My story is typical of hypothyroid patients, who went for years wondering why their energy levels were zapped, their stamina was all but gone and their emotions had gone haywire. I made several trips to Doctors before finally getting some blood tests that revealed I had low thyroid function or "hypothyroidism". In other words my thyroid, the master gland of my body was producing inadequate amounts of hormone, to run everything else in my body (thyroid hormone sets the body's metabolism). I later also had blood tests revealing the cause as being "autoimmune", meaning I have high levels of "antibodies" (killer cells from the immune system) attacking my thyroid gland and slowly killing it off (Hashimoto's thyroiditis).

The first Doctor I went to told me I was experiencing an emotional illness and I accepted this diagnosis for a time because I had no knowledge whatsoever about thyroid disease, all the while, I was telling my wife "I know for a fact I have a physical/medical problem going on!" Blood tests I demanded the Doctor's Office order for me, revealed two abnormal results on my thyroid panel, indicating hypothyroidism, so I was finally started on thyroid hormone replacement medication by the Doctor I was going to at the time. Since that time, I have improved in many areas but my life has not been the same since.

Like many hypothyroid patients, I have a co-existing condition called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" (CFS), which is very similar to Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS), the difference being that the "fatigue" symptom in my case is more prominent than the muscle/joint pain. A major characteristic of both FMS and CFS is "low cortisol levels", cortisol being the major stress hormone from the adrenal glands that regulates inflammation levels in the body but also regulates glucose levels and stress itself. Twelve different cortisol tests I had done, over a year period, revealed mine to be clinically low at times and never above low-normal. Low levels give rise to inflammation, glucose dis-regulation and stress intolerance but can be low and still not be called true or full-blown "adrenal insufficiency" but simply as a dis-regulation of adrenal hormone levels, due to endocrine imbalances.

Many Doctors recognize both CFS and FMS as autoimmune disease related and interestingly, A Board Certified Endocrinologist I began consulting with, told me that autoimmune thyroid disease patients have a high prevalence of also being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and CFS. Both CFS and FMS are also recognized by the U.S. Government's "National Institutes of Health", with medical research being conducted in regard to these illnesses, going back to the 1980s. Despite this fact, many Doctors still do not recognize these illnesses. The problem with hypothyroid patients also having hypo-cortisolism, (sub-clinical adrenal insufficiency), is that it is very difficult to regulate both conditions at the same time because cortisol replacement hormone (corticosteroid steroids) can only be administered to full blown adrenal-insufficient patients or those with Addison's Disease (adrenal gland destruction). And thyroid hormone replacement medication can lower already low cortisol levels even further in these patients, which is stated by the makers of these thyroid hormone medications. This creates a dilemma for patients who have both low thyroid hormone and low adrenal cortisol levels.

This is what I personally have been living with, hypocortisolism from CFS and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which caused my hypothyroidism. Doctors believe that at least 10% of hypothyroid patients have a degree of adrenal insufficiency as well because the thyroid itself places a demand upon the adrenal glands and the endocrine system of glands, work together, or in-sync with each other. If one endocrine gland begins to under-function (hypofunction), this can lead to others under-functioning as well. My personal belief is that this adrenal aspect is what causes so many hypothyroid patients to still feel unwell, even while on treatment for hypothyroidism.

The best thing a patient can do, that is found to have both hypothyroidism and low adrenal cortisol levels (adrenal fatigue), is to find a Doctor who is experienced in treating both and to faithfully follow a treatment plan to correct both low hormone conditions.