Since your adrenals are low functioning, you'll feel worse when you are resting. That's when they are actually recovering. Oddly enough, with AF, often when you feel your worst is when they are recovering, because if you feel good they are working hard to eek out more cortisol. Recovery from AF can be a real biotch! And, can seem to drag on for a long time. Actually, it will take time.
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On the replacement cortisol, I've read things from both camps... some say it's safe in physiological doses and necessary to recover from severe adrenal fatigue because it allows our adrenals to rest, some say no. There is a book (I haven't read it but have seen it recommended by others) called Safe Uses of Cortisol).

You may never know what caused you to crash, and it was probably a combo of things. If you're like me, you really hate that too; I want to the mechanism of action for everything that is going on in my body. I hate the not knowing, because knowing means I can fix it and prevent it from happening again.

On the mercury, have you done a DMSA challenge? Since you are already taking it anyway, why not try one? It would probably be more accurate than the hair test to tell if you are excreting it, because the most efficient excretion pathways are urine and fecal I believe. The challenge test isn't recommended for many because taken in a large dose like the challenge tests are frequently done at, it can really hurt you. But, you can do it with just the regular chelation dose and see how much shows up. You may be onto something about DMSA being hard on the adrenals, thus making you feel better. I gotta look that up.

As for the sugar, it may make you feel better, but it will only make your adrenals worse. One thing that helps me with that is to not eat very much carbohydrate in the morning (especially of the grain variety -- oatmeal is the worst!) -- protein, non-starchy veggie. Carbs in the morning can set me up for disaster. Also, do you notice that you have low BP and urinate frequently? Together, these can be symptoms of sodium wasting, creating a potassium/sodium imbalance. Many with those symptoms find relief by adding sea salt (the gourmet, hand-gathered kind) to their drinking water. I feel so much better when I do this. Actually, the best I have felt was when I would drink a glass of water in the morning with the juice of half or whole lemon along with about a tsp of salt. I would also drink this throughout the day sometimes. Really helped with the brain fog. I stopped when I realized that lemon can act as a detoxer, and I'm breastfeeding my daughter still, so that's not a good idea. Oh, and some are concerned with what's in sea salt toxin wise, but I just felt it was better than regular table salt (aluminum I believe), as do most AFers who use it.

I have no idea about the sugar cravings. Maybe low serotonin coupled with the crashed adrenals -- both of which can cause intense sugar cravings? I found SAMe (s-adenosyl methionine) helped with this and my OCD symptoms -- it's a methyl donor in the serotonin chain. Have to be careful with this one though. The precautions for it I found online. Dr. Diana Schwarzbein mentions in one of her books how to self-medicate with sugar/caffeine for AF, to keep yourself from all out binging. I forget how she says to do it though. Her books are carb counting weight loss books, but there is some pretty good basic biochemistry there relating to serotonin. There is also an excellent thread at stop the thyroid madness on tips for dealing with AF. I'll see if I can find it.

It seems that with AF, most things that we do to make ourselves feel better, actually make the adrenals worse.

Shonda