Adrenal Supplements
Learn more about Adrenals:Getting Your Adrenals Started for the DayHow Your Adrenals Deal with Stress Adrenals and Thyroid Adrenals and Sex Hormones Are You Knocking on the Burnout Door? What about Adrenal Hormone Replacement and Glandulars? Getting Your Adrenals Started for the DayYour adrenal glands have two primary functions:
Cortisol is the primary hormone secreted by your adrenal cortex (outer portion of your adrenals). The medulla, or inner portion, secretes adrenaline which is also produced in your nerves and is responsible for the fight or flight feeling, anxiety, fear, etc. How to calm down excess amounts of adrenaline is covered on my Stress and Mood health topic page and is not the subject of this health topic page. Adrenal fatigue or adrenal burnout has to do with how your adrenal cortex is functioning. Cortisol release follows a natural 24-hour rhythm with the highest amount at 6 a.m., which tapers off gradually during the day to the lowest amount around midnight. During sleep your immune system orchestrates housecleaning, and immune cells and cortisol are to some degree synergistic opposites. Thus, rising cortisol in the morning turns off sleep-related immune system repair and turns on your energy activation for the day. Individuals who struggle to get going in the morning have some combination of poor sleep, poor house cleaning (too much toxic garbage just sitting there in the morning), and low adrenal function. If you can’t make it through the morning without your energy crashing out is a sure sign of adrenal fatigue. Caffeine is often used in our society to help turn the adrenal glands on – which is not a problem for most people as long as it is not overdone. Too much reliance on caffeine will drain adrenal glands – which can be judged by consequent cravings for excess carbohydrates, poor sleep, too much jittery feelings, gaining weight despite large amounts of caffeine, and/or needing more and more caffeine and not getting much energy from it. Caffeine is certainly not required for health, but it does assist many people to get going in the morning and to help their bowels clear out in the morning – which are good things. Your adrenals must have some salt to function normally, thus salt restriction may inadvertently crash your adrenals. People with struggling adrenals typically crave salt – and fat. Both in moderation are usually fine unless there is fluid retention or blood pressure problems from too much salt intake. If you are struggling with your energy by mid morning then the worst possible breakfast is mostly carbohydrates or no breakfast at all. Your adrenals talk to your liver to sustain daily energy function and your liver simply must have protein to function properly. This means that 15 – 30 grams of protein at breakfast is needed to get any person with struggling adrenals off on the right foot. A few eggs, peanut butter/almond butter on toast, cottage cheese, or my favorite – a whey protein drink, can make a huge difference. The failure to get enough protein will cause cravings by mid morning, blood sugar drops any time later in the day, and the inability to eat proper sized meals at lunch or dinner. A bad mood or poor stress tolerance will accompany the lower energy state when your adrenals are tired.
How Your Adrenals Deal with StressWhen you are under an increased demand of any type (emotional stress, injury, illness, physical demands, exercise, etc.) your body must turn up its volume knob on energy production. Your adrenals help out by signaling your liver to break down and liberate more calories for immediate use. However, the real purpose of cortisol is to act like oil in a car engine – providing anti-inflammatory lubrication so your body can go faster with less wear and tear. This is different than the 24-hour cortisol pattern that occurs in relation to normal energy and sleep function that is described in the previous section. It means that any time during the day, upon an increased demand for more energy (often triggered by stress), you will get a protective burst of cortisol to help you out. When the increased demand subsides then cortisol levels return to the 24-hour baseline within an hour (if your adrenals are in good shape). If you are under ongoing intense pressure your adrenals work overtime to make cortisol to protect your body from the friction of extra stress. If they can’t keep up then you enter a wear and tear feeling with the typical first signs of poor stress tolerance, easy fatigue, irritability, and an unstable mood. If problems progress you will experience an increase in aches and pains, be more prone to allergies, develop immune-related problems of one kind or another, and develop more significant mood issues. Various nutrients can significantly help your adrenal glands keep up with their demands. As mentioned at the beginning of this section, Pantethine/Stress Helper, Vitamin C, and Daily Energy Multiple Vitamin/B Complex are the basics for really helping out your adrenals.
Adrenals and ThyroidYour adrenals and thyroid work in harmony with each other. Many books on adrenals list all the symptoms of low thyroid as adrenal problems and vice versa. There are differences. Morning energy, stress tolerance, and aerobic fitness are primarily adrenal issues. Thyroid issues are more about afternoon energy level, being too cold, and feeling mentally sluggish or heavy headed (adrenals issues go more with brain fog). Thyroid sets your basic supply of energy for your body to use. Not having enough automatically stresses your adrenals if there is an increased demand for needed energy. Conversely, tired adrenals make it so your body gets too inflamed from even normal activities – forcing your thyroid to go slower than it would like so that you don’t overheat and “burn up.” Ongoing stress can wreak havoc with these problems. If you are someone who struggles with a long list of adrenal and thyroid symptoms then you have to nurse both systems back on at the same time. A good way to do this is to use basic thyroid support along with basic adrenal support. In order to get these systems back into good condition you must find an amount of exercise you can do on a consistent basis and then gradually increase the amount. When you can get a refreshing response to aerobic type exercise that is done at least three times a week, then both your adrenal and thyroid system will be working better. Don’t push too hard with exercise, be consistent and gradually improve what you can do.
Adrenals and Sex HormonesYour adrenal and thyroid systems are the foundation for the smooth hormonal operation of sex hormones. For women this means a smooth running menstrual cycle or transition. For both men and women it means adequate drive. The loss of sex drive or interest is a clear sign of adrenal fatigue. I have designed formulas for both women and men to support natural sex hormone function that work primarily by enhancing your adrenal glands, while specifically modulating sex hormone balance. In general, any time you strengthen adrenal and thyroid function sex hormones will work better. However, some specific help can really come in handy, as desired.
Are You Knocking on the Burnout Door?When your adrenal glands have been working too hard for too long they simply may not be able to keep up. Sometimes this is triggered by emotional loss, physical pain, or simply prolonged stress. Things just start feeling too out-of-control or overwhelming. Your adrenals are the foundation for your entire ability to adapt to anything. This system talks to other systems, such as your subconscious brain (the HPA axis – hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenals). There is another communication loop that goes between your adrenals, thymus gland (emotions-sadness), and serotonin nerves (right brain-state of mood). The out-of-control feeling tracks to HPA axis strain. Any suggestions given so far are likely to help keep the HPA axis in better balance and harmony. If needed, Phosphatidyl serine (PS) can provide significant nourishment to the HPA axis and help promote a feeling of being more in control.* A sad or apathetic feeling tracks to strain in the thymus-adrenal connection. The thymus gland has receptors for Co-enzyme Q10 all over its surface and Q10 not only helps adrenal energy it helps the thymus directly. Both PS and Q10 can be used together to help offset acute situations and get you back on track and feeling better.*
What about Adrenal Hormone Replacement and Glandulars?In the early 1990s I was a pioneer in the use of pregnenolone, DHEA, cortisol, progesterone, adrenal glandulars, and others options. Experience has shown me that it is far better to build your own adrenal hormones from nutrition than to try to replace hormones. This is a far more natural way to balance your health. Direct hormone replacement often behaves unpredictably in people, as a lot of times the receptors for hormones aren’t working well either. Hormones are working as part of a grand symphony and you want to get them all working in harmony – including the master hormone leptin. I never recommend any product with adrenal glandulars. Such foreign animal tissue runs a risk of an autoimmune reaction which is more likely in someone who is adrenal fatigued and consequently inflamed and in an immune hyper tendency. In my mind the risk isn’t worth it and the solutions I have outlined above work far better anyway. The only form of DHEA I use is the 7-Keto metabolite, which does not convert to estrogen. It is in both the Male Plus and Female Plus products in moderate amounts to simply help out – not to replace. Plain DHEA runs the risk of estrogen or androgen excess and women don’t like facial hair and acne too much. Pregnenolone and cortisol are not safe for unsupervised use and have a myriad of side effects that those who promote their use don’t report. Pregnenolone causes breakthrough bleeding in women. A person can feel better from a little cortisol in the beginning and much worse from the same dose several weeks later. Natural progesterone is pretty safe and can help women balance their menstrual cycles, though our Female Plus works well for almost all situations and contains no estrogen or progesterone. To learn more about how your hormones work in connection with each other read my highly informative book, The Leptin Diet – which is the owners manual for how hormones work in your body.
For more information see our related health topic section: Stress, Energy, and Mood |
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