Everything You Need to Know About Adrenal Fatigue.

I have been re-diving into adrenal fatigue because after I got my HMTA results back, it kicked me in the butt on how much more I need to take care of myself.  Especially once I thought about how bad my anxiety was getting and my addiction to the coffee (and all caffeine). 🙁   I got real with myself and created a simple personalized for me and what I needed. For me that meant cutting caffeine, nourishing my body with b-vitamins, potassium, sodium, and LOOKING AT MY STRESS.

So let’s dive into exactly what you need to know about adrenal fatigue so you can stop feeling so exhausted, overwhelmed, and dizzy.

The Purpose of your Adrenal Glands.

Your adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys and are no bigger than a walnut. They secrete hormones that influence many processes in our body. Our energy and ability to handle stress is dependent on these 2 glands working. The adrenals release hormones like epinephrine, norepinephrine, aldosterone, cortisol, and various sex hormones.

These hormones have 3 main functions which include:

1. Maintaining fluid balance (sodium and potassium)
2. Regulating blood sugar and inflammation
3. Producing Sex Hormones.

What is Adrenal Fatigue?

The technical term is called HPA axis dysregulation. Many people don’t like the term “adrenal fatigue” because the adrenals aren’t physically tired. 

When you react to stress your hypothalamus releases a signal and sends to the pituitary gland which then sends a message to your adrenals to release cortisol.  And it is this signal on this pathway that weakens after being triggered over and over from high cortisol for long periods of time. If your adrenals don’t get the message to make cortisol, you will feel tired and have low energy.  Our chronic stress state leaves us burnt out and dealing with low energy and major digestive issues.

What are the Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue?

You can be at different levels of adrenal fatigue so you do not need to resonate with all these symptoms.

Dizziness
Low Blood Pressure
Tired all the time
Addicted to Caffeine
Second Wind after 10pm
Need Coffee to Function in the Morning
Irritability
Anxiety
Depression
Hair Loss
Brain Fog
Decreased Libido
Teeth Grinding
Low Back Pain
Craving Salt
Easily Perspiring
Allergies
Headaches

What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?

Chronic Stress
Feeling Stuck and Overwhelmed
Toxic Metals
Nutrient Deficiencies
Gut Infections
Parasites
Food Sensitivities (or vice versa)
Working Too Hard without Resting
Overexercising
Chronic Pain
Traumatic Life Events

How to Nourish Your Adrenals Back to Health.

• Eat enough food.

Skipping meals and having low blood sugar is very stressful on the body.  You want to eat enough food to get all the vitamins and minerals you can from real food. Limit processed foods which can mess up the blood sugar and damage the body (adding more stress).  I recommend eating 3 meals a day with snacks as needed. Do not be afraid of food!

• Eliminate Caffeine. 

Caffeine especially coffee can release cortisol in the body.  If you do drink coffee, please do so with food.  And slowly transition to more tea.  And then less caffeinated tea to more herbal tea.  This doesn’t have to be a overnight shift, but decreasing your dependence on caffeine will allow the adrenals to rest and recover.  I like drinking herbal teas, nettles tea, chicory root tea (tastes like coffee) and watermelon or coconut water.

• B – Vitamins

Stress depletes b-vitamins and they are so crucial for supporting energy. I prefer a B-vitamin complex to get a balance of all the B-vitamins.  If you aren’t interested in supplements, try nettles tea which is packed full of B-vitamins and minerals that will nourish your adrenals.

• Vitamin C

Vitamin C is especially depleted under high stress and it can be very helpful to supply the body with lots of vitamin C and to help them bounce back from stress.

• Support Potassium Levels.

Potassium is an essential mineral that supports balance of fluids and electrolytes. We need about 4700 mg a day of this mineral as it plays such an important role in our body.  Roles like: moving your muscles (like your heart ), transmitting nerve impulses, maintaining blood pressure, moving nutrients and waste into and out of the cell, etc.  Getting this mineral from food is always best so add in more: potatoes, avocados, coconut water, beet greens, and nettles tea to get in lots of potassium!

• SALT IT UP.

Sodium is another critical mineral that has been demonized by our fear of salt.   But it is SO important to balance potassium and sodium to maintain fluids and support healthy nerve and muscle function.  Sprinkle a high-quality sea salt on your food and in your water.  Do not be afraid of too much salt especially when you eat a mostly real food diet (without processed foods).

• Sleep More.

Society has taught us to believe that the more we do, the “better” we are. We end up sacrificing sleep to spend more time working.  To support adrenal health, we need to sleep at least 8 hours a day.  And try to go to bed before 10pm to avoid the late-night second wind of energy.

• Take Magnesium Supplement.
  

Due to stress and our fast-paced lifestyle, SO many of us are depleted in magnesium.    Magnesium is essential mineral to support relaxation, digestion and over 600 other reactions in the body! I love taking it before bed to help me to get an amazing night’s sleep.  And it helps you to poop! Trust me you need to add more of this mineral in your life.

• Add in Calming Essential Oils.

Essential oils can help reset the entire nervous system through the plant chemicals. Inhaling their scent is one way of directly using these oils to help relax and release anxiety.  My favorite oils to help calm and uplift include lavender, frankincense, bergamot, and lemongrass (my absolute favorite oil).

•   Take Ashwaganda.

Trying adaptogenic herbs can be GREAT, but this is not what I would recommend if you just starting out.  If you are doing everything above and want to add in more support, try ashwaganda.  Adaptogens are super cool.  They support your body’s ability to handle emotional and physical stress and restore balance.  If you need more energy, it will uplift you and if you need to be more relaxed, it will calm you.

• Find the Root Cause to your Adrenal Fatigue

Last but definitely not least is finding the cause of your adrenal fatigue. Bacteria overgrowth, candida, autoimmune disease, chronic stress, overwhelm, and everything listed above can be taxing the adrenals. If you don’t know what the issue is, I recommend specialty lab testing. Testing will provide so much clarity on what you need to do to find healing and re-balance the body.

Develop a Plan to Manage Stress.

If you do not manage your stress and develop a plan, you will stay stuck in adrenal fatigue. 

First, you need to be honest with yourself.  How do you manage your stress?? Recently, I concluded that my self-care is crap. I thought I was doing just fine.  But my reality is that I love working and I forgot to slow down.

Self-care is about doing things that nourish you.  You don’t need a list of self-care ideas.  All you need to know is what makes you happy, what makes you forget about the stress, what makes you feel calm.  Ask yourself these questions and journal on it.

Here is my personal plan for handling stress:

Burnout and too tired to function?
Read a fiction book.

Angry and upset at XYZ situation?
Read a Book to Nourish my Mindset and Lift my Spirits. Ie. Getting Back to Happy

Struggling with Negative thoughts?
Journal and figure out what my feelings are telling me.

And I try to schedule my weekend nights as “off” and not spend it working. I exercise often to burn off stress and worry. And I get lots of sleep of every night so I have enough energy to power through every day!

I like to repeat my new favorite mantra to support this way of living:   The more fun I have, the more I get done!

Honestly, this mantra is SO true!!

My self-care is a work in progress, but whenever I feel overwhelm, upset, irritated, or anxious, I focus on these things to bring me back to calm.

And there you go! These are the absolute fundamentals of adrenal fatigue and what you need to know! What did you most take away from this article? What do you want to add in your life?
Comment below and let me know!

PS! If you are looking for personalized support on your healing journey, I am now accepting 1:1 clients!  I support my clients through specialty lab testing to find EXACTLY what their body needs and use my detective skills to connect the dots on their unique past and develop a simple to follow plan to get them back to feeling amazing! Just click here to apply (so I know a bit more of what is going on) and we can chat about exactly how we can restore your health! yay!