Module 4 – Adrenal Issues
Theres a lot here but its important because it effects almost all of us on some level.
Adrenal fatigue, adrenal dysfunction, adrenal malfunction, adrenal issues – whatever you want to call it. This is where your adrenals are struggling and not functioning properly. You and your body ARE fatigued! Simply put – YOU ARE TIRED!
The Adrenal glands are tiny but they play a massive role in the body. These tiny obscure little triangular organs measuring usually 1.5 inches in height and 3 inches in length; sit upon each one of our kidneys… hence the name “Ad” Latin for “near” and “Renal or renes” Latin for ‘kidneys’.
They contribute to a system within the body called the “endocrine system”, many will associate this with the system of hormonal function, distribution, and balance. Our adrenal glands form part of this system along with our Parathyroid glands, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, pancreas, ovaries, and testes – this entire system works so intricately in the body to produce and regulate hormones that control just about every single thing that we do.
Specifically, our adrenal glands affect our metabolism, our blood pressure, immune system, our sex hormones (including libido), and the major factor we will be discussing and breaking down in more detail today… how we respond to stress!
Recognizing the signs of burnout and the methods you can use to break the cycle, may be one of the best tools you can have in your artilery for health.
The Adrenal gland forms part of what is called the HPA Axis. This is the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis. In essence, a communicative axis that dictates a response to information taken in. A governing body if you will, it signals for an order and the flow-on effect of that is action elsewhere in the body, here it’s in the adrenal gland.
When we look at the hypothalamus in the brain, this acts much like an internal thermometer or if you are a machinery nerd, a thermostat. What do thermostats do? Open or close like a valve in response to temperature change to regulate temperature to the desired setting.
This desire to maintain balance and core settings is called “Homeostasis” we are very rarely dead-center perfect, but it’s a goal the body is constantly trying to maintain.
The hypothalamus detects a change and shoots off signaling to the pituitary gland. To which the pituitary gland takes this signal and distributes the orders to various organs and glands to initiate action and change.
But when this change is constantly being called on and demanded – the body can’t respond fast enough and then everything starts getting wonky or disregulated. The HPA axis starts pumping out too many hormones and over (or under) responding. It becomes totally out of balance. And we more commonly call this “adrenal fatigue”.
Signs of adrenal fatigue;
poor sleep quality
irritability and frustration
brain fog and poor cognitive performance
low sex hormones like DHEA and progesterone
struggles losing weight
thyroid issues
cravings for sugar and salt
muscle cramps and spasms
chronic feeling of dehydration
chronic inflammation, aches, pains and swelling
regular headaches and migraines
menstruation issues
low libido
regular illness or infections like Candida
Acute Stress falls inline with Normal Baseline Cortisol, it spikes when needed throughout the day to help overcome stressors before returning to normal. Like acute stress from exercise, or spilling coffee or stubbing your toe.
Stages of adrenal fatigue;
Normal/ balanced - optimal cortisol function (this is our baseline).
Acute stess - falls in line with our normal function. Cortisol respond normally to short bouts of stress.
Chronic stress - when the body is exposed to prolonged periods of stress, and thus, prolonged cortisol exposure.Exaggerated and prolonged cortisol spike. Start waking up with high cortisol and it spikes from there and never really drops enough all day and night for chronic elevated cortisol exposure. Nervous energy all day and restless, unrefreshing, light sleep.
Hyper reactive - Born pre-wired, acquired acute (PTSD), or chronic stress. Fibromyalgia, Insomnia, depression borne from anxiety. Due to cortisol resistance, you have learned to release extra cortisol in response to stress and subsequently an exaggerated stress response. Referred to as melancholic depression in literature and responds to serotonin preserving antidepressantsConstant excessive exposure leads to cortisol resistance and low levels now fail to register so the body pumps out more and more. This causes a vicious cycle that results in a phase of conservation or adrenal fatigue.
Conservation mode - Fibromyalgia / Chronic fatigue syndrome, shift workers, mums, acquired by progressing through the stages of HPA maladaptation. Auto-immune, excessive inflammation, allergies, fatigue, and pain.Not enough to get up and going but too much to get a good night’s sleep. Light sleep and seem more awake before bed then when you rose. Wake unrefreshed. Need stimulants to get going and only temporary. Usually sensitive to glare, thirsty all the time but can’t hold water so need to urinate constantly, crave salt and/or sugars
Wake with pain that gradually leaves. Chronic inflammation then leads to age related disorders.
The conservation phase can also manifest as bizarre cortisol patterns that reflect poor sleeping patterns and adaptations to lifestyle in shift workers, mums, and hospitality and security workers.
Hyper reactive adrenal fatigue - total exhaustion here. Born from congenital defect, autoimmune, exhaustion, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Hypersomnia, pain, inflammation, depression is borne from apathy and fatigue with low cortisol and excessive serotonin activity. Referred to as atypical depression in literature and doesn’t respond to serotonin preserving antidepressants well.
here is a quick scale you can use to tell what stage of adrenal dysfunction you ‘might’ be in.What can you do to support your adrenals and yourself?
Well sleep is #1! When you are fatigued, you need to prioritize sleep and rest.
Then a great place to start is your environment, limit stressors that are avoidable, pay attention to how you feel during the day, and how wired you may be at night time. If you feel like something is off, check in with your health practitioner. You may need a saliva cortisol test to give you a more accurate reading or your cortisol or even a DUTCH test. But testing is not always neccessary, you know your own body.
From here you can work on solidifying sleep patterns, diet, and supplementation to address your concerns as a full holistic picture.
Ideally we want;
Your body to work properly right?! This is where you get a nice spike of cortisol in the morning (between 6-8am) to get you up and going, and then it slowly trickles down as the day goes on, as you stay in a somewhat relaxed state. So then around 6 pm your cortisol is at its lowest, and melatonin can start to creep up, getting ready to support you in good quality sleep.
But when we constantly push and push, and worry, stress non stop, rush around and over think things, over exercise, under eat, do crazy workouts in the evening – we push our adrenals to it limits, and then eventually we crash. Going through the stages above.
Clearly, back to our section on stress, stress is a big player here. We need to be aware of “overselves” basically, and how we react to what life throws at us. And be consious of things that can make things harder on our adrenals like;
caffeine
fasting in some people
over training and exercising too hard
under eating
not prioritizing rest and sleep
arguing with others
getting caught up in negative social media
horror and negative energy movies
alcohol
toxin exposure
too many supplements - yep sometimes too many supplements can cause more harm than good
What you can actually do to help bring your adrenals back to a place of homeostasis (balance);
If someone is in a chronic state of stress all day every day and feels their adrenals are not functioning optimally, then before we resort to a chemical straight jacket it is in our best interests to try some natural support first…In this case you would turn to adaptogens and nervous support. It is wise to only have 1 coffee (or less) a day if this is you and I recommend a high grade organic adaptogen or mushroom but a good organic clean coffee will do also. Avoid caffeine after noon if you are in this chronic state of stress daily. You can also implement so adaptogens into your day in the morning, around noon and before bed. I will list some of the most effective below – these can be got in tea, tincture, herb or pill form.
If you feel you function normally throughout the day but feel extra stressed in the evening and struggle with going to sleep and staying asleep, then you would add adaptogens into the later part of your day or some people will find just adding colalgen to their calming eveneing tea is enough to support good sleep. Along with 300-400 mg of magnesium citrate or 750mg GABA or 200-400mg of 5HTP.
If you feel bouts of anxiety coming on I like to turn to GABA here, again at 750mg as needed. Usually you only need to take it once and it gets to work in as little as 10 minutes. This is my go to when I’m feeling anxious, I find I have been taking it more regularly in 2021, so far.
Keeping sugar low in the first half of the day will benefit everyone. But for some who struggles to fall and stay asleep, adding some carbs to the last meal or bone broth may be helpful by upregulating serotonin, which we learned in previous sections is the precursor to melatonin. And increases dopamine which is our calming feel good hormone. The emphasis here is on sleep to help regulate the circadian rhythm and thus the hormonal cycles.
AGAIN; Sleep is our best tool for adrenal fatigue.
Tulsi or Holy basil... may favorite!
Reishi mushroom is a great calming agent
Schisandra chinensis
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera)
Rhodiola rosea
Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
Panax Ginseng
Eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus)
Astragalus *great for supporting immune function too*
I also like to add in NAC or N acetly cysteine at 500mg once or twice a day as this is a precursor to our master antioxidant ‘gluthatione’. We know that when the adrenals and body are stressed, then our immune system is weakened, as is our ability to detoxify and protect our cellular health.
Krill oil of course is a favorite of mine because of its strong anti-inflammatory capabilities. If your stressed you can bet you are inflamed, especially along the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and we want to be actively trying to keep that low! I like anywhere from 2000 to 4000 mg a day.
Stay on top of your minerals! When we are stressed the adrenals get depleted of minerals very fast, especially magnesium! For some people adding some good sea salt or electrolytes (unflavored of course) into their morning water can be a great way to support the adrenals right out of the gate. Even adding a bottle of sparkling or mineral water into your day can help A LOT!
B vitamins are next after minerals, for getting burned through fast with stress. So some people will benefite greatly with a good B complex. Thorn research has 2 great options. This can help with energy, resiliency, and thyroid (which is the adrenals sister is arms per se).
GABA is a great tool but we will look more at that in the upcoming Anxiet tab.
You do NOT want to do strenuous high intensity high impact exercise when you are in a stressed state – this is just silly on so many levels! Opt for more calming and restorative exercise, with lots of fresh air and sunlight exposure (sunlight is awesome for HPA signaling).
This is so important – if you have sleep issues. Actually if you have any stress issues at all or if your human.…limit your exposure to ‘blue light’. Use candles or incandescent lights after 6 pm in your home. I use these light bulbs in my house and red lights in the bathrooms, when we sleep, so we don’t stub our toes in the middle of the night. You can listen to my sleep podcast series to find out more ways to hack blue light in your environment and on electronics.
*Blue light keeps your cortisol elevated and stops melatonin being excreted by the pineal gland!