80% of World Experiences Adrenal Fatigue

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BFSDiner

Well-known member
Sound familiar? Also see: We often fail to realize one basic physiological truth: Our adrenal glands influence all of the major physiological processes in our body. That's an undeniable truth. Our adrenal glands control everything that happens.The What Glands?Leading adrenal gland authority, Dr. James L. Wilson, has estimated that 80% of the world's population will experience adrenal fatigue at one point. I've even seen current estimates which state that 96% of the world is currently suffering from it. The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys close to the spine and just underneath the last rib. They're about the size of grapes. Their location is very strategic since their purpose is to allow for a rapid response to hormonal messages. Everything we do, from drinking coffee to training, causes a hormonal rise in our body. The hormones signaled by the adrenal glands strongly affect the utilization of carbohydrates and fats, and healthy cardiovascular and gastrointestinal function. If that's not enough, the adrenal glands control the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant hormones to reduce allergic reactions to alcohol, drugs, medication, supplements, food, and environmental allergens. Once you enter the age group of about 35 to 50 and beyond, the adrenal glands eventually become the major source of sex hormones that circulate in the body in both men and women. Every little stressor, unless properly managed, reduces healthy adrenal function. Changes occur in protein, carb, and fat metabolism. In addition, fluid and electrolyte balance, heart function, and sex drive all experience modifications at the biochemical and cellular levels. To hammer home the point, adrenal fatigue often lays the groundwork for respiratory infections, allergies, rhinities, asthma, frequent colds, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypoglycemia, type II diabetes, autoimmune disease, and even alcoholism.10 Signs of Adrenal FatigueMore or less every negative thing that happens to you contributes to adrenal fatigue. It could be a death, loss of a job, or some other major happening. The main issue, however, lies with the simple everyday things that get us really annoyed: a toothache, a strained romantic relationship, an ass for a boss, a chronic cold, and even training.When these little things go from acute to chronic, the accumulation starts to quickly matter. Any time we burn the candle at both ends we cause an over-stress to our body. I've seen test results of people who seem happy, yet they have elevated cortisol levels of 200-300%. [Note from TwitchBFS - maybe LOW cortisol means we're past that stage and "burned out" ?] Adrenal testing is the first thing I do with clients. I do this before a movement evaluation or anything else. I want to see how healthy their adrenals are since the results are going to dictate everything from their program design to specific nutritional recommendations.Here are some of the more accurate signs of adrenal fatigue:Sign #1: Difficulty getting up in the morning. It doesn't matter the time, you just don't feel awake enough.Sign #2: Continuous cravings for salt or salty foods. You always need more salt than you're getting. (Gatorade?)Sign #3: Increased effort to do every day tasks. (Exercise Intolerance)Sign #4: Decreased sex drive. It just isn't happening. Enough said. (Low Testosterone)Sign #5: Decreased ability to manage stress. The littlest things seem to set you off. (Anxiety Problems)Sign #6: Increased recovery time. Any cuts you have take longer to heal, swelling stays around, that cough you've had is still there after a month, and your biceps still hurt from loading the bar when you were squatting.Sign #7: Light-headedness from standing too quickly. You feel like you're going to pass out and you see bright images when you stand up.Sign #8: Less overall life happiness. Nothing makes you happy: training sucks, your job sucks, and the weekends suck.Sign #9: Increased symptoms with skipped meals. You're always hungry, every hour. If you miss a meal, you're craving something and every meal becomes a cheat meal.Sign #10: Less productivity. Overall, you just can't get things done, you're distracted easily, and you can't work as efficiently or as quickly.We've all heard of that nasty thing called cortisol that eats up muscle tissue, right? One of the main functions of the adrenal glands is to regulate cortisol secretion and not allow too much to be released. Unfortunately for most of us, under both acute and chronic stress situations we over-secrete cortisol since our adrenal glands are too fatigued to perform properly. Adrenal fatigue also has an effect on our blood sugar levels. If cortisol helps to keep our blood sugar at appropriate levels to meet our energy demands, then once cortisol drops due to adrenal fatigue, our body can't maintain adequate blood sugar levels. A quick drop in blood sugar then affects our ability to store nutrients where we'd like and creates a state of insulin resistance in the muscle cell. To throw more fuel on the fire, 80% of individuals suffering from adrenal issues also suffer from some type of decreased thyroid function. Most people who have a low thyroid are unresponsive to thyroid medications, and in order to get better the adrenals have to be supported. We'll also see a sudden increase in allergies and joint pain since cortisol is the most powerful anti-inflammatory in the body. Cortisol drops and our response is an inflammatory reaction that increases the severity of our allergies and joint pain. Remember that one of the signs of adrenal fatigue is a craving for salt. Well, we're more than likely going to resort to some type of salty food to curb the craving. It's worth repeating again that insulin controls everything and all of our other hormones follow insulin's lead.Adrenal SmackdownNow that we have a clear understanding of what adrenal fatigue is and how it affects us, we need to know what to do about it. Honestly, there's no overnight fix; no step-by-step process exists. I have multiple protocols that I use with my clients on a regular basis, but fixing adrenal fatigue is a consistent, sustained effort.1) LifestyleIt's not the sexiest choice, but until a serious attempt at de-stressing our lives takes place, we're not going to recover, no matter how much we modify our nutrition and training. Simply put, we need to do something every day to relax ourselves. Adrenal fatigue is a result of continued stress that we experience in our daily life. Most of us just get frustrated and try to deal with it as best we can. There are things we can't change, but we can control our reaction to them. Having daily activities that relieve us of stress is a must. If you have people around you that zap you of your positive energy, you need to get away from them. Generally speaking, most people are negative and they don't like to see others get ahead and are quick to call you irrational. So just try to spend five minutes doing something you like everyday.2) Meal TimingIn this situation, meal timing is as important as what you eat. Your circadian rhythm is your internal body clock that regulates cortisol values over a 24 hour period. Our peak cortisol times come when we wake up (since cortisol is low-grade adrenaline that rises to tell you to wake up), at 10:00 AM, 3:00 PM, and at the beginning of our sleep cycle. Having adrenal fatigue will cause higher than normal cortisol peaks during these times, so it's necessary that we find ourselves consuming the proper nutrients then. Have you ever noticed how you get tired at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM? Most of us will attribute it to the blood sugar crashes from the common American diet. While that might be true, again there's an underlining issue.3) Fats and OilsFats and oils should be heavily relied on during adrenal recovery periods. Our total Testosterone is lower and our free Testosterone is bound up in cases of adrenal fatigue, so we'll need fats to increase Testosterone production. Our first choice is going to be an omega-3 supplement. I prefer Flameout, since the combination of omega-3's and CLA has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. We also need to get our fats through various seeds such as sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower. Some acceptable nuts include cashews, almonds, and walnuts. Again, it's vitally important that we consume high amounts of healthy fats when we're attempting to recover from adrenal fatigue. A combination of omega-3 fatty acids and CLA found in Flameout should be the first line of defense. Not only does it lower the insulin response during and after the meal, but essential fatty acids also help to reduce cortisol when it gets too high. As always, there's a flipside and there are certain supplements that we want to run from. Supplements like yohimbine, caffeine, ephedra, or any type of stimulant isn't going to do jack for us if we have adrenal fatigue. That means we also have to stay away from coffee or tea.
 
Adrenal fatigue is almost always an issue for anxious and stressed people according to my doc and has been discussed by members on here. It is not only caused by psychological stress, but can also be triggered by chronic pain or severe infection. We have drained our stress hormone system , now is is tired . Like people with " lifestyle diabetes" from enormous sugar intake. I am very convinced that it plays a role in BFS as well as it does in Fibromyalgia and CFS cases. But noone on this board should EVET take ANY artificial vitamins if there has not been a blood test showing an increased need. Artificial vitamins can cause damage, and it is not a good idea with a stressed body to make yourself a lab guinea pig just to see what happens. Relaxation, healthy eating, good stress management and learning to let things go, and especially to deal with anxiety. Have shown to be quite helpful with BFS so far.
 
If you search adrenal fatigue on these forums, Apparently I was going on and on about it several months ago. I had completely forgotten that it was on my radar. Recently, discussing test results with some others on this board, I am starting to see Actual blood results that coincide with the adrenal fatigue theory. And I'm wondering if this should be our focus now. My immunologist told me that my immune function testing showed "burnout" on numerous Cytokine markers. She said this is because they have been overused, and have now been completely depleted. In addition to this, despite my theories about autoimmunity, literally every inflammatory marker I have is either low, or below the low threshold in lab results. This indicates that I am not even creating sufficient inflammatory response at a healthy level. Taking it a step further, testosterone results also came back at 245. That's with a range of 230 to 1200. In speaking with another member on this board, his testosterone results also came back at the exact same extremely low number. And yet another person I queried yesterday said the same thing. In addition to this, cortisol results have been extremely low. I just had my cortisol run yesterday, so I should have those results soon. Having the testosterone of a 90 year old man (literally), extremely low SED rate, low estrogen, negative ANA, burned out inflammatory Cytokine markers, and extremely low Cortisol - for the first time - are clear lab results indicating something diagnosable. Adrenal fatigue/insufficiency/depletion.A simple search for that term with the word "twitching" returns about a million positive search results of ppl with Adrenal fatigue experiencing twitching. even increased symptoms after eating!!! (see image link below). Adrenal fatigue forums with guys talking about body wide twitching is apparently common.Added to the above, the simple fact that this forum has more fitness enthusiasts gathered in one place than I've ever seen on any "health problem" related forum before in my life .... And we may be on to something. As if that wasn't enough, what is the treatment for adrenal fatigue? What steps do people have to take to improve the symptoms? If you actually read the treatment for adrenal fatigue, it reads like a post from Bond007 almost verbatim ... This would be the first time I could call "stress" an actual logical medical diagnosis for what we are experiencing. It's not stress itself. But it's very well may be that our stress-mitigating organs have been depleted.Thoughts?
 
You do not even need excessive exercise. I have told you : look at us. Look at the people here, at least the biggest part. Not only are many of us anxious for long periods. Also we try to keep everything under control, we have extremely high expectations on ourselves, are the ones that push ourselves always to the limits, physically and mentally. We are worriers, but we are also fighters, always trying to give 110 percent rather than only 100. Our brains are always working, making many of us rather successful or creative, we are a restless bunch. Of course not all, but many. This stress would be enough already, but then add anxiety or a virus on that. You cannot even consider this going on for a long time, without having extreme effects on our body. BFS is the burnout of our stress management system for many. We lost control over it. And now we need to fill that empty bucket with good things to feel better. But this can never work with that " hole" of anxiety in it, that lets everything good flow out as soon as we put it in. We have to fix the hole, fix anxiety and ocd, before we can start to recover. All the oversensitivities and strange reactions are just symptoms , not causes.
 
I know you dont *need* exercise to have this problem. But its extremely relevant how many people here are heavy into athletics, and adrenal draining activities like long distance running, cycling, and bodybuilding. This is extremely relevant. I have never visited a health problem-forum where half of the posts contain "I used to run 10 miles a day, now I can't". This is a big indicator that adrenal fatigue is on the table. In fact this would explain why some of us here have had no real issues with anxiety in the past. And others have. I've heard many times here that BFS is caused by Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I dismissed that outright because I have never had that, yet I do have BFS. So the explanation may be: for those who haven't had a long history of emotional self-abuse, they seem to have a long history of physical-self abuse. Abusing your body physically and overstressing it, can have the same (or worse) effect as a worry-wart who never goes to the gym.What is new for me about this topic however, is that there is actual mention of organ dysfunction. Something *is* broken. This isn't a stress disorder. Stress may have got us here, but then something *broke*. And that is the key difference, which is opening me up to this idea. Now im entertaining ideas like organ involvement, cortisol, testosterone, adrenaline, etcc... These are solid markers and there is something actually broken. That's what is different to me now. --------And here's the real issue for me now:Once I'm at this point of realizing that something is broken, the treatment is the question. Once you've gotten to the point of adrenal dysfunction, is the only treatment to "calm down" ? Or are we past that point now. Obviously most here are manifesting symptoms of neurological problems, nerve damage, etc. Yes, stress reduction is imperative. But is it enough? Are there medications for those with this disorder? I will have to do more research, but it seems to me that more than just calming down is needed. I can no longer eat 80% of foods. And I've been 100% de-stressed for 6 months. So this begs the question. What damage has been done. And is there a way to kickstart the adrenals again safely? Does destressing really fix the broken organs? I doubt it. And what about my testosterone levels being at 245? That isnt going to be fixed by relaxing. So a lot of parts of my body have been damaged by this. Doctor will want to put me on testosterone therapy but that is only going to suppress my natural Testosterone production further. So I think a discussion of ways to get the *original* functions working again is the most important. Because all the damage occurring "down the line" may reverse. I have a lot of reading to do first...-B-
 
Ok, let me first state that I am not a big fan of the mainstream MD medical system. I think of it mostly as: Get the patient in and out in 15min for cost effectiveness; Do things by the number on the tests only; Don't practice real medicine for fear of litagation, just do it by the book; MD's are really just glorified technicians; Just prescribe what the drug companies tell you and practice the medicine the the insurance companies let you; don't think outside the box. I have meet very few that are not like this. That being said. I really hate pseudoscience so I will play the devil advocate a bit on this one. I have researched this one quite a bit and along with the whole candida thing, it all seems to be a chiropractor invention. Not saying that some people that get treated for these things don't get better, but was the treatment just good diet, stress reduction, exercise and sleep? Anything responds to that.So, don't hate me too much. I don't have all the answers, I just want people to think scientifically. Here are a couple articles I just found really quickly against the Adrenal fatigue thing. Again, I just want people to think and not take a blind diagnosis on something that there might be no proof of. Don't waste time on the wrong thing. So read and lets discuss.MD
 
Rebuttal:Naturally, the "World" is ahead of the United States in Medical knowledge. Ain't that always the case...Here's another good'un:-Burger-
 
I referred a friend of mine to my acupuncturist for his seasonal allergies and general fatigue. My friend shared the details of his first visit with me afterwards. The doc did his initial scan of my friend and commented right away on his adrenal glands not functioning properly. The doc asked him if he had been drinking enough water and what the average color of his urine was and my friend told him maybe not enough water but usually the color was mostly clear. He got a treatment that focused on the adrenals and a few other areas. My friend said the next time he had to use the bathroom his urine was super dark, so he knew that the session definitely did something. My friend went back a few more times and no longer has his fatigue issues and his seasonal allergies are almost nil. The adrenals are definitely an important to our overall well-being. I'm not sure if you can always use urine color to determine if you have a problem with them or not.
 
Again, my opinions are just that my opinions. SAM - I am totally on board with the acupuncture thing. I don't know how it works but it does have positive real research behind it. Along with a lot of folks getting better from different afflictions from it. Heck, even the US military has started to use it in pain suppression. BURGER -I read the first article and the source the writer listed lead me to this where the author is kind of making fun of the WHO for just excepting any new affliction they hear about as being the God honest truth. I then searched for anything that would back up this one sentence about the WHO accepting adrenal fatigue as real. I found nothing. The viewpoint from which the lady in the first article is writing is purely opinion, and who knows what the Digital Journal is. It did not sell me. The second article was a store trying to sell me something. A lot of natural health stores run these "articles" so you will go to the store button and buy something after the article has freaked you out. Its way to biased for me. Heck, even Dr Wilson, the self proclaimed adrenal fatigue gurus site is just trying to sell you supplements, and programs for his "21st century syndrome." Not convinced. Here are a couple neural articles from real newspapers that use fact-checking. They really don't go one way or the other, for the most part, but I can tell you that Robert Sapolsky professor of biology, neuroscience, and neurosurgery at Stanford University is the really deal when it comes to studying stress. He is quoted quite a bit in the second article. You can check out the documentary he is in, "Stress, Portrait of a Killer." Its absolutely fascinating when he talks about what he has learned studying baboons. I don't think he has hes own site trying to sell you supplements. The adrenal fatigue thing is just too vague and the cure is just so non-specific (unless you drink the Kool-aid and buy the stuff off the "adrenal fatigue" sites.) I mean come on, all the adrenal fatigue questions are just normal: you blew yourself out, didn't eat right, sleep right, get enough exercise, or manage stress like you should questions. With a cure of: eat right, get enough sleep, learn to manage your stress and get some exercise; Oh, and take a saliva hormone test, and even if your normal you need to buy our supplements, along with the previous mentioned -and cure unto them selves - life changes to get better. Not sold, but again just my opinion. I am on board for diet, exercise, stress management, and time cure, though. For anything.
 
The purpose of the second article wasn't to link you to their store and buy their products. It was to focus on the first paragraph, explaining why doctors don't typically recognize these disorders. In general, I totally agree with the article that doctors only see black and white, and only diagnose extreme conditions. That is proven day in and day out. They don't comprehend the concept of "pre-disease". They only know "well" or "sick". There is no shade of gray with most doctors. Therefore Addison's disease and Cushing's disease are the only two that exist. And there is no possible way on earth that anybody could be halfway there, three quarters of the way there, or just starting out on their way there. One thing we probably do know about BFS, is that it is a mild form of something. Whether it's neuromyotonia or adrenal insufficiency. It doesn't matter. We have symptoms, and they're not bad enough to be a "disease state". Since we lack a "disease state" we get laughed out of the doctors office, and sent home, being told that we are either insane, or hypochondriacs. Once again, The inaccuracy of that is obvious. So at the very least, one should be willing to entertain the possibility that we have a mild form of something. And that would qualify us for several things, based on our specific symptoms. That's the logic I'm using for this, and the logic I have used for every theory i have come up with. However now, we actually Have some abnormal test results to point to. When somebody's testosterone takes a dive of nearly 300 points at the onset of BFS, that is an interesting thing to note. When another guy here has twice the level of the highest range of DHEA, that's relevant. When several people here have low or extremely high cortisol levels, that's relevant. Especially when every, single, other, test result we all have is normal. The abnormalities seem to be in the hormones and steroids. That's relevant to look at. Figuring out what the cause may be, may provide the answer some of us are looking for.Adrenal fatigue, isn't recognized. Hypothalamus pituitary axis dysfunction, as far as I know, is. And since when are humans omniscient, and infallible? Clearly there are 8 trillion conditions we know nothing about, that have not yet been identified. Since you lack the required hormonal imbalances for this condition in the first place, you are probably correct that it does not apply to you.Anyways, here's a study from pub med. Documenting exactly what I'm talking about with all the athletes on this forum.Overtraining, Exercise, and Adrenal Insufficiency."Running, or any aerobic training in moderation, has a positive effect on health. There is a point of diminishing returns, where chronic stress from overtraining, which is common in runners, may be linked to problems in the adrenal gland. Overtraining Syndrome (OS) has been linked with adrenal insufficiency. There is a direct link between stress and the adrenal glands, and the physical stress of overtraining may cause the hormones produced in these glands to become depleted. Overtraining Syndrome (OS) has been described as chronic fatigue, burnout and staleness, where an imbalance between training/competition, versus recovery occurs. Training alone is seldom the primary cause. In most cases, the total amount of stress on the athlete exceeds their capacity to cope. A triggering stressful event, along with the chronic overtraining, pushes the athlete to start developing symptoms of overtraining syndrome, which is far worse than classic overtraining. Overtraining can be a part of healthy training, if only done for a short period of time. Chronic overtraining is what leads to serious health problems, including adrenal insufficiency. Severe overtraining over an extended period can result in adrenal depletion. An Addison-Type overtraining syndrome, where the adrenal glands are no longer able to maintain proper hormone levels and athletic performance is severely compromised has been described by researchers. The purpose of this review is to describe the relationship between overtraining, chronic fatigue, and adrenal insufficiency and to address the overlap in these conditions, as well as examine critical research on the relationship between the dysfunction of the adrenal axis in over trained and stressed athletes."
 
Burger -Just keeping people thinking. Don't get to bent out of shape. I have done my research on Adrenal Fatigue. And am not sold. That's just me, and opinions are like... well, never mind ;)What you have mentioned in the Pubmed article "Overtraining, Exercise, and Adrenal Insufficiency" that I can get on board with. Adrenal Fatigue and Adrenal Insufficiency are two different things. From what I understand. Adrenal Insufficiency is very measurable. Adrenal Fatigue is "nebulous alternative health diagnosis." In my opinion. Over training syndrome happens a lot. I use to run marathons and hang with that crowd. Some of those ultra marathoners, jeez. I have no idea why they are not dead. Here's a cool article on some people that developed CFS from over-training. I took Dr Wilson's online test and it said I had Adrenal Fatigue. I bet most people who live in the modern world, by his standards, would test positive. It's kind of like palm reading. I also had a chiropractor tell me the same thing after giving me one of those saliva test because my morning cortisol was a bit low and my DHEA was borderline. I have since had numerous hormone tests from endocrinologist with sufficient explanations about the testing to lead to an otherwise opinion. Ok, I guess since I don't have the tests to participate in this thread I will let you have at it. Good luck. Even though I tested positive on Wilson's site. Oh, I never implied or said that I think you have anxiety issues. I always thought you said your symptoms were not anxiety driven?Sorry again, I do enjoy all your research and ideas you put forth. I think it keeps everyone thinking and away from compliance. I will continue to post on your other threads, if your cool with that. MD
 
Looks like you caught an old version of my post. I edited it heavily. If you want to take another look. Either way, "adrenal fatigue, adrenal insufficiency, and HPA dysfunction"… For all intents and purposes are exactly the same things. If you feel they are different, then I have some reading to do. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't see a *beep* bit of difference. If you read the Wikipedia page for HPA, the description is pretty much identical. So since you like the HPA thing better, let's meet over in the HPA thread and let this thread die a quiet death. I fully agree with you regarding the quacks and naturopathic doctors. Believe me. I know what you're talking about. B
 
Here is a fun article that is along the lines of the "spirit of exploration" of this thread. Notice the girls symptoms when she lists them.It's pretty much what everyone just keeps say. Live healthy and relax. You blew up your body and it will take time, maybe a lot of time, to heal. MD
 
HHHMMM, This really got me to thinking. I have had RA ( Rheumatoid Arthritis ( since 1989. I have been on and off ( more on ) steroids since. Lately my Blood pressure and sugar levels have risen. Sounds to me this could all be in the adrenal soup area...Thanks
 

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