The irony of this post? I fell asleep last night after I typed out the title. I've noticed in the passed month that waking up is excruciating, I'm exhausted during workouts I would typically crush and I have zero, and I mean zero, tolerance for even the slightest stress. My joints hurt, my eyes are twitching constantly. I'm craving junk food insatiably. What the hell is happening?
I wanted to write about this topic because it is so common. People experience varying degrees of adrenal fatigue from something quite manageable like myself, to being unable to leave bed or function. What's happening basically is you've burned all the gas in your tank, and yet you're still gunning it down the highway with no gas station in sight. After severe or prolonged stress, you've overworked your adrenal glands and they are now performing sub-optimally. This leaves you with feelings similar to depression, a general sense of "unwellness" and being fucking tired no matter how much you sleep. Along with many other symptoms I'll discuss.
Your poor, tired adrenal glands are still trying to secrete stress hormones when needed - when you're working out, when you're late for work & a million other times a day. Your body tries to compensate for your adrenal gland's slack, and pulls vitamin C away from collagen production and immune cell mobilization to make stress hormones (Oh hey, sore joints and gettin' sick!) as well as magnesium (Ah, good ol' full body muscle aches and eye twitching).
Your adrenal glands create cortisol which regulates your sleep/wake cycles, metabolic rate and blood sugar balance. As you constantly pump out cortisol for perceived stress, you eventually will have low cortisol levels and then low blood sugar. Cue the sugar cravings as your body's attempt to seek balance and get an energy boost. Unforunately, turning to sugar, coffee and other stimulants actually just makes things harder on your adrenals. I know, it's an evil cycle.
Other symptoms include dizziness as these glands control blood pressure through hormones, and an inability to stay asleep, brutal PMS, poor memory, lower sex drive and a weak immune system. Most concerning for me though was that even the most mild inconveniences threw me into a panic. I have no threshold, no tolerance for stressful situations. I burned my food the other day right before I had to leave for work; the only meal I had for a 1:00 PM-9:00 PM shift ... and burst into tears. Yeah.
So, what can you do?
Eat fat. Healthy fats are integral to hormone production, and brain health. Nuts, nut butter, wild tuna or salmon, taking fish oils (omega-3 fatty acid), avocados, extra virgin olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, grass-fed butter or ghee are among some of your options!
Magnesium, y'all. Dr. Mandy let me know that the form you want to take magnesium in is "magnesium bisglycinate" which will help your muscles to relax, calm your nervous system and help you to sleep, aid in electrolyte balance and is a co-factor in over 300 enzymatic reactions, so its kind of important! Make sure you get it in the correct, absorbable form and from a good quality source.
B-vitamin complex, homie! B vitamins work together, so make sure you get a "complex" which includes the eight B vitamins. They support the brain's myelin, increase energy, aid in food metabolism and act as co-factors to create neurotransmitters. They are so crucial to mental health! Deficiency symptoms can manifest as anxiety, panic attacks, depression & restlessness.
I plan on supplementing with all of the above to start, as well as kicking coffee and sugar completely, and upping my dietary fats (More avocado? Poor me) I also plan on starting IV therapy with Dr. Mandy - this therapy offers vitamins and minerals in the most quickly absorbed and assimilated form for acute treatment. People report amazing results with this therapy, so I'll keep you updated on my experience. I also plan on easing up on training/working out, which will be the hardest part for me, but better in the long run. I'm also working on incorporating float tanks, meditation and gentle yoga classes into my week.
Do any of you have experience with adrenal fatigue? I'd love to hear from you.
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