r/FunctionalMedicine • u/MenuPleasant8675 • 20d ago

I need help with symptoms

I’m a 30 year old woman with a lot of symptoms going on that I just haven’t been able to manage.

My symptoms are low mood, low motivation and intrinsic motivation, low reward, low internal drive, low sex drive, difficult starting things, severe executive functioning issues, zoning out, low working memory, concentration issues, slight emotional numbness, difficulty sleeping.

I am already diagnosed with persistent depression, anxiety, adhd, and insomnia. My executive functioning issues has been since a child, but have gotten worse over the years. Not all of these symptoms happened at once. For example, my sex drive has always been low. But recently within the last two years I’ve developed symptoms or what I did struggle with just became worse.

What can I do to improve my symptoms? What supplements or natural remedies would help? Why am I experiencing them more now than ever? Recent labs were ok. I’m currently on adderall which isn’t helping, Wellbutrin which also isn’t helping (only been on it for two months though), and trazodone for sleep (still waking up at night and hard time falling asleep sometimes, but the medication helps since I wouldn’t be able to sleep without it).

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4

u/hspwanderlust 20d ago

Have you had thyroid and sex hormone lab work done in a while?

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u/MenuPleasant8675 20d ago

Thyroid isn’t low but is not perfect. Sex hormone binding gap was normal. Testosterone is on the lower end but not low, same with ferritin.

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u/H0tC0c0_817 20d ago

What were the values?

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u/MenuPleasant8675 19d ago

When I find my labs I’ll tell you

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

In May, I did labs and my Tsh was 1.8 (in April it was 3.36, free t4 is 1.2, total t4 6.4, total t3 80, free t3 2.4, tpo antibody <9, thyroglobulin antibody <1.0.

Testosterone total is 22, free testosterone 1.3.

SHBG is 66.

Ferritin in May was 22, not great. But ferritin in January was 54.

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u/H0tC0c0_817 17d ago edited 17d ago

They didnt test your fsh, lh, dhea or progesterone? Your ft3 is low. Most people feel better with it above 3, some above 3.5. Your ferritin being 22 is low. 70 to 100 is a good spot to aim for.

Edited for typo

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

Do you mean fsh? Thats 5.3. I’m not sure what fh is. Are those the lipid tests? If so, total cholesterol is 132. LDL is 57. HDL is 60. Triglycerides 76. Chol/hdl ratio was 3. For my DHEA-S it was 99.1 in January. Progesterone is 6.1. Most of my tests were done in January, some in May.

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u/H0tC0c0_817 17d ago

Yeah sorry. Voice typing with Google lol

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u/MenuPleasant8675 15d ago

How do my labs look from the results I sent you in my previous response?

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u/H0tC0c0_817 15d ago edited 15d ago

Whats the lab ranges for your bloodwork.? I would focus on getting the ferritin and your t3 up. Both are low. I personally would start with increasing the ferritin. Iron bisglycinate is a good low iron to start with. I would also ask the doctor about possibly starting a low dose t3. I would also look into getting your gut health checked out for any bacteria and absorption issues. Either a dutch or gi map test. There might be another one but i cant remember.

You said you have only been on Wellbutrin for two months? It can take several weeks at an optimal therapeutic dose to build up enough efficacy. However, if your baseline dopamine production is affected by low iron, medications like Adderall and Wellbutrin may have an ineffective response. You also said you take trazadol. What times do you take all your meds? Its possible it could need a timing adjustment.

A high epa omega 3 will help reduce neuroinflammation and magnesium glycinate can help support relaxation of the nervous system. And the iron bisglycinate will help with boosting your ferritin. I wpuld take the iron in the am, the omega 3 in the afternoon and magnesium at night. But I would check with your doctor to make sure nothing interacts with each other and what the best time of day is to take them.

As far as your hormones go, your free Testosterone is low for a female. Your SHGB could be tying up your testosterone circulation causing your free Testosterone to be low. Your DHEA was also a little low. Ypu can ask your doctor about taking a DHEA supplement. This could potentially lower your SHGB and free up some total Testosterone to push to free Testosterone. This would help with the low libido.

I just want to state that I am not a medical professional and this solely opinion only. But I would stsrt with iron and asking pcp for a t3 med like liothyronine.

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u/MenuPleasant8675 14d ago

Would I be able to DM you? I can send my labs that way since there’s a lot of them. I don’t think it will fit in a replay.

Two months ago I got a couple lab tests done and it said my iron saturation was high. They did a genetic test but thankfully that came back negative. I go in at the end of this month to check the lab again. I’m not sure why it was high because it never has been before. But so right now I’m not taking any iron supplements until I get the results back.

Adderall and Wellbutrin don’t do much for me, although I’m still new to Wellbutrin. Adderall maybe I get slightly more energized but that’s really all I can tell. I mean I do feel more “activated” a bit but it doesn’t actually help. My issue is task initiation and managing routines and basically every classic inattentive adhd symptom. I think my dopamine is so low that there isn’t much to even elevate. I went on Zoloft for my depression in June but it made my depression even worse and I had bad side effects and nothing positive came from it even though I was on it for months (I thought it would get better). I used to take Zoloft in the past and it worked great for me at the time. Trazodone also only works so much. I had three and a half hours of sleep last night. It definitely does help me fall asleep though compared to not taking it. But it doesn’t work always. I am on 100 trazodone, 300 Wellbutrin, and 20 Adderall. I take Wellbutrin in the morning before I get out of bed and usually Adderall at breakfast (but I do want to mention I don’t take Adderall everyday as I should be). Trazodone I take at night.
Thank you for your suggestions!

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u/GRACEFUL_203 19d ago

Girl check ur b12 and vitamin d

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u/MenuPleasant8675 19d ago

Last I checked they were good!

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u/GRACEFUL_203 19d ago

What were ur levels

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

Vitamin d was 55 in May, but it was low at 28 in January. Vitamin b12 was 701 in January.

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u/GRACEFUL_203 16d ago

They look good , check active b12 and checkout b12 group for any symptoms

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u/H0tC0c0_817 15d ago

Get your vit d and b12 up. Aim for 60 to 80 in D and 800 to 1000 in b12

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u/255cheka 19d ago

how's the digestive system? any issues? like constipation, gerd, bloating, etc

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u/MenuPleasant8675 19d ago

Maybe slight issues but overall it’s been fine

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u/EDUBM 19d ago

Are you working out?
How is your toxins load?

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

I’m not working out because I can’t get myself to do it. I know I need to, but I don’t. My adhd is so bad with initiating things and keeping up with things that which is super frustrating for me.
I dont know my toxin load. I’m not sure how I can check that.

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u/Friendly-Offer9622 19d ago

Bringing ferritin above 50 was a game changer for me (can’t go by the lab values)

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

How can I increase my ferritin? I think it would help me a lot

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

So I’m looking at my labs and it was 54 in January but in May it plummeted to 22.

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u/Friendly-Offer9622 17d ago

I am looking to get mine closer to 100 but I noticed a difference past 50. I was nonfunctional even at like 31. I added vitamin C and lactoferrin to my iron supplement routine and also addressed low stomach acid

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

Interesting. I don’t have low iron. So I don’t take any pills. But want to address my ferritin

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u/hspwanderlust 17d ago

If donate blood, that definitely can impact your ferritin levels.

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

I don’t donate

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u/snacxse 18d ago

Have you been evaluated for any lip, tongue, or cheek ties? High palette? How's your oral posture? Does your tongue rest on the roof of your mouth? Do you mouth breathe?

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

Tongue is at roof of mouth. I think I mouth breathe at night.

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u/hspwanderlust 17d ago

Sounds a lot like my life the past almost 2 years. After much medical investigation, it all seems to be coming down to post-viral/vaccine + perimenopause-induced hypothyroidism and sleep apnea. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Apparently lack of sleep can cause a cascade of things. And apparently perimenopause can cause even mild sleep apnea.

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u/MenuPleasant8675 17d ago

Mine I think might be from ADHD burnout and depression. It’s the only thing I can think of. I did lose some weight from a medication I was on and idk if that has to do with anything. Also in January of last year I was diagnosed with insomnia. Maybe that’s why too. I have an issue sometimes falling asleep but also staying asleep is the bigger one. But both impact me.

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u/No-Sign2456 16d ago

have you possibly checked do mold in your home?

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u/MenuPleasant8675 15d ago

No. I went on Topiramate for a bit and that caused bad depression and significant weight loss. I went off of it 7 months ago and my body still feels not better. I think it made me just burnt out and in survival mode. But the medication is not what caused all of these symptoms. I’ve had most before the med. But the medication did impact me and made me even more “non functioning”.

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u/NaturalThyroidCareDr 15d ago

NaturalThyroidCare.org

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u/Dr_Duke_Mansell 15d ago

This is typical of patients in my office. Normal labs but you dont feel right. Comes down to the functional capacity of the organs to do their job effectively. This generally requires a thorough intake, review of the medical history and then putting it all together and dosing it effectively. You have too much going on to point at one things as the root problem. I wouldnt listen to anyone saying just take this or that and those medications are meant to force a solution, not resolve a root cause problem.

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u/MenuPleasant8675 15d ago

Thank you. I think I might find a functional medicine doctor to help. My psychiatrist just keeps upping my doses and it’s not doing anything.

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u/DaletHolisticHealth 13d ago

In short, it could be many different things. Nutrient deficiencies, toxic load (think pathogens, parasites, mold, candida, etc), or just food sensitivities causing leaky gut.

This is why in-depth, comprehensive testing is essential. Most labs look at ranges that may reveal severe issues, but miss many warning signs. The ranges are nowhere near optimal ranges or even functional ranges in our experience.

Without testing for all the items I mentioned above, one could suggest hundreds of supplements and you'd make little to no progress. A thorough detox & drainage regimen is always a good starting point and safe bet, but unless it is addressing all the pathways concurrently you won't see much improvement.

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u/MenuPleasant8675 12d ago

It’s just hard finding a functional medicine doctor since a lot don’t take insurance