and OneOme have been working to bring prices down. As time goes on, this testing will become more feasible for all. Fingers crossed. Until then, all my best to you, as well.

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!

@sierrawoods Not sure if you were able to get the help you needed in 2018, but I have had similar issues this past year. I have hypothyroidism, endometriosis, and. Psoriatic Arthritis. I am on Celebrex for the arthritis, both synthetic and natural estrogen and progesterone (because I am in surgical menopause due to the endometriosis), and I take Synthroid as well.

I discovered if I take my Synthroid at night, it makes a huge difference to the adrenaline hot flashes! I also use a small dose of progesterone cream rubbed into the inside of my wrists before bed, which also makes a big difference with my sleep. I was on 100 mcg of Synthroid when my symptoms started, and then I upped that to 112 mcg, and Adrenaline filled hot flashes mostly disappeared for 3 months. I started having hot flashes combined with adrenaline rushes again this past December, so I have recently increased my dose to 125 mcg, and the symptoms have disappeared again.

My TSH was a 2 when having issues, and was around .5 or lower when symptoms disappeared. My doctor was hesitant to increase my Synthroid each time, but I insisted that I can’t live with night upon night of broken sleep, and a little more Synthroid seemed like a simple fix for a complex problem!

Just wanted to share, in case you are still suffering, and still monitoring this thread! Good luck! Keep advocating for yourself!! And thanks for your original post. My doctor told me if had never heard of these symptoms before, so it’s good to know I’m not the only one in the world dealing with this!

Take care 🙂

Have you found relief?