Edit: I recently released two free reports on the adrenal glands. The first one is an expansion on 30 Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue. There are now 50 symptoms in this free report. And, there is an article on what you can do to help your adrenal glands come to full health. This report is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. You can get both these reports and more free information on the adrenal fatigue at the link.
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.
I had a 24-hr. saliva test and I am in Stage 2-3 adrenal fatigue. The reason it is between 2 and 3 is because I read everything about it in books and websites and started with the supplement protocol. My doctor (who took the saliva test) has me on Licorice Root Drops, Adrenal vitamins to include B6 and pantothenic acid, etc. ( I also take B-Complex on my own and 2000 mg. vitamin C daily). She does want me to take bilinqual pregnolone and DHEA, but I decided not to.
She also wants me on hormone therapy – extrogen, progesterone, etc. but I only take bioidentical progesterone and testerone since I am estrogen dominant and feel great with that.
@ Carol Varieur There’s a recent report that taking two hormones for HRT causes breast cancer. Using one hormone only seems to be much less dangerous and may even reduce the risk. My view is to not take any and to treat the adrenal glands so they do the job they are supposed to do. I’d take a more aggressive approach with more herbs and supplements. Also, P5P or enzyme activated B6 is needed by most people because we just don’t have the enzymes to activate the inactivated type. DHEA is just plane dangerous. If really needed, 7 keto DHEA is much better though it may still cause problems.