Posted by bleauberry on February 12, 2012, at 10:40:18
In reply to Cortisol, insomnia, adrenal fatigue..., posted by uncouth on February 8, 2012, at 18:57:47
Well, if we all think depression is hard to treat, adrenal fatigue in my experience is just as hard or harder. It requires a comprehensive plan from several angles, experimentation, and lots of time....6 months to 2 years is typical.
Look up on google stuff from Dr Lam on adrenal fatigue. He offers some viewpoints that explain why some of the common adrenal treatments can actually make things worse. It requires experimentation to find what feels good, and it requires constant adjustments as things change....in other words you might not be on the same substance month after month and doses might be in motion as well.
In my experience these are the most important factors in improving adrenal health....
Food choices.
Ways to avoid or minimize stress in your home/work.
Movement and/or exercise, but done gently.
A good vitamin/mineral supplement, with extra B5.
Fish oil or cod liver oil.
Detox.
Antimicrobial.
Adaptogen herbs.Easier said than done, right? Yep. Healing is not easy. If someone tells you take this herb and you'll be better in a couple months, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Why is it so tricky to treat? Because faulty hormones related to the adrenals impact every biochemical system in the body and will manifest in different ways from person to person. Also, the adrenals didn't just get overtaxed for no reason....we gotta find out what the reason was/is.
Examples:
Diet...low or no sugars, low carbs, low or no caffeine, gluten free desirable, lots of pure water, nutrient dense foods, meals should appear to be mostly bright colors along with some lean protein and good fats (avocados, fish oils, olive oil, coconut oil, flax). Absolutely nothing processed and absolutely nothing you can't pronounce or you don't know what it is. Organic as much as possible.Detox....hmm, risky business but necessary. Things to look at include low dose frequent dose DMSA, chlorella, burbur, alpha lipoic acid. But do homework on these before doing any.
Herbs...rhodiola, eleuthero, ashwaganda, schizandra, sometimes astragalus as long as chronic lyme is not at all suspect. The tricky part here is they have to be tried one at a time to see what each feels like, and to try each at various doses....ultra low, low, normal, high....as experiments to see what they feel like to you. How you feel is the best guide. For example with eleuthero, you can pretty much conclude from your experience it is going to feel sedating, maybe depressing as with me. Eleuthero generally takes at least 3 months to start to do its thing, 6 months better, and pretty much the only form of the herb that will do that is the liquid tincture such as HerbPharm. My personal experience has shown me my body does not like eleuthero but does like rhodiola somewhat and does like ashwaganda somewhat. Stay away from herbal combos until you know how each feels to you. What a book says or someone else says doesn't count....only what happens with you is what counts.
Antimicrobial. Lots of choices....best bet is to study what people take for lyme and candida. Those herbs will pretty much cover all the bases and do so better than pharmaceuticals.
And along the journey, always be aware of avoiding 'overdoing it'. If you have a random good day and feel better than usual, purposely tell yourself to slow down and don't do too much. You'll pay a stiff price if you break this rule.
There is a book my doctor let me read, can't remember the name, but it was written by a doctor and was all about how food choices alone can heal adrenal fatigue. I took a lot from that book to incorporate into my own comprehensive strategies.
It's 3 years since I started treating my adrenal fatigue. i would say that particular spectrum of my disease is about 75% improved. But I'm always on the edge....I'm fine as long as I stick to my plan, but if I cheat or veer off course, gains can be lost rapidly. We don't know if our adrenals are temporarily in distress or permanently weakened....so for some people there may never be the ultimate cure, but instead an ongoing management to prevent most of the negative effects from lowering quality of life.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1009747
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120212/msgs/1010049.html