{"id":7303,"date":"2015-10-19T05:23:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T10:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=7303"},"modified":"2022-03-21T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:25:15","slug":"healing-adrenal-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/19\/healing-adrenal-fatigue","title":{"rendered":"Healing Adrenal Fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In last week\u2019s<\/a> Health Tip I described the exhausted state of Patricia, dragging herself through the day and crashing completely in the afternoon. At first, Patricia was oddly supercharged in the evening, unable to relax or sleep. Later, this energy burst vanished and she simply couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was tired all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before her visit with us at WholeHealth Chicago, Patricia had had quite a few diagnostic tests, all of which came back normal. Since her doctors didn\u2019t believe in the existence of adrenal fatigue, no one bothered to measure her cortisol levels, which were, to put it mildly, pathetic (scroll down to view the graph).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it was time to start treatment, and in this Health Tip I\u2019ll share our approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supplements<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll see a lot of supplements on health food store shelves with variations of \u201cadrenal support\u201d on the label. As happens with many people standing before rows and rows of supplements, you may find yourself a bit dazed, a deer in the headlights, asking \u201cWhich one? Which one do I get?!\u201d Usually people buy far more than they actually need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adrenal glandular<\/u>  These products all contain dried adrenal gland, similar to the dried thyroid gland of Armour thyroid and Nature-Thyroid. Using animal glands to jump-start human glandular deficiencies has been a conventional treatment for decades, and one that fell into disuse when the pharmaceutical industry created synthetic versions. If you\u2019re interested in reading more about glandular therapies, a couple of years ago I wrote two Health Tips on the subject (here<\/a> and here<\/a>). I always liked the idea that the original textbook on glandulars was a joint project of the University of Chicago and the AMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my practice, I recommend the product by Integrative Therapeutics<\/a>, two capsules every morning for three to six months depending on your clinical response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adrenal support<\/u>  These products contain one or more herbs, the most important being Siberian ginseng<\/a>, classified as an adaptogen because it\u2019s one of several herbs that help the body adapt to stress. Siberian ginseng has actually undergone extensive clinical testing that shows it improves your ability to respond to stressful situations<\/a>. Other adrenal support herbs include American ginseng (also called Panax), licorice, wild yam, and the Chinese herb bupleurum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been recommending ITI\u2019s ADREN-PLUS<\/a> for more than two decades and am impressed by its reliability. Take two capsules every morning for 3 to 6 months depending on your clinical response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combo product<\/u>  You can take a single product<\/a> that combines the glandular with the herbal blend. This is pretty much for convenience only since the combined price roughly equals the two others. Again, the dose is two capsules every morning for 3 to 6 months, although many patients choose to continue taking it as a maintenance supplement to help them deal with stress as it arises in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrition<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is not at all difficult. You want to eat to avoid stressing your already pooped adrenals. The main villain is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which actually triggers a fight-or-flight response. Therefore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n