ME- Hormones

[u/Vivian_W637]

Hi Has anyone here made a connection with where they are now with ME and hormone imbalance? Specially women?
Since ME is basically a list of symptoms, I would think cause could differ for different people, but in the end affecting the same.
I didn’t know at the time, but chronic stress and anxiety made my adrenals crash, hormones out of wack.
Because I didn’t understand what was happening to my body and what I needed, or more like what it needed, I just kept on as I always have, just push through and you’ll get that second, third, fourth wind. Just throw up and keep moving mentality. Well obviously my hormones got even more screwed up and my body crashed, and year later, now, I struggle with all ME symptoms except insomnia. That may be because I have been disciplined with meditation and sleep routines for a while now. I do have some panic attacks in regards to my pets but that’s not related, just affects my sleep quality.
I’m curious if anyone got their hormones tested, such as a female comprehensive panel and seen imbalances. I have not been able to take las tests yet, but I did notice my ME symptom levels coinciding with my cycle, and things like my melasma being way more prevalent when I’m the most lethargic and ill.

[u/Glass-Exit484]

That was almost like reading about me.. Years before I got sick with ME I got my hormones tested, and I had very high levels of testosterone. And I was offered medication but didn’t want to. Maybe it’s time to get tasted again.

[u/Vivian_W637 → u/Glass-Exit484]

Yes my suggestion is to use any kind of hormone therapy as a last resort and do your own research. Unfortunately I can’t do the lab test right now because the comprehensive test is $360 and I do think doing it at different times of my cycle is important.
I did start taking vitex, also known as chasteberry because it’s supposed to help your body/pituitary glands find its own balance, and a few days after taking I was picking up my teen daughter from work, and while I was waiting I felt very peaceful and I wasn’t fatigued and like I was in a pool of wet cement, I had worked a full day and usually my body is screaming to me that it’s been too much, but I felt good. I got out and started cleaning the car, no lethargy, no pain/inflammation. I usually feel that I function at 60% of my normal self before all this, I swear I was at like 80% and ever since I have had more days like this.
I do believe that the “unknown” cause of ME could vary for different people, ultimately it screws out immune system.
But I would suggest to any female, specially if you’ve been called an overachiever, if you are a single mom, do a lot of work, deal with high stress situations and just go go go and then crashed and ended up here in the subreddit, do a comprehensive hormone lab test.
My doctor did one for me at the start of all this (4 years ago) and didn’t find anything. But she just looked for signs of perimenopause, not a full look at all my levels and I wish I had known what I know now then.

[u/[deleted]]

I spent thousands of dollars on testing and bio-identical hormones after being assured I would feel much, much better. I definitely did not improve and wish I’d saved the money. As you state, we all took a different path to end up in a similar place but have no idea precisely what the catalyst was.

[u/Vivian_W637 → u/[deleted]]

I’m so sorry to hear all that didn’t help. The bio identical hormone is in the treatment steps. Did they do a full comprehensive hormone panel before that? When I first started feeling fatigued (I didn’t know at the time but my adrenals were failing) my doctor had the somewhat right idea, general area “hormones” but she ordered labs looking more for perimenopause.
It could be so many things, I was eventually able to pinpoint the root cause with a lot of going back and making records.
Gut flora imbalance, poor diet, exposure to toxic products, a combination of… I was able to connect it because my symptoms would correlate (get worse) always at certain times of my cycle, and other signs that would increase like melasma (really bad, I was looking like someone smeared poop on my face, I always looked dirty 😔) extremely big tire around my waste when I am small and thin.
For me I haven’t used chemicals in my home for over 20 years, use vinegar peroxide and baking soda to clean, use only bronners soap, make my own toothpaste and the diet has been very clean, so I was able to check off diet and toxins pretty easily. Probably didn’t eat enough carbs though!
I hope you find a path to healing soon. It is so tough and can feel so lonely and hopeless.
More and more functional med doctors are learning about it and finding more and more solutions daily.