Update, Saw Doctor

[covsooze]

Just wanted to thank Carla for this thread. Although I've not contributed the info has been v interesting and, I feel, right on for me. In the past few days, I've had a miraculous change of job (praise God ) and will be practising an area of law which is far less stressful / emotionally demanding than I'm doing at the moment. I'm setting about trying to simplify everything and be gentle to myself

That info on copper is interesting too Gail. I eat a lot of pork, so maybe I should cut down (was thinking of cutting the meat down generally anyway).

I've just got a book from Amazon called the China Study, which basically advocates a plant based diet. Not sure I'm going to go that far, but it is based on loads of research and looks very sensible, so I'll post what I find out when I've read it.

[CarlaB]

Just wanted to thank Carla for this thread. Although I've not contributed the info has been v interesting and, I feel, right on for me. In the past few days, I've had a miraculous change of job (praise God ) and will be practising an area of law which is far less stressful / emotionally demanding than I'm doing at the moment. I'm setting about trying to simplify everything and be gentle to myself

That info on copper is interesting too Gail. I eat a lot of pork, so maybe I should cut down (was thinking of cutting the meat down generally anyway).

I've just got a book from Amazon called the China Study, which basically advocates a plant based diet. Not sure I'm going to go that far, but it is based on loads of research and looks very sensible, so I'll post what I find out when I've read it.

If you think you have symptoms of adrenal fatigue, you do not want to start a plant based diet. One website I read even said that if you have the tendency to want to give up meat, that that fact alone indicates you probably have a problem with adrenal fatigue. I can't remember specifically why, unfortunately ... and one doctor said that he didn't think someone who was vegetarian would be able to come out of it. I know that they consider protein essential to coming out of it and there are a lot of carbs in vegetarian protein. Every site I have looked at says it's important to eat protein every time you eat. However, you could still take all that information and apply it ... protein is only one part of what we eat.

I just bought a book that I had come across in my internet research called Tired of Being Tired. It looked very good. If you google the title, I think you will see a review that is actually a good summary of how adrenal fatigue progresses. Here are the five steps the book says:

The author goes on to describe the five stages of adrenal burnout:

1. Driven: demanding lifestyle results in putting too much demand on the body.

2. Dragging: less energy but trying to replace with stimulants like caffeine, nicotine, and sugar.

3. Losing It: seems to be wasting away, health and attitude have changed, considering taking anti-depressants or other drugs.

4. Hitting the Wall: No energy, negative attitude, family and friends are worried, tense and frightened, nothing is helping.

5. Burned Out: Crisis mode, can't get out of bed, can barely remember what once made life worth living.

Glad you're enjoying the thread! I am, too.

[bluejeangirl]

To sort of sum it up your body is made up mostly of proteins so you will be using protein to rebuild especially during your healing phase if your experiencing burn out issues.

Eating to much protein in a meal however raises adrenaline/cortisal levels and causes you to burnout your adrenal glands over time. Too many carb's will increase your insulin levels. If your eating foods high in sugar your insulin goes very high and the excess sugar is diverted into your cells leaving you with low blood sugar levels, and again releasing your stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol.

Also when you skip a meal both adrenaline and cortisol levels increase and because your not eating it allows your body to eat itself so doesn't allow you to heal since your using those biochemicals and energy for this process. Then the next time you do eat your levels of insulin goes higher than normal even for the same amt. of carbs you would normally eat.

You want to balance your meals with protein, carbs, (eating maybe a starchy vegetable and a non starchy one)

and using good oils. Good advice would be to try and eat foods that aren't processed and that are close to nature as possible. Eat smaller meals and more frequently like 6 meals aday. You want to make certain changes gradual because for instance to stop drinking coffee cold turkey could cause too much stress. You should taper off gradually.

Covsooze, I'm going to look into herbs to maybe drink for teas based on some chinese remedies. I'll let you know more after I get a few more question answered.

Gail

[CarlaB]

Gail, the book I mentioned talks a lot about balancing carbs and proteins as well as eating 5 or six meals per day. And, it's good to eat whole foods, things you come across in nature, rather than processed foods.

[skbird]

OK, now I don't know what to think. Adrenal fatigue explains a lot of the energy problems I have - I have low blood pressure, low energy, low temperature (but textbook perfect thyroid levels), reactive hypoglycemia that also acts as fasting hypoglycemia if I go long enough (12 hours), and get jittery when I have any stimulant.

I started using licorice (not DGL/degliccorized) capsules, three a day, several months ago and started feeling better. I am even at the point where I can handle some sugar and some caffiene - can drink coffee again. If I go a few days without my licorice, I start feeling tired again.

One side effect of regular licorice is increase in blood pressure, but I am still on the low end - last check up I was 107 over 85. The highest my blood pressure has been in the past 5 years is 120 over 90, usually it's 100 over 70 .

I would recommend licorice to anyone who experiences these symptoms because it has worked well for me. But I'm concerned now that I've read it can cause a "feedback loop" with cortisol. I have tried exercise, relaxation, no-sugar, no-caffeine, many other things, and not felt the regain of health I have gotten from licorice.

So now what? I guess more research on this ill-effect is warranted for me.

Take care -

Stephanie

[Matilda]

..

[covsooze]

liquorice is also a very good way of relieving constipation....

Stephanie, you sound very similar to me. How text book is your thyroid? My FIL, who's a retired hematologist, told me that low for some people might not be low for others. So you might still be hypothyroid even if your levels are OK, if they are near borderline. Just a thought. My levels are just the wrong side of borderline, but it's enough to make me feel quite poorly. I have all the symptoms you mention. I was naughty today and had quite a bit of choclate (excuse: we had friends round!) and a cup of tes. I just can't handle that - as well as it irritating my stomach, I feel really jittery now, but also, just fell asleep on the sofa whilst DS had kiddies TV on (it's 4pm here).

As for what I eat - I'm going to try to be as natural as possible ie no processed stuff (I'll start tomorrow! ).

Susie

[CarlaB]

Stephanie, my understanding is that you do not have to have low thyroid to have low adrenals. I highly recommend a book I'm reading by Jesse Lynn Hanley, M.D. called Tired of Being Tired. Oddly enough, she is the same doc who wrote the book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause, which is the book that led me to discover it was wheat that made me ill. I guess I owe this woman a lot!! Definately more than the two books cost!

I have been off the processed foods for a couple weeks now (except for gluten-free bread and pasta). I'm eating 5 meals per day with a balance of protein and carbs, eating veggies, too. I'm not doing great yet, but I was at level 5 of the five stages I posted earlier. I am now able to get out of bed and we try to walk around the block each day, so it's improving. I sleep through the night without waking.

I'm looking forward to getting my hair analysis back so I know exactly which minerals I need to start supplementing. My hubby also ordered me an infared sauna!!! Can't wait! Comes in next week.

Stephanie, you might pm IMResident (or maybe he will post the info here) about licorice. I do drink some licorice tea, but he makes a good point about how it's not a permanent solution and that it may exacerbate the problem. If you're taking licorice pills for it, I would be more concerned since I don't actually think the tea is as effective.

[covsooze]

Carla, I think I might look out for that book, cos that's what I am - tired of being tired! <<<yawns>>>!!!

Where did you order your hair strand testing from? Was it over the net?

[CarlaB]

No, my doc did it. In the book she recommends this place for it www.gsdl.com.

I'm finding the book has great info overall for health. I think almost everyone would benefit from reading it!! We've so into the fast paced lifestyle and our health suffers for it. Being ill for the past two years has changed my perspective on a lot, and I thought I was balanced before!

[covsooze]

Re-reading this thread as I think it might provide me with the key to my recovery - the advice all seems fairly sensible 'healthy living' stuff anyway.

Carla, how are you doing? Sorry if I've missed you posting else where about this....guess what, I'm too tired to read all the threads...

Could you give me an idea of your typical day's diet? I've been thinking of doing an elimination diet, but the thought of that gets me really stressed and anxious...I need something very easy to do and need to know what I can easily eat when I feel I carb craving coming on. What do you eat for breakfast? I'm really struggling with that one. I do eat breakfast because I know how dreadful I'll feel if I don't, but I just find it a struggle to want to eat anything in the morning. I do however crave protein for breakfast.

I need to get round to ordering that book.

Susie x

[CarlaB]

Susie, thank you for asking, I'm doing much better, but still have a long way to go. I can do tasks I could no longer do before -- things like going to the grocery and cooking dinner in the same day. I can also go for short walks and do some yoga (only relaxing exercise is allowed). I'm still spending most of my day resting. From what I've read and heard from my doc is that adrenal fatigue takes at least a year to recover from completely. You get better day by day, but full recovery takes a lot of time. This is what I'm finding.

For breakfast I always eat either eggs and toast or some kind of meat and veggies. Pretty much all my meals are meat and veggies, but I'm allowed two starchy carbs per day. My mineral analysis showed I had way too many carbs/sugars, so even fruit is cut to a minimum (only one piece per day, if that). So, one starchy carb is my toast, the other is usually potatoes or rice. Sometimes I eat crackers with almond butter. I'm also eating at least 4 (it's supposed to be 5-6, but I have trouble with that) meals per day.

I'm very tired of meat, but my mineral analysis showed that eating more protein is going to be essential for my recovery. That pretty much goes along with the advice in the book as well. Really, you are right, most of the stuff is sensible living changes anyway. Somewhere along the line we sure got into an abundance of carbohydrates in our diet!

I highly recommend that you find the energy to order the book! These changes have made me feel alive again, even though I'm still not fully functioning.

[angelina2975]

I just posted a long reply in an earlier thread re: my adrenal fatigue diagnosis. One thing I did leave out was that the newest dr. that I went to suggested that I eat red meat (I've detested it since birth!) at least 2x's/week because it has something called epithelium tissue that will help the adrenals repair. She didn't want to hear about my fish-full diet of salmon, sardines and the occasional chicken breast. She said that there are things in red meat that can't be found else where. So far it has helped me a bit in as far as that it has given me another choice to eat (I have a wheat, egg, almond allergy and eliminate soy for thyroid reasons). Another thing I've read for adrenal support is to eat every 3 hrs. lean proteins, complex carbs, efa's, low sugar to keep blood sugar stable.

[CarlaB]

Angelina, that's pretty much the same advice I've been given, and it's helping me a lot. Didn't know specifically about the red meat, but I do eat it. It helps with the anemia, too.