Edit: There are now over 50 symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue that you can have for free. There is also a free report for what you can do to help heal the issue. Click on the Adrenal Fatigue book to the left and get your symptoms today.
Do you feel tired all the time? Maybe you get plenty of sleep and just don’t feel rested. Or maybe you have trouble sleeping. Low energy? Difficulty thinking or focusing? These are all symptoms of adrenal fatigue. This article explores the adrenals and the causes of adrenal fatigue. Included is a simplified explanation of how diet affects the adrenals and some suggestions for what you can do to restore them, and you to health.
The 30 symptoms include, but are not limited to:
1. Excessive fatigue and exhaustion, chronic fatigue
2. Non-refreshing sleep
3. Sleep disturbance, insomnia
4. Feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope
5. Craving salty and/or sweet foods
6. Sensitivity to light
7. Low stamina and slow to recover from exercise
8. Slow to recover from injury or illness
9. Difficulty concentrating, brain fog
10. Poor digestion
11. Irritable bowel syndrome, IBS
12. Low immune function
13. Premenstrual syndrome
14. Menopause symptoms
15. Low blood pressure
16. Sensitivity to cold
17. Fearfulness
18. Allergies,
19. Frequent influenza
20. Arthritis
21. Anxiety
22. Irritability
23. Depression
24. Reduced memory
25. Low libido, sexual drive or interest
26. Lack of lust for life and/or food
27. Excess hunger
28. Low appetite
29. Panic/anxiety attacks
30. Irritability, impatience, quick to anger.
If quick to anger, the person will often tend to back down quickly if confronted.
Many of these symptoms have other causes, so just because you have one or more symptom doesn’t necessarily mean that you have adrenal fatigue. On the other hand, adrenal fatigue is so prevalent that if you have even one of these symptoms, it is likely that your are at least a bit run down.
Almost every client I have ever seen has come to me because of one or more of these symptoms. Stress is a major contributor to adrenal fatigue. We live in a busy world that offers little relief from stresses of life. Toxicity contributes to adrenal fatigue as well. But by far, adrenal fatigue is caused by a diet high in sugar and processed foods. And, the same dietary factors that contribute to adrenal fatigue are at the root of most of our major health issues today. Most major diseases start with the same factors as adrenal fatigue, and adrenal fatigue can lead to many serious conditions.
What are the adrenals?
The adrenals are two walnut sized glands that sit on top of the kidneys. They produce three different classes of hormones at the rate of about a quart (liter) a day. One class is stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol also called hydrocortisone. Another class of adrenal hormones affect mineral metabolism especially the sodium/potassium balance. And, they produce sex hormones and their precursors. These hormones are some of the ones that make us feel good. They give us energy and a lust for life — and sex.
A simple test for adrenal fatigue
There are many tests for adrenal fatigue. Lab tests are expensive and take time for the results. However, there is a simple self-test that can be done with a flashlight and a mirror. Start in a darkened room so that your pupils dilate but have it light enough so that you can see your eyes in a mirror. Allow enough time in the dim room so that the pupils dilate fully, about ten minutes. Next, shine the flashlight into one of your eyes from the side so that the light causes the pupil to shrink down to a pin point. Do this in such a way that you can still watch the pupil as it reduces in size. If your adrenals are strong, the pupil will most likely shrink down immediately. If there is any hesitation before they react, then your adrenals are probably fatigued. I use the qualifier probably here because there are other reasons eyes may not react like this though they are not common.
Dietary causes of adrenal fatigue
As mentioned earlier, sugar and refined carbohydrates are the main cause of adrenal fatigue. Sugar includes honey, maple syrup, fructose, dried fruit, fruit juice and just about anything that is sweet. Refined carbohydrates are grains that have been ground up or have had the bran removed. This include products like bread even whole wheat bread, noodles, corn chips, white rice and pretty much anything that comes in a package. Refined foods are broken down by grinding and concentration. Refined grains have more surface area exposed to digestion, so they digest more quickly. They release their sugars quickly into the blood stream causing blood sugar to go up too high too fast.
The body responds to high blood sugar by releasing insulin. Insulin is a hormone that causes sugar to move into the liver, muscles and fat tissues. The problem is that the body evolutionarily isn’t designed to deal with the large amounts of sugar in the blood that are caused by sugar and refined foods. Evolution has designed us to eat animal protein, whole grains (not chopped up), vegetables and fruits. So, the body tends to overreact to this fast sugar by releasing too much insulin. This article is about the adrenals, but high blood sugar, high levels of insulin and constant exposure to stress hormones cause their own problems that will be covered in the future.
The release of too much insulin causes the blood sugar to go down too far. Most everyone has experienced getting sleepy after a large meal of pasta, rice or some other carbohydrate. Or, the drop in energy that follows a candy high. That’s what happens after the large release of insulin. The blood sugar goes down too far. The brain eats mostly sugar, so it gets sleepy from lack.
Now we get into the adrenal involvement. One of the stress hormones they release is cortisol. In ancient times stress meant that we had to fight or run away, the fight/flight response. The muscles that move quickly use sugar, and cortisol causes blood sugar to increase. There is also a cortisol release anytime there is low blood sugar. You know how you can be really hungry, then after awhile you aren’t so hungry anymore? That’s cortisol doing it’s job. The same thing happens when low blood sugar happens because of an over-release of insulin.
The adrenals are constantly being assailed by the above reactions. Processed foods and snacks are available all the time, and they are hard to resist. Our ancestors survived because they had a sweet tooth. They craved the sweet fruits that were available at the end of winter. Insulin caused that extra sugar to be stored as fat for the lean times of winter. The ones that didn’t desire sweet fruits didn’t survive, so we inherited that craving for sweets and other foods that turn into sugar. The problem is that we eat as though it is the end of summer all the time!
The adrenals are constantly being called on to produce more and more cortisol in response to the stress caused by sugar and processed food. Eventually they become exhausted. And, so does the indulger.
What you can do
The obvious thing to do is to stop eating sugar and refined foods. A lot of people will do great just by modifying their diet alone. There are lots of products on the market for treating the adrenals, but which ones really work? This is very individual, but I will give you some suggestions in part two.
Be well, and remember: the body wants to heal, all it needs is the opportunity.
Im suffering form the same symptoms, however, the biggest problem I have is in my stomach, I suffer a lot after eating. Could this be caused by adrenals fatigue as well?
Hello,
I feel that I have AF as well, my chiropractor gave me Bovine adrenals and I feel so much better. After years of chronic sinus infections, panic attacks, insomnia, dizziness all the time, obesity, racing heart after eating and high stress, I think I may be on the mend. I have been to the ER multiple times with no answer for what is wrong with me, they told me I needed to see a shrink! More Dr’s should test for this, I thought I was going crazy!! With the bovine adrenals I have had NO dizziness, I fall asleep very quickly, and no panic attacks! I feel human again FINALLY! How long can I take these pills, does anyone know?
Thank you!
Steve,
I wrote this article to address your issues: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenals/how-stress-and-liver-issues-cause-hot-flashes/
Hi Sherry,
When the spleen is removed a large part of the immune system is lost. You can help compensate by taking Whole Desiccated Spleen, Standard Process has a good one that is dehydrated without heat so the bio-effectiveness is maintained.
When the adrenals are down the thyroid goes down too. This is known biochemistry. Get your adrenals up and retest the thyroid. If issues persist add 400 mcg of selenium a day (most people are deficient in selenium, so you might want to take it anyway) and retest in a month or so. If that didn’t fix the issue, then Standard Process has the best supplement in the world for the thyroid called Thytrophin PMG.
Dr. Morris,
Thank you. It is amazing how many psychological issues are caused by a modern diet ant toxins that our modern society creates. Fortunately, most of this is correctable with detoxification and supplementation.
I have a good friend who is a psychiritrist. She insists that her clients try natural techniques before going on antidepressants. Most of them never need the drugs.
Raymond,
Yes, it sounds like adrenal fatigue. It could be complicated by other factors, most cases of adrenal fatigue are. This article should help you out: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenals/how-stress-and-liver-issues-cause-hot-flashes/
There are plenty of articles on this blog to help you through adrenal fatigue. And, you can give me a call if you like. You can do this with the link at the bottom of any page in this website.
Aenid,
There is a list of supplements and herbs you can take for adrenal fatigue in this article: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenal-glands/how-to-really-get-the-adrenal-glands-to-heal/
And this article for dealing with estrogen dominance: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/detoxification/how-the-liver-handles-toxins-and-what-you-can-do-to-help-it/
Hope it helps. Let me know.
Tink,
I’m not sure about the sweating, though it could be caused by a disfunction of the kidneys — the toxins are carried out through the skin secondarily.
This article will give you information about fibromyalgia: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/conditions/how-glutathione-cures-fibromyalgia-and-how-to-supplement-for-it/
Let me know how it works for you.
Linda,
You can find more about the fibromyalgia in this article: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/conditions/how-glutathione-cures-fibromyalgia-and-how-to-supplement-for-it/
Ashwaganda is a phase II adrenal herb, you’re probably experiencing phase III. Stronger herbs are needed, I recommend Siberian Ginseng (Eluthero) 8 ml. and Licorice root 4 ml. to my clients. I use MediHerb liquid herbs though the tablets are fine. Kroeger brand has excellent quality too.
Astragalus can help, but is more of a phase II herb. Astragalus is great for when you are sick — most adrenal herbs feed the pathogen while astragulus doesn’t.
Even better for you though is to take whole adrenal cortex. Standard Process has Whole Desiccated Adrenal. Take one an hour until five hours or so before bed. Most people need this dosage for five days, you may want to go a little longer, maybe a week to ten days. You’re not like to fall asleep at meetings with this one.
There is more in this article: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenal-glands/how-to-really-get-the-adrenal-glands-to-heal/
Clara,
With a missing adrenal gland you might consider taking Drenamine from Standard Process at 4 tablets three times a day for 12 weeks then going to 4 twice a day long term. The product contains some adrenal gland, and that will help to compensate. It also contains nutrients to help the function and health of the remaining gland.
Also, it is imperative that cancer survivors go on a long term detoxification program. This can take years — the cancer came from somewhere, and that took a long time to build up. Detoxification will allow you to lose weight too.
Bamado,
Gymnema will help with the sugar cravings. Another thing it does is turn off your ability to taste sweet. It’s really weird to eat something sweet after taking it. However, you may have other issues to consider.
Brain chemistry imbalances is one of the big factors in not being able to stop eating sugar. Adrenal fatigue is certainly present too, that often leads to brain chemistry imbalance. I haven’t written on brain chemistry yet, and I really should. But, basically you need amino acids, usually tryptophan for women and tyrosine for men. Both usually need B6 — the one that is enzyme activated called P5P for pyrodoxyl 5 phosphate. Other possible deficiencies are B3, magnesium, iron, folic acid, vitamin C, B1, copper, phosphorus and choline.
Lower back pain is almost always from adrenal fatigue, though there are many other possibilities.
Giving up sugar is one of the hardest things for people to do. Here is an article about one surprise reason why: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/sugar/why-cant-i-quit-eating-sugar-the-surprise-reason/
Good luck with getting yourself into shape. Let me know how it goes.
Tecia,
I’m sorry to hear that you are having such sever symptoms at such a young age. The good news though is that it is really easy to correct when you’re that young. There are articles on this site that give some good recommendations for what to do. Diet is the most important, supplements and herbs speed the process up considerably.
It really is unfortunate that doctors don’t understand this issue. You can take this info to your doctor, but the chances are that they will just write it off as non-scientiffic. And, there’s a lot of science behind it! It’s taken me years to get a very few MDs to thinking about adrenal fatigue as the issue that it really is in society today.
Good luck to you, let me know how it goes. And, feel free to consult with me if you’d like some more info about your particular case.
Rami,
Your stomach issues could be caused by adrenal fatigue. I’ve seen many cases of irritable bowel syndrome clear up with a little support for the adrenals. I hope you can change your diet and take a few supplements and get back to normal soon. There are other issues that you could be dealing with. Send more information if you’d like me to see if there is anything else you might do to get back to full health.
Stacy,
Adrenal cortex should only be taken short term. It is great for getting past the crisis point, but the adrenals need other nutrition to be fully functional and to heal. A month at a fairly low dose is about the maximum time you’d want to take adrenal cortex. I usually recomend it at high doses for only a few days. Here is an article with more information about this. http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenal-glands/how-to-really-get-the-adrenal-glands-to-heal/
Hello, Ivan here, you may know me as galaxyangel5 in youtube.
You may remember I said I have lower back pain yes?
But I did the “Adrenal Fatigue Test” with the flashlight thing.
The results were immediate shrinkage of the pupils (hell they quickly react to the slightest amount of flashlight… light. Hehe bad pun.) but I’m not that convinced yet though…
Will still try to do psoas release test.
Do you have any information about adrenal fatigue affecting the ligaments? I have ligament laxity and it causes my bones to shift out of alignment weekly. This is problematic as you might imagine, causing my cervical spine and ribs to go “out” in the same places over and over. It’s painful and discouraging. This has been happening over a year now. I did put a Morena IUD in Sept 08. The GYN did research that the particular hormone in the Morena do not cause ligament laxity but other female hormones do so I’m still suspicious. It makes sense to me that natural hormones allow the hips to spread and bones to move in preparation for childbirth. I also seem to have an ongoing systemic yeast issue although I haven’t been tested recently. I’ve done a couple rounds of Nystatin in the past. Any feedback you may have on the relationships I’ve mentioned would be helpful.
Hello,
I have severe AF but am on the mend. My issue right now is that I still cannot sleep and it disrupts my life severely. Is there anything you can recommend? I am taking two different sleep aids ( given to me by my naturopathic doctor) but they only helps some of the time.
Also, I was prescribed bovine supplements for months! Probably was taking them for at least 6-7 months prescribed by my doctor. Could have these caused permanent damage? Is that why I cannot sleep even though my energy is super high these days?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Ivan,
There is another test you can do if you have or know someone who has blood pressure equipment. I describe it in this post: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenals/how-do-you-really-know-if-you-are-healthy-a-simple-test/
The definitive test is a saliva test that you send in. Be sure to get a company that wants at least four samples from different times of the day.
Portland Girl,
Yes, there is a relationship between ligaments and adrenal fatigue. The adrenals scoop up all the nutrients it needs which deprives the ligaments of what they need. The lower back usually shows up first, but doesn’t have to. And, your logic is correct, the hormones can cause that issue too.
You can try taking B6 in its activated form (P5P), B12, niacinamide, pantothenic acid and whole food sourced vitamin C. Those are the main ones the ligaments need. Be sure to get niacin in the amide form so you don’t get the uncomfortable flush straight niacin causes.
Also, you might try Ligaplex 2 from Standard Process.
Olga,
Whole adrenal cortex should only be taken for a month at most. I sometimes recomend it, but at a high dose for a few days only. What it does is whip the adrenals to get them going. But, once they are going, you don’t need to whip them anymore, but rather nourish them and let them rest — that’s what some herbs do.
If you are still haveing sleep issues, then you probably still have adrenal issues. You might want to try the protocol that is layed out in this article: http://selfadjustingtechnique.com/adrenal-glands/how-to-really-get-the-adrenal-glands-to-heal/
You can contact me though the link above if you want to consult more directly. Or, try calling with the link at the bottom of the page here, I answer when available. And, I won’t charge for a short phone conversation.