Adrenal Fatigue - Support and Questions

I have chronic fatigue, which I'm guessing is not the same thing. But when I regularly eat the way redefiningmys suggested I do have more energy and feel more capable, even if by the end of the day I can't stand up anymore. I know you probably don't have time for this, but I barter with myself. I can lay down for 20 minutes if I walk for 40. Half the time, just laying down helps even if I don't sleep.

Hope you find something that works for you. I know how frustrating to want/need to do things and being physically unable to do them.

Hi all,
I too was diagnosed last year, directly because I did indeed do the saliva test. My cortisol was way out of whack. I was becoming weaker and weaker at the gym, and gained a ton of weight despite a whole foods diet and working out 5 x per week.

I was just overdoing it and my body padded me out to deal with the stress. I was working at a very stressful job, too many hours, and not enough down time.

I was told to quit the gym completely. That was a huge bummer for me because I fully believed that lifting weights was key to weight loss; here I was, the heaviest I had ever been, *despite* working out, and told to quit!! But I did. I didn't have the condition with thyroid component, so I didn't need nearly all the supplements the OP did. I did however take a pretty good cocktail of adrenal support tinctures and herbs.

The focus was on sleep. In bed by 9:30, stay in bed until 8-8:30 if possible. Only walking or restorative yoga, or light belly dancing. NO heavy lifting anymore. I continued to focus on a whole foods diet, as anti-inflammatory as possible. I began to evaluate what were the major stressors in my life and started to work on re-evaluating what could go.

Ultimately I'm feeling pretty restored, 9 months later. I quit the stressful job, and moved to the mountains to be with my new husband. I had 3-4 months of just rest. My weight did not change at all in that time; thankfully I didn't gain anything. I finally feel like I can exercise and work and really start to address the weight that cortisol gave me.

One key thing is meditation. It is critical to get the cortisol levels evened out. Meditation can really help. I do visualizations/ meditations twice daily; 25 minutes as I'm going to sleep and 10 minutes when I wake up. A good program is the Gabriel Method which focuses on decreasing stress and evaluating where stress and weight gain came from. I highly recommend.

I knew though that I was never ever going to lose the weight unless I got my cortisol levels under control, and learned to manage the adrenal fatigue. I think that it is a lifelong management thing; if you're prone to it, you're prone and it's up to us to make sure we get enough sleep and keep the stressful things at bay.

Good luck everyone.

YOU MAY WANT TO ADD B12 TO YOUR LIST OF SUPPLEMENTS. i DID, ABOUT 6 MOS, AGO, AND I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH MORE ENERGY I HAVE EACH DAY!

I would agree with sticking with the walking for now and not doing more strenuous activity. If you want to get ahead and get better, you need the rest. I was going to suggest licorice root tincture but you're already taking a lot of supplements.