Adrenal Glands
A lot of questions come in all the time about what to do for adrenal fatigue. There is one article on adrenal fatigue supplements and herbs the site already with a good protocol that I used with a lot of success. It works better for some people, but most do as well or better with this protocol.
The Phases Of Adrenal Fatigue
There are three phases of compensation that the adrenal glands go through when dealing with stress. The first stage is normal, increased production and release of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and DHEA, the primary sex hormone precursor. What each of these hormones do and how they are effected by internal and external issues is a very interesting study that would easily fill several books. For now though, just accept that they help the body deal with stress on several levels.
In phase I the adrenal glands produce more cortisol and DHEA to compensate for the stress. The levels go up then down when the stress is over.
When the adrenals start to weaken they compensate by producing less DHEA because sex is far less important than dealing with an immediate threat. This is phase II adrenal compensation.
In phase three compensation the adrenals are too weak to produce both hormones.
These things all happen at irregular intervals with hormone levels showing normal at times, but there is a general loss of these hormones and a degeneration of the individual as the levels continue to drop.
Fight Or Flight
A big part of the protocol for helping the adrenal glands is to get the body out of the fight or flight response. Phase three compensation is basically being stuck in fight flight, phase two compensation is also a degree of fight flight, just not as intense. And, phase I is the normal, deal with the issue, then relax, in and out of flight or flight right away.
Which phase compensation you are in can be determined with a saliva test done at a reputable lab. I give other ways to tell in my book, Adrenal Fatigue, Get Your Life Back. But, most people don’t realize that there is an issue until they are in phase three.
Contraindications
There are contraindications for taking these herbs. Nursing or pregnant women should always consult a professional before taking such a strong protocol. Drenamine in particular should be avoided.
Licorice can raise blood pressure, so that may not be a good idea for some even though the dose suggested here is not high enough to effect most people’s BP. It would still be a good idea to check with a professional first.
Adrenal Fatigue Protocol
Herbs are best taken on an empty stomach, but that doesn’t mater as much as taking them. All herbs are from MediHerb because the quality is far superior to almost every other brand. I have never used them, but Kroeger herbs has a good reputation.
Nevaton Tablets: two or three a day. This is to calm the hypothalamus, to get you out of the fight or flight cycle, so notice the stress levels, see that they reduce. As many as four a day can be taken though you will probably be able to reduce the dosage once things start to feel better.
You can mix the liquid herbs and take them in two doses, morning and around noon. Add water, they’re very strong.
MediHerb Eleuthero Liquid 8 ml
MediHerb Licorice High Grade Liquid 4 ml
Ecchinecia Purpuria Liquid 6 ml (This one is less essential if you need to save some money, but it is just the thing for a lot of people.)
Standard Process supplement dosages are per day, take in two doses morning and night with food
Drenamine 6 Get a big bottle or three, they are great for maintenance @ 4 per day.
Cataplex B 4 Another great supplement as most are short on B6
If you can’t find the supplement and herbs on Amazon or elsewhere you can contact me for them.
Either this protocol or this adrenal fatigue protocol will work for most people. Very serious conditions may need something more. Also, adrenal fatigue naturally leads to other very serious conditions that should be directly dealt with first. At the very least, you can stop consuming processed foods, they are the real culprit in most serious medical conditions anyway.
I am ADD, (not ADHD).
10 years ago a divorce, several deaths including parents, all in a year or two plunged me into depression. Thats when I took Paxil which made me anxious.
So I read on the internet that some people who take paxil take Klonapin and started taking 1/2 mg / day. I used Paxil/klonapin for about 2-3 years but it was reacting opposite of what it was supposed to do.
I tried other serotonin uptake inhibitors and they had the same (opposite effect), hence more nervousness.
I was then diagnosed with ADD by my therapist.
She said an ADD brain can react opposite to many medications of that type, Paxil, etc.
She suggested ritlin and It was much better. I was weaning myself off Klonapin because therapy for my depression and ritlin was successful in reducing my depression and anxiety.
Then a severe rear end car collision and resulting double whiplash contributed to my situation.
I became less helped by Ritlin and noticed my anxiety level increase after my car collision. Instead of stopping, I had to keep using my klonapin and about 6 or so months after the collision increased it to 1mg. of Klonapin and she suggested Dextroamphetamines.
I took 20 to 30 mgs. of Dextroamphetamines and 1mg of Klonapin at first and a year later I went to 2 mg. clonapin my therapist said was needed most likely as a result of my collision.
I took Dextroamphetamine and 2mg of Klonapin per day for about 6 years. As I said I was almost off the Klonapin when my collision happened.
My spine, especially my cervical spine was hurting and causing other side effects like pain and numbness in my hands, pain in my elbow and leg.
I was off and on limping on my right leg.
In Oct. of 2009 a Chiropractor diagnosed me with sublaxation of my cervical spine. Then I was most often limping.
Fortunately in two sessions with the chiropractors my leg improved completely and hasn’t been a bother since.
I saw a Chiropractor 3 times a week for three months, then 2x a week for three months and then once a week since. My curve in my spine is returning and I am less clumsy with bodily movements and getting better slowly and hopefully back to my pre-collision normal good coordination.
The Chiropactic treatments have allowed me to cut back on my Klonapin.
The first of the year I cut from 2 mg to 1 and 3/4mgs. and recently I am at 1 mg to 1 and 1/4 mg. per day and getting better. I have cut my Dextroamphetamines from 20-30mgs / day to 15-20mgs./day.
Some pertinent background:
All this time I worked in an industry with interesting new projects and fast turnaround deadlines which kept me enthused with work, people and life and often adrenalin rushes.
Two years ago my business was outsourced to the point I can’t make a living.
ADD runs in the family, my 2 brothers are ADHD.
I think I have had adrenal fatigue , for many years because I was allergic to about 200+ things, foods, (beans, corn, etc.), molds, vitamins, grasses, pollins, etc.
Every time I had an allergy attack adrenelin was released, which was about once a day and seasonally, Spring and summer many times daily for 30 or so years.
Fortunately, 12 years ago I found a woman who removed almost all of my allergies.
I noticed that when most of my allergies were removed, I lost my fear of flying.
Before my allergist left town and went into other research work. She did however leave me and about 150 of her patients with a system for removal of our own allergies and those of others, even pet allergies.
I am concerned about long term affects adrenal fatigue and dextroamphetamines.
Can yeu suggest a more natural remedy in my situation?
My therapist thinks I may have Adrenal fatigue and so do I.
I am familiar with Hannah Kroeger but not the other souce you mention.
Please email your thoughts or suggestions.
Thank you for your time and concern.
Best regards,
Bill
Wow, you have a lot going on. I hope things continue to improve.
Adrenal fatigue is practically a given with what you have been dealing with. The drugs will contribute quite a bit too. Clearing the allergies was really big, glad you were able to get that treatment.
One area you might want to look into is brain chemistry. Interestingly, serotonin is the depressive brain chemical — I’m never surprised to hear that people have opposite results with antidepressants. Reuptake inhibitors work because the excess serotonin burn out the serotonin receptors. That’s also why it takes a month or so for them to work — takes time to kill a good cell. Which could also explain your opposite reaction to Paxil though it’s never that simple. It can be complex, but some of the best recoveries I’ve seen have come from balancing brain chemistry.
Hi there, I am an older woman and have had fibromyalgia for approx since 1995. I am a retired nurse and had to quit my career because of the fibro along with non healing work related injuries. Because of the fibro the injuries would not heal and just made me worse over the course of the years of nursing. I have been declared unemployable and been retired since I was 55 yrs old. I am now 61 and remain on pain meds for the fibro pain and daily discomfort that I have. The weather often affects my fibro along with daily stressors of course. I am on now a decreased dose of morphine long acting 20 mg. twice per day, along with a faster acting morphine for breakthrough pain. I also have hiatis hernia with acid reflux so I take meds for that, along with a sleep disorder which is from the fibro as well, I have a sleep apnea so I use a CPAP machine when sleeping and take 1 and half tabs of 7.5 mg of zopiclone to allow me to sleep. So at bedtime I am taking 20 mg morphine along with the zopiclone to provide me with a form of rest and sleep each nite. I feel like it is not a good sleep however, because I awaken throughout the nite with sweaty problems and disturbances with tossing and turning because of pain and discomfort. Repositioning my body to fall back to sleep.
I would very much like to get off of the morphine and recently gotten a decrease from my f. physician in January. And I would like to decrease to the point of not taking any more of the morphine. But I do know that I will need to start a new regime for my health needs to a better quality of life.
I would like to know if you can help me with this challenge and any info would be greatly appreciated. I have had physio, massage therapy, now presently trying the bowan therapy of a massage therapist locally. I have had dry needling treatments in the past to find no improvement and suffered with those tx. years ago. My meds started out with codeine contin and then when they had to be increased it caused severe nausea, so they switched me to the morphine contin with smaller dose of fast acting morphine for breakthrough pain to allow me to continue working for a period of years. It was a pain management physician that started me on the pain meds, but at that time I had no naturopath available where I lived and worked, so followed the advice of my family physician and the pain mgement doctor to get me through it all.
Now that I am reaching my senior years I am greatly concerned with the fact that as the years pass by, by body will not be able to metabolize these meds as with age we are not able to metabolize medications as well. I am worried about this alot, and think that as I age, I just not may wake up some morning because my body will not be able to process the meds with a slower metabolism and such. I have had my thyroid checked with the T3 and T4 blood tests but they came back normal.
I would like to thank you in advance for any advice or help tha tyou may be able to give to me. Thank you for your time as well, Ronna Bruyere, and I look forward to a email if possible.
@Ronna Bruyere, You sure have a lot going on. I could write a long article about what you present. The main things though are most likely adrenal fatigue and a lack of liver metabolic detoxification issues. Fibromyalgia also usually comes from liver detox issues. Unfortunately, the drugs increase the problem, the liver has more to detox, and all drugs affect the adrenal glands. You might want to do a phone consult, I charge on a sliding scale and will work with you on that. You can email me through the contact tab above.
I suspect my 12 year old son has adrenal fatigue. He has many of these symptoms…light sensitive, has a hard time coping with stress, easily angered, difficulty concentrating, irritable, depression, poor memory, and a lack of lust for life.
He has a yeast overgrowth and leaky gut which we are addressing with diet (no grains, dairy, sugar, lots of lacto-fermented foods, probiotics, broth, etc.). He also takes 5-HTP to help with the anxiety and depression. It has helped quite a bit, but there is still something going on that I can’t quite figure out. I’m thinking the adrenal fatigue could be the issue. He just can’t handle the stress of school or social stress that accompanies Middle School and puberty.
I was diagnosed w/ adrenal fatigue 2 years ago and was able to overcome it with supplements and diet. And I heard that if the mother’s adrenals are not strong when they are pregnant she will drain the adrenal function from the baby. I’m wondering if that is what happened.
Is it possible for my son to have adrenal fatigue and what else can do I to help him? We already eat a completely clean diet and stay away from as many toxins as possible.
It is possible that he inherited a tendency toward adrenal fatigue. I suppose your body could have drained him, but it doesn’t make sense to me, the baby usually takes from the mother, not the other way around.
It is likely that the diet you have him on will help, as long as there is plenty of animal protein as well. Supplements and herbs can speed things up quite a bit.
There is a big misunderstanding by most people and even some doctors that serotonin is the good guy in depression and anxiety. It’s actually the opposite in most cases. And, things are much more complex than just one brain chemical having that much effect on any condition.
I noticed you said definitely not to take drenamin if pregnant or breastfeeding – can you tell me why? I have tried to find information on this and haven’t seen any cautions against it anywhere else. I am breastfeeding but have had several people recommend drenamin for me and I am pretty confident I have some severe adrenal issues going on and would like to try it. However, I don’t want to put my baby in any danger. I’d appreciate your input!
@Jen, Anything you take your baby will get, and Drenamin could be too much — it’s very powerful. In some cases this may be ok with Drenamin, others not so good. The best/safest protocol for nursing mothers is pantothenic acid, niacin amide (make sure it’s amide!), vitamin C, Enzyme activated B6 (P5P) and B12. The first 2 usually come 500 mg which is ok, C up to 5 grams, P5P three to five tabs, B12 up to 5mg. A general B vitamin might be a good idea too as well as fish oils. You might take Drenamin when you know your baby won’t nurse for a few hours.
OK thanks, that is helpful. She is a year old so not a tiny baby, and if it’s a time sensitive thing, I can certainly time it so that she doesn’t nurse for a few hours. What would be the risks associated with her getting too much – is there anything to look for if I take it? Also, I am not familiar with some of the things you mentioned – is there a best place to get them? What about the nervine herbs you mention in another article – can I take those, and if so, which ones? What about Nevaton – is that ok?
I have Hoshimoto’s disease. I am so confused on what comes first, the autoimmune deficiency, the thyroid hormone (and other hormone) deficiency, the adrenal fatigue, the alkalinity, How do you know what to treat first to alleviate the other things?
Hi. I have a question. I am 38 years old and last summer started to have weird things happening. Every once in a while I will drink alcohol and I will have a few drinks. The more I drink, the worse I am. Three or so hours after I drink, I get horrible bowel movements and sometimes vomit. I know it is from drinking since that is the only time it happens. Any idea what this might be from? Have I become allergic to alcohol? Can this be an Adrenal thing? I asked my doctor Nd he said I probably just became allergic. Thoughts?
@Jen The nervine herbs are probably ok. Check what happens to her after you take them and she nurses, see how they affect her if at all. The risk from the Drenamin isn’t huge. Drenamine can be hard to find, sometimes it’s available on Amazon, some examples are on this page. And, you can find P5P here. Nevaton is a little harder to find. Other herbs will work though, or I can arrange the Nevaton with a friend. Another good nervine herbal formula is Stress J.
@Donna, Hashimoto’s is a completely different thing from adrenal fatigue. There are causes of the autoimmune issue, but they can be complex with several possible causes including diet, allergies, infections and toxicity. Then comes the attack on the thyroid.
@Sherylee, There is almost definitely an allergy, but there is a lot more to it than just that. The intestines are probably damaged, maybe the stomach as well. The best thing is to give up drinking and let things heal. Healing can be speed up with supplements and herbs, but that is too complex and individual for here.