Adrenaline spikes: Med detective needed, award given

Glad I found this old thread. I've had symptoms like Sierra's for almost two years, which I posted to the Anxiety group.
And while anxiety certainly contributes to problem (which began after a canced diagnosis and concurrent traumatic break-up with my abusive partner...) endocrine issues are also at play. I am "subclinical" hypothyroid, and had to stop estrogen HRT (which I had been on for way too long...)abruptly at my uterine cancer diagnosis. Then the total hysterectomy removed the ovaries.
I've offered various psych meds but prefer to work this out naturally. GABA supplements help a bit, and I've just started phosphatidyl, which may tampt down cortisol. I have a 10 mg. propanolol that kinda sorta helps, but then makes me a bit draggy the next day.
Anyway, thanks to all . I've gone through the whole thread and it's good to know that at least I'm not alone. Best of luck to all of us.
Eileen

@sierrawoods I am 38yrs old and desperately searching for answers. I stumbled across your post and am wondering if you’ve had any answers. Your symptoms/consequences mimic mine. I would also pay a million $ if I had it. Help.

I have the same symptoms and diagnosed with mild hyper mobility and orthostatic intolerance with chronic adrenergic overdrive according to my tilt table test result. If you have these symptoms you are hyper vigilant too and all these generally related to childhood traumas. Contrast showering, compression stocking, electrolytes, breathing exercises (please read Breath by James Nestor) are helpful. Most importantly get your traumas sorted. I have been trying reiki, hypnosis, talking therapies, NLP, neurophysiology therapies with no luck so far. I started doing exposure therapy myself recently. It seems to be working for 2 weeks then I am back to high alert zone.

Can you please tell me more about this? What were your symptoms and what tests did they run? I tried to be seen by Mayo Clinic but was rejected.

Why wouldn't Mayo see you?

I’m not sure of all of your symptoms, but I believe I have the very same thing you have. I’ve had mine for 4-5 years. But I have mine continually all day long and all through the night. With mine, I break out in a sweat, and my heart rate goes up. I have 6 to 15 episodes (what I call them) per night and then continually all through the day; at least 2 an hour.
I’ve been to numerous doctors and no one can figure it out.
I too don’t know what to do. I am not suicidal, but I would not shy away from death. It’s a terrible existence.

I would expect that they have checked all your vitamins and minerals. You’re mentioning some things my mother had where she had buzzing, and like her skin was crawling, and what she called waves would come over her and through her scalp and her skin. She nearly died. They found out that four or five vitamins were completely bottoming out (calcium, potassium, some B vitamin and 1 or 2 more) and then coming back up a bit and then going back down. She stayed on vitamin therapy daily for 18 years till she passed. I just thought I’d mention it.

Do go and see an endocrinologist and get them to run some blood tests.
Too many times ,woman are diagnosed with anxiety when it is actually something physical driving it!!
I had this awful experience of not being believed by 3 Doctors, finally diagnosed with Conns disease ( adrenal glands)
Keep pushing for answers!

I recently developed a version of this, I am 50yo male, and a month ago I started waking up to big, shiver-inducing adrenaline spikes, usually coming on gradually in the 30-60 minutes after waking around 5 or 6. I ended up seeing a doctor and even ended up in the ER for it. It plagued me from April 25-30, then it subsided for 3 weeks, and then came back in force May 20-25 (today) and I have no idea why it abated.

Symptoms are severe shivering, dread, urge to move around, urge to seek help, very sweaty hands and feet, dooming/health anxiety, frequent urination, same basic symptoms of intense fight or flight being triggered without a good reason. It started out happening gradually over an hour after waking naturally in the AM, lasting from 3-4 hours each time, and then now it has progressed to actually waking me up at 1:30 am, 2-3 hours into sleep.

Of course, blood tests showed nothing so I have no idea how to proceed, other than working on my coping and wondering what made it go away for 3 weeks. I do have a hydroxizine scrip which helps, but the trauma of waking up to fight or flight is formidable in itself so I worry this kind of thing can be self-reenforcing if the cycle is not broken. Also no idea why it moved from "after I wake naturally" around 5am, to "now we're going to do this after your first 1-1.5 sleep cycles."

I'm getting therapy for it, but as kind of a skeptical person, I'm reluctant to jump to "emotional causes," like unresolved trauma, because my work and family life are happy and relatively stress free, and I note that I feel pretty otherwise calm and unworried now when it happens--except for the fact that it feels "like an EMT has shot me full of adrenaline to restart my heart," which of course ruins sleep.

It could be amitriplanine It can do weird things and it is an antidepressant, they do use it for sleep off label, or has this been happening before the amytripaline. Or it could be a mixture of all the medications your on. There are side effects to most medications.