has anyone had adrenal exhaustion/failure?

cbillekop

cbillekop

Cathlete
Has anyone been diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion/failure and if yes how long was your recovery? After wathching a popular program from the USA with a medical doctor( I don't know if I can the name the show here) talking about tired of being tired I realized the sypmtoms fit with all my health problems through the years. Since starting a natural approach in Sept/10
I'm still struggling. Any thoughts?
THANK YOU:)
 
I have a friend who struggled with multiple symptoms which were being misdiagnosed. She was finally diagnosis with Adrenal Fatigue. She switched to a whole foods diet that was adrenal friendly and spoke to a pharmacist about what supplements were beneficial. It took her about 6 months to turn things around.
 
Thank you for your reply. :) I have been trying to eat whole foods including milling our own flour from organic kernals. We even started a vegetable garden last year with heritage seeds. It just seems like it is taking too long to turn around.:( I am sorry you lost your dog. We lost our old heeler almost a year ago and the heeler in my avatar who was a puppy at the time yowled all night the first night. We went and found the black pup in my avatar for the heeler pup.They are in separable now. Thanks again.:)
 
Ugh me too......

I have been having obvious hormone problems (due to severe PMS), and my chiroprator told me it probably originated from the adrenals suffering as I have had bad stress for a while. The only thing that helps me is a whole foods only diet. Unfortunately I also have a difficult time with grains especially wheat. When I cut most out my joint pain goes away and I have more energy. For me the turnaround takes a month or two, but I do see some benefits right away from dropping processed crap.
 
Have you tried spelt flour in place of wheat flour? Some people have found it makes a difference for wheat sensitivity. Except on 2 occasions have not had processed food since Sept/10. Both times reactions that took up to a month to subside.Good luck.:):):)
 
Maca is good for nurturing the adrenals.
Acupuncture can help as well.
I used both to 'recover' from a bout of having to take prednisone for poison ivy, which really is tough on the adrenals.
 
Kathryn: Awesome...I have maca in my fridge! Need to start using it again. I actually got it because I heard it was helpful to balance hormones and forgot I had it. (duh)
cbillekop: I have not tried spelt flour... Is it similar in taste/texture? Do you use it in a 1:1 substitution? I know my healthfood store has some different spelt only products, but they are a little pricey.
 
Here' a book that my friend found helpful. "Adrenal Fatigue the 21st Centrury Stress Syndrome" by Dr. Wilson. Also I know she went gluten free at first when she started her whole foods regiment.
 
Stephanie I've purchased maca at Whole Paycheck. It's a supplement you can find in powdered form in bags or in bottles of capsules.

It's a bit $$ for me. I did try some not too long ago when I was exhausted. I probably wasn't taking enough but what helped me was to finally get up offa the couch and work out and clean up my diet.

I too have been told I have adrenal exhaustion. It's one of those problems that are all the rage in natural circles but there's very little that I have found about it in terms of scholarly research. Unfortunately.
 
I suffered from what I believe was adrenal failure brought on by acute stress about a year and half ago. It was also compounded by depression. My Dr. was not helpful (I have since changed dr's). He just acted like I was crazy. But I was in bed for 6 weeks, could hardly walk around the block and was tired, tired tired. What helped was complete rest, heavy duty vitamin supplements, cutting out all sugar and extremely healthy eating. I also had the luxury of cutting out a lot of stress in terms of cutting out working, finishing my degree (i have since finished it) and also saw a counselor for some of my depression stuff.

Thank goodness that is over!!! But extreme rest, and extreme nutrition brought me back to 100% in about 7 months. Also, now I monitor my stress levels diligently and faithfully exercise, which helps loads.

Good luck.
 
I've been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. I'm still working on recovering. I went to a naturopathic doctor and while I already knew I had adreanal fatigue, he surprised me by telling me that I have leaky gut which along with stress is wearing down my adrenals. He also said the leaky gut and adrenal fatigue is causing my allergies and eczema. I have yet to see results for those problems. You might want to see a naturopath to see if there is some underlying problem that is the cause of your adrenal fatigue. The doctor told me it can take weeks to months and even up to a year to heal the adrenals depending on how severe the problem is.

My doctor has me on glutamine which is supposed to be great for healing the lining of the intestine, quercetin which reduces inflammation, fish oil to reduce inflammation, and a probiotic to build up the healthy bacteria colonies in my GI tract. He also has me taking plenty of B vitamins, vitamin C, and magnesium. He wanted me to take an adrenal tissue supplement called cytozyme to help my adrenals recover, but it's made from adrenal tissue from baby cows, so I decided against taking it. Instead he gave me a prescription for a bio-identical form of cortisol. It is a steroid, but it is a low dose and my body is supposed to treat it like the cortisol my adrenals make rather than the way my body would react to a different steroid such as prednisone, therefore it doesn't have the side effects of other steroids. The cortisol is the thing that has made the biggest difference for me. I FINALLY am feeling better and feeling like myself again. I've only been on it for a week, but I felt better on day one.

An herb that really, really helped me is licorice root. That is the first thing I took for adreanl fatigue and at the time it's the only thing I was taking, and I felt like myself again on that too, but I ended up being allergic to it and had to stop. It didn't raise my cortisol levels much though, so I think I still would have had to make some other changes to heal my adrenals. Don't use licorice root if you have high blood pressure.

Other herbs for adrenal fatigue are ashwaghanda, rodiola rosea, and astralagus.

It sounds like you already have the diet part down, so that's a step in the right direction.

Do you have thyroid problems? Thyroid problems and adrenal fatigue can be related.

Good luck!
 
Stephanie0523 said:
OK, enablers, where do I find Maca? Is it a food or a supplement? How do I use it? Do tell! :)
Click to expand...
Maca is actually a food that is used as a supplement. It is a root veggie that grows in the Andes that is dried and powdered to use as a supplement.

Quite a few Vega products contain it (and Brendan Brazier is a proponent of it), and you can buy it from many raw-food stores online ( like www.sunfood.com or here Raw Organic Maca at Wholesale Prices or here MacaSure | Organic Maca Root improves symptoms of menopause, sexual function ).
 
Just an FYI: maca also has libido-enhancing effects (whether that is a positive or negative side-effect depends on the individual, I suppose!).
 
I have suffered from this as well and found that:

1) cutting back on coffee or caffeine helps

2) upping my water intake helps

3) getting an extra hour of sleep helps

4) Making 90% of my food choices from foods that are in their completely natural unprocessed state (ie: an apple, salmon, berries, brocolli, almonds/walnuts, a carrot, an egg etc.)

5) Taking an adrenal and or immune support supplement for a short term (2 months) to boost up your levels helps (I took Mil-Adrene and Smart Silver)

6) Finding ways to remove added stress from our lives

Hope this helps!
 
I have been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. I have improved but it takes 8 - 12 months total. My doctor prescribed several things - DSF formula (with bovine adrenal), vitamin d (3x the suggested amount), B vitamins, Particularly b1, Fish Oil (3x sugg amount, 2 x per day), Seriphos at night. You have to be very careful when working out as getting your heart rate too high can make the condition worse. I stick with Cathe's weight lighting only workouts for now and go at my own pace. I also have low thyroid so I've got that going on too.:(

It's been 8 months since I've been taking the DSF formula and I've just been able to cut back from 4 to 3 pills a day, so I know for sure it takes some time. Stinks but what can you do?
 
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