Let me start off by saying that I’m not a scientist. The best I can offer for the time being are theories backed by personal anecdotal experiences.
While there seems to be symptoms a majority of us share, we all took different doses for different periods of time. All of our bodies respond differently to the damage caused. Some of us may also be damaged to different extents.
I don’t believe adrenal fatigue is the cause of pfs, but I think it may stand in the way of us healing. I haven’t yet been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, but my blood pressure and glucose mirror adrenal fatigue.
Some other reasons I believe my cortisol is high is because of my fat gain. I’ve always been slim and could eat without gaining weight. I noticed about a 15 pound gain since taking finasteride over 2 months. I’ve lost about 10 pounds by eating less. My body is still able to gain weight easily. When I did lose the weight it didn’t come off of my stomach. Which is where I gained weight.
On top of this, I have noticed that walking up stairs puts me out of breath. This would’ve never happened to me. I can run a mile in under 7 minutes. Something isn’t right here.
Another interesting note, since I’ve always been slightly underweight no matter how much I body build or eat, I would speculate that my thyroid stimulating hormone was highly active keeping my weight low. Now my tsh hormone is on the lower end of what’s considered normal.
I read that cortisol and adrenal fatigue can cause the body to want to eat more. When I was on finasteride I eat regular meals that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the discipline to do. I also read that cortisol sends messages to the body to store fat regardless how much you’re eating. It our survival instinct saying that there is a problem and we need to preserve food. This could explain my lack of fat loss even while I have lost weight.
I also noticed my cheeks under my eyes were flush red which is another sign of stress and cortisol. Since the past 4 months of being off finasteride that flushing has gone away.
I’m currently looking for an endo who will measure cortisol, estrogen, and thyroid problems.
I don’t think this is the root of everyone’s problems and it may not be the root of mine either. Adrenal fatigue mirrors symptoms of pfs. Like I said everyone probably has differing sets of problems. So some may see little improvement from trying to treat adrenal fatigue while others could experience a good recovery. I don’t want to discount anyone who is going through a rough time.
Even if adrenal fatigue isn’t the underlying cause for most of us it still isn’t healthy. I don’t think much harm could come from trying to solve adrenal fatigue. I’m not a doctor though.
My hope for this post is to spark a conversation. Adrenal fatigue has most likely been apart of my pfs as much as it may not be apart of yours. For some this could be what prevents their body from eventually healing overtime. I could be so far from the truth on this. I do think that my increased fat content and fatigue could be solved if I can get cortisol under control.
I’ll keep everyone posted if I get test results back and attempt to treat this.
I haven’t had a crash, sleep symptoms, or mental cognition problems.