Adrenal Fatigue - Support and Questions

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SweatpantsRebellion
SweatpantsRebellion Posts: 754 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
*****This post is not a debate. If you don't believe adrenal fatigue exists and believe that it is pseudoscience, well, good for you. Go air your opinions elsewhere. I'm sure you can find people to support you. Please don't post in this thread.*****

This thread is FOR people who suffer from adrenal fatigue. How has it impacted your weight loss? Any words of wisdom from someone who is out of the woods so to speak? Lifestyle/stress management advice that has helped in your journey?

My story is that I've been on this journey for awhile now. I seemed to do well initially with weight loss, but stalled out. My thyroid medication has been adjusted numerous times and will work for awhile and then progress will stall again. My fatigue has gotten worse and worse. I have had weekends where I've spent the entire weekend on the couch. This is not a choice for me! I work 60 hours a week running an in home daycare, run after my two boys, and homeschool. I do have a lot on my plate, but on the days that my energy is close to where it needs to be I'm able to function. I used to work out, but I had to stop because everytime I hit the gym the fatigue would be worse and I didn't recover properly from working out. My doctor has advised me to only walk at this point and limit that to no more than 15 minutes a day. Oh boo - I was really enjoying my running. But it's all taking a backseat right now because my kiddos NEED a functional mommy. The crazy thing is, since giving up my more intense workouts, the weight loss has started again. Maybe my body just needs the rest in order to let go of the pounds??

Anyways, that's just a short snippet because I can't stay on here very long - things to do - lol! But I'd love to hear from others and I'd be glad to share more of my journey when I get a few minutes!

Replies

  • redefiningmyself
    redefiningmyself Posts: 476 Member
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    I was diagnosed also with Adrenal Fatigue and completely understand what you are going through. I tried for ages to manage it on my own, but nothing helped until I found a great naturopathic doctor in October. Here's what she's put me on:

    50-70% veggies every meal. 80% of which needs to be cooked - either steamed, boiled or roasted.

    Keep potatoes tomatoes, and peppers to 1-2 times a week max as they all contribute to inflammation (they are all part of the nightshade family of plants)

    no gluten, no sugar, no sweeteners, no dairy and no caffeine.

    Greatly reduce all processed food, instead keep to homemade and whole foods.

    be in bed by 10:30pm, get up at 7:30am, and have a 30 minute rest mid afternoon

    Eat within 30 minutes of getting up, lunch between 11-12, light snack around 3pm, dinner between 5-6pm, and eat again right before bed.

    oh and 8-10 glasses of water a day.

    Exercise- light walking only, 30 minutes a day, nothing after 6pm.

    While it isn't the easiest to make all those accommodations, I really felt like I had no choice. I had NO energy, was cold ALL the time, and in general the quality of life was sucking!. But since October when I started far I've lost 14 pounds, and I don't typically feel hungry. I am starting to find I have slightly better energy, and am closer to a more regulated body temperature. The doctor says it can take months or even years to get it all in order, but at least its a good start.
    Maybe we can support each other through this. :)
  • TanzaMarie
    TanzaMarie Posts: 94 Member
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    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.
  • SweatpantsRebellion
    SweatpantsRebellion Posts: 754 Member
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    There's a lot of great suggestions there redefiningmys! I prefer to eat vegetarian, so I probably do eat mostly veggies. I still have to buy meat because I have meat eaters in the house, so I do end up eating it sometimes when that's all we have and I can't grocery shop.

    I already know that dairy is not good for me. I was off of it once when my oldest kiddo was little. He had severe eczema while he was breastfeeding, so dairy was one of several things that I cut out.

    I've considered trying dairy and gluten free after the holidays, but I'm not sure if I will be able to afford it. I run a daycare, so I have to be able to buy enough to feed a small army each week! So I'd like to try it, but if it starts killing our budget, I'll have to go back to eating it until I can afford otherwise.

    My doctor has me restricted to only 15 minutes of light walking a day and a lot of days I don't even get that. I'd like to get in a walk more consistently though. I think it's refreshing. I've had on/off leg pain for the past couple of weeks though, so I'm trying to be careful so that I don't injure something.

    I've not heard of the potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers thing. Do you have any more information on that?

    I do eat more often during the day and find that helps me to function a bit better.

    Also, thanks for your input Tanza. My mother has chronic fatigue syndrome, so I've seen how debilitating it can be.

    So, does anyone else feel like they could have their own supplement store?

    I'm on

    Armour Thyroid
    Liothyronine (T-3)
    Completadrene (just started this past week)
    Selenium
    Chromium
    Multi-vitamin
    Thyroid Energy (a collection of vitamins, herbs, and iodine to support thyroid function)
    Fish Oil
    Probiotic
    Vitamin C
    Magnesium
    Ferrous Glycinate (I'm anemic)

    In addition, Dr. wants me to start on pregnenolone and DHEA. I'm going to wait until my next appt. with him in January though because a few of the things I've started since my last appt. he's not aware of yet. So I want to make sure that he's on board with a few of my recent additions. I'm supposed to be doing the saliva test, but I don't have the $240 I need to send the test kit in and I don't foresee having it anytime soon. :(
  • greenmeena
    greenmeena Posts: 118 Member
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    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.
  • LeslieN65
    LeslieN65 Posts: 127 Member
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    **bump**..I want to learn more about this
  • JanaCanada
    JanaCanada Posts: 917 Member
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    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! :)
  • candiinalaska
    candiinalaska Posts: 5 Member
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    I was just diagnosed yesterday by my darling husband who is a chiropractor. This after chasing my hypothyroid blood test results and getting no where with the mainstream dr's. I was put into contact with a compounding pharmacist who is a member of our church. He helped me first by narrowing down a hormonal issue through more bloodwork. Then after listening again to what the mainstream dr said about the tests (basically normal in her eyes), I took my results to the pharmacist friend who took the time to really explain the tests and suggested I have my husband run a blood pressure test on me. The fact that my cortisol numbers and thyroid numerous are whacky wasn't quite enough to point to adrenal fatigue but the blood pressure test is pretty drfinitive. So my husband did the text which he does fairly frequently with patients if ty hey present with certain symptoms, and sure enough...here I am with severe adrenal fatigue. He put me on an adrenal support supplement and yes I can relate to having a pharmacy in my home as I take about 20 + supplements throughout the day! I'm also reading a book called Adrenal Fatigue The 21st Century Street Syndrome by James L. Wilson, ND, DC, PhD. I am just beginning this new journey but I have 70 lbs I'd like to lose and for now have been limiting sugar, grain carbohydrates, and most fruit. I look forward to reading more about what you all are doing to make you feel better as I do the same!

    Blessings to you all
  • rosiorama
    rosiorama Posts: 300 Member
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    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.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    A lot of folks want to believe in Santa Claus and Leprechauns, too - but that doesn't make 'em real either, right?

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