Karen asked a good question about adrenal fatigue and DHEA today. I thought I’d write about it as this can be a serious issue.

“I drink Yogi brand tea everyday with many of these herbs (mentioned in an article on this site) – especially KAVA and CHAMOMILE. Is this method as effective as taking supplements assuming the same levels for each? If my DHEA levels are low, do you endorse taking DHEA to get back to a normal level?”

The most important part of this question has to do with adrenal fatigue, but the most serious part is concerning DHEA, so I’ll cover that first.

DHEA is a precursor to the sex hormones. It is often recommended for people with adrenal fatigue symptoms since the adrenal glands produce it. Supplementing with DHEA will take the pressure off the adrenal glands, but there are problems.

Because of the problems with DHEA, many practitioners will recommend 7-keto DHEA instead. 7-keto DHEA is thought to be less of an issue because it isn’t supposed to be metabolized to the the male or female hormones. Unfortunately, they are basing this on ideas rather than hard scientific evidence. Lately, there is more evidence that this is not the case.

I have a friend who is a medical doctor. We have a great deal of respect for each other as healers in our particular fields. She knows a great deal more than I do, yet she appreciates my approach to healing. We have a great time discussing various issues, especially where it concerns our health issues. She is pretty old at this point, I’m not sure how old, but I’m pretty sure she is in her 70’s.

Anyway, she has been dealing with age related issues. Unfortunately, her medical training didn’t address many of the things that I have been studying for the last bunch of years. As a result, she has had issues that have cropped up from ill informed choices. A few years ago she decided to take 7-keto DHEA to help with her adrenal fatigue symptoms and other issues that this product is supposed to help with. The result of this was that she developed breast cancer.

After researching this form of DHEA subsequent to her developing cancer, she determined that it was the 7-keto DHEA that was the direct cause of her cancer. There are other factors involved with most cancers, but the DHEA was the final straw.

There are many other ways to deal with adrenal fatigue symptoms, so taking this dangerous supplement should not be considered.

Yogi tea that Karen mentions does have herbs in it that can help with adrenal fatigue. However, you would have to drink a LOT of that tea to obtain a therapeutic dose. And, I have no idea about the quality of the herbs in the product.

Quality is very important when choosing herbs and supplements. I recommend only the highest quality products for my clients, family and friends. It really is worth a little more money, just a couple of dollars more can increase the effectiveness many fold.

A friend of mine and I are working on a program that will allow us to offer such recommendations to people. I will be announcing this soon to people that are subscribed to my blog through the link on back pain relief. Sorry, I haven’t set up the system for you to subscribe without getting the back pain information.

Sign up anyway, it’s good information, and you can always ignore it. Then, watch out for the email announcing our new product, we will be offering a significant discount for subscribers.

My doctor friend? She was able to skate through the breast cancer using a combination of medical and holistic therapies. She’s doing fine in that area now.

Here is a quick home test for adrenal fatigue. It isn’t one hundred percent by any means, but it is an indicator.

One adrenal fatigue symptom is sensitivity to light. The reason for this is because the pupil doesn’t constrict correctly when the adrenals are really low.

You can do this test by yourself or with a friend. I like the self test because you get to see the results which are immediate. The idea is to watch to see how fast or slowly the pupils constrict.

All you’ll need is a mirror and a small flash light.

Start by dimming the lights so that your eyes get a chance to dilate. Allow at least ten minutes or longer to make sure the pupils get as dilated as possible.

While looking at your eye in the mirror, shine the light in from the side so that you can watch the pupil, and so the light isn’t to hard on the eye. Watch to see how the pupil reacts.

The constriction should be immediate. If there is any hesitation at all, then you most likely have adrenal fatigue.

As I mentioned earlier, this test isn’t 100 percent. A slow reaction could be a completely different issue. And, adrenal fatigue won’t always produce a slow reaction either.

Try correcting your diet and taking some of the herbs and supplements that are recommended in this article on nutrition for adrenal fatigue.

I read your article and thought I have alot of those symptoms. I am vegetarian (sometimes I eat cheese but rarely eat eggs, meat, or diary) because of IBS. Which really is annoying. Anyway 1/3 of my diet used to be potato chips and candies. I craved them all the time. I gained alot of weight over the last 2 years and decided that it was time to lose it. I was too heavy and didn’t like the way I felt so I went on this crash diet during the winter for 3 1/2 months. I cut back from eating 3 or more meals a day to 1 to 2 meals a day. I stayed up all night playing video games and would sleep most of the day. I rarely got out of the house and my nutrition was poor. I cut back on the chips and candy.

Come April I decided it was time to start exercising and completely alter my diet. (I was 30 pounds lighter now). I switched to a vegan diet eating whole vegetables, grains, lots of gardenburgers with some nuts.

He goes on to describe symptoms of hot flashes, irritable bowl syndrome (IBS), panic attack type symptoms and insomnia. The doctors put him on antidepressants because everything else was “normal.”

You can read the entire comment on 30 symptoms of adrenal fatigue.

My response:

Steve,

One possible explanation for what you have going on does have to do with adrenal fatigue and a failure of the liver to completely breakdown hormones.

When the body is functioning normally, hormones are created, used and discarded after they have done their job. This includes stress hormones and estrogens. Yes, male bodies have estrogens too.

Stress is caused by many different factors. Diet is the main one for most occupants of modern cultures where sugar and processed foods are easily attainable. Note: going hungry causes generally the same physiological effects that eating junk food does. Emotions are probably the second most common cause of stress. Exercise is another stressor that can contribute to the issue. Environmental toxins are probably the final contributor. Each of these issues are a conversation in themselves. I plan on covering factors other than diet, which I have covered fairly well, in the future.

Adrenal fatigue is a vicious cycle having to do with how stress causes the release of stress hormones which makes the body feel that it is under stress, so more stress hormones are released, etc. It is often more important to stop this cycle at the stress input level than to strengthen the adrenal glands themselves.

This adrenal cycle causes adrenal fatigue and the associated symptoms like your panic attacks and IBS.

Ideally, when under stress, the stress hormones are broken down by the liver. This is also where estrogens are broken down.

Estrogen dominance causes hot flashes.

So, when the liver has extra stress hormones to break down the estrogens don’t get broken down as they should leaving you with excess estrogens and the associated hot flashes.

As to your IBS, that is often caused by adrenal fatigue, but there are often complications. The fight or flight response is the main one.

Flight or flight causes all digestion to shut down, the immune system to quit, cellular repair to stop and the sexual functions to turn off. Nothing is more important than getting away from something that is immediately life threatening.

The problem is that we get stuck in this state. Our evolutionary ancestors hid in a cave or the top of a tree whimpering and crying until the issue was released and forgotten. In modern society we have to stand and face the threat while forcing down our instinctual reaction to run or lash out. Consequently, the emotions get stuck in the body causing us to be stuck in an internal fight flight reaction that has nowhere to go.

Outside intervention is needed to deal with this. There are emotional clearing techniques like emotional freedom technique, but you need to know which emotions to clear. I do this through muscle testing. I’ve been trying to think of how to help people find the emotions to clear for themselves, but there isn’t an easy way to do this short of teaching how to do muscle testing which requires some skill.

Another possiblility that I have been working on is using relaxing herbs to calm the part of the brain that continues to feel in stress so that fight flight can be released.

There are many issues that are caused by adrenal fatigue and by the factors that cause adrenal fatigue. Probably the best thing to do in this case is to take calming and relaxing herbs. Complexes made from the whole herb in powder form are generally the best.

And, animal protein is essential for most people’s health. I hope you can get to the point where there isn’t a problem eating it. Why eating animal protein is so important and why vegetarianism doesn’t work for most people is a whole other subject.

I’ve gotten a lot of comments about the anatomy of the adrenal glands. The area you are feeling has to do the the lymphatics of the adrenals. Not exactly feeling the adrenal glands themselves, but the direct affect they have on the body. The adrenals are located about four inches out rather than the one inch mentioned in the article.

The adrenal glands are responsible for our base line energy. They put out hormones that make us feel good and give us a lust for life. There are many possible consequences to adrenal fatigue, with different manifestations for different individuals.

Adrenal symptoms will usually include extreme fatigue, although you could feel hyper or jittery at times. Other conditions often develop as well: lower back pain, depression, panic attacks and IBS to name a few. Here are 30 symptoms of adrenal fatigue if you’d like to check that out.

The definitive test for adrenal fatigue is a saliva test for cortisol levels at different times of day, at least four. However, there is a simple test you can do on yourself or have a friend do on you.

It is possible for most people to find and feel the adrenal glands, especially when they are swollen from trying to keep up with undo demand which leads to adrenal exhaustion. If your adrenal glands are easy to find, then you probably have adrenal fatigue.

When you press into an adrenal gland that is swollen from exhaustion, you will feel a very uncomfortable feeling in the area. This is not just from pain, but also because of toxins that you press out of the gland when you press into it. As you will see on the video, this is a good thing.

You may find that one gland is more swollen and uncomfortable than the other. This is common, and actually could be a good sign since major adrenal fatigue usually is accompanied by two very swollen and tender adrenal glands.

To find the adrenal glands you start at the belly button. Then, move up one inch and to the right or left one inch. They are on both sides, and you need to find both of them to determine what’s happening with them.

Good adrenal hunting, and let me know how it works for you in the comments below.

It’s Almost Impossible For Vegetarians To Heal

I got an email from a woman who’s having quite a few problems. She bought Self Adjusting Technique from me, and can’t get her neck to adjust. 

She also has trouble with panic attacks that a chiropractic adjustment on her neck helps, but not for long. 

She doesn’t eat sugar, but is vegan and only eats whole buckwheat, quinoa ad other non-glutinous grains. 

She also uses a massager and take detox and nervine herbs to relax her, and to help clear Candida.

I thought I’d post my response to her since I run into so many vegans. It really isn’t a dietary model that works for humans, especially when ill already. 

In case you don’t know, a vegan eats nothing that comes from animals including eggs and dairy. 

Hi (name withheld),

I have quite a few suggestions.

First, there is a video on my youtube channel, Kalidasab, that teaches a massage technique for the neck. It’ll really help you out.

Second, the yeast isn’t going away for two reasons. First, you almost definitely have heavy metal toxicity which masks pathogens from the immune system. You’ll have to eliminate the metals before the yeast will clear up. Unless….

Now, this is a big unless for you as a vegan. Our bodies evolved eating animal protein, 90 percent according to recent archaeological discoveries. Most people simply can not be healthy unless they eat animal protein. I eat what is sometimes called the paleolithic diet, called that because it’s what our ancestors ate prehistory, in very ancient times. I eat only animal protein, fish, chicken, turkey and limited beef and pork with plenty of vegetables and some fruit. You see, grains feed Candida as do oranges and other really sweet fruit. This also keeps the adrenal glands stronger which leads to my comments about panic attacks.

You can sweat to help get rid of the toxins you’re dealing with. Dry sauna is best, but a hot bath works too. 30 minutes is the ideal time to sweat. You might have to build up to it.

Panic attacks are caused by brain chemistry imbalance. I know you said that you get relief when your neck is adjusted, but the root is still in the brain. And, the brain gets that way from the adrenal glands producing too much cortosol which attacks the hypothalamus which influences the rest of the brain causing the imbalance. I really doubt that you will be able to get really healthy unless you eat animal protein.

Now, I realize this may not be possible for you for philosophical reasons. I’ve known plenty of people with that. If that’s the case, then only eat the grains whole and take bromalain. Bromalain is a digestive enzyme that most people lack that turns legumes (beans) and grain into usable protein. You don’t mention that you eat beans, so you definitely won’t be getting sufficient protein regardless. You simply must include all the amino acids, and make them usable with each meal. It takes two extra strength capsules of bromalain with each meal to make the combination work.

I say whole grains, because processed grains — grinding is processing, have a high glycemic index, that is they cause a lot of insulin to be released which causes a biochemical nightmare in your body that can result in the issues you have. There’s a fair amount of info on my blog about all of this, you can read or listen to the posts in the adrenal category.

There’s a lot more you might like to know, but this is a really good start. 

Best,

Kalidasa

And, it won’t be to complicated, I promise!

There is something called the HPA axis. This stands for Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Adrenal. This is an important axis as they work together to keep the body safe.

This has to do with ancient times when we needed to react to our environment in order to survive. Fight or flight is an emotional instinct that kept our ancestors from becoming extinct. It may not be as necessary as it was then, but we’re left with it. And, it does serve its purpose in times of need.

The problem is that many of us live such stressful lives, that the system never turns off. This is what causes the adrenals to become problematic. Of course, sugar and processed foods contribute greatly to this issue, but life stress also causes many of the adrenal problems that I have been writing about.

I could go on and on about fight/flight. It is a major player in poor health. But, let’s stick to the HPA axis for now.

Here’s what happens. Stressful emotions are received by the hypothalamus, that’s just how the brain works. A lot goes on with this, but again, trying to keep focus. The hypothalamus tells the pituitary that there is stress and something needs to be done to deal with. So, the pituitary tells the adrenals to produce stress hormones. The stress hormones tells the hypothalamus that there is stress which tells the pituitary…

And round and round it goes. The HPA axis gets stuck in a loop that is very hard to get out of. It’s one of the reasons we need a long vacation every year, just to get out of that loop. Of course, that doesn’t always work either.

But, there are supplements that can help. Calming herbs can be a great boon. One of my favorite supplements for this is from Apex Energetics called adrenacalm. It’s pricey though. Another is from Standard Process, my favorite supplements in general, called hypothalamex. This one doesn’t work all the time though.

The best bet, and most cost effective, for most people is to go to the health food or herb store and get a bottle of herbs that is a combination of various calming herbs. They are in a class called Nervine herbs. I’ll include a partial list below.

The reason to get several in a formula is that they work synergistically. And, you want to get capsules with the whole herb ground up in them. Tinctures rarely work as the concentration is poor. And, you might want to take two to three times the recomended dose, at least to start.

For many people, getting the hypothalamus to cool out will help their adrenals to recover fully. Most need other supplements for the adrenals as well as a diet change.

Nervine And Relaxant Herbs With Effects
A partial list

PASSIONFLOWER, Passiflora incarnata, Nervine, anxiety
HOPS, Humulus lupulus, Nervine
VALERIAN, Valeriana officinalis, Nervine, anger
OATS, Avena sativa Nervine, relaxant
LEMON BALM, Melissa officinalis, Nervine
SKULLCAP, Scutellaria lateriflora, Sedative, nervine, trophorestorative
BAICAL SKULLCAP, Scutellaria baicalensis, Nervine
ROSEMARY, Rosmarinus officinalis, Carminative, nervine, headaches, sciatica
CHAMOMILE, Matricaria recutita, Relaxant, asthma, bronchitis
KAVA, Piper methysticum, Hypnotic, relaxant, anxiety
ST JOHNS WORT, Hypericum perforatum, Nerve pain, sciatica, anti-depressant, cold/flu
VERVAIN, Verbena officinalis, To much going on or doing to much, stress