Your story is very similar to mine. I had to back off on the exercise and do more restorative stuff like walking and yoga. Exercise is stressful and not ideal when trying to recover from AF. Take minerals! Eat fruit with greens, provides good balance of sugar and salt minerals which is so important for weary adrenals. Also, I started grazing on food every 2 to 3 hours and included more “healthy” carbs like sweet potatoes, lentils and all the squashes. Get a good dose of those healthy carbs for dinner. When I implemented these changes into my routine, my energy improved, my sleep improved (no more waking at 3am!) my dry skin improved, my cognitive function improved! This was a good article although I would like to have seen a correlation between healthy carbs vs. unhealthy carbs. All carbs are not created equal.

HI Sera – Healing the adrenal glands can be a low and tricky process, but you’re on the right track. Often times, something called “pregnenolone steel” will happen (tons of information explaining this on the internet) but essentially your body is using up pregnenolone and thus a deficiency results. This is why many adrenal programs will include DHEA and pregnenolone drops as well. Cars are also needed for the adrenals to heal and fucntion, so it’s definitely a balance. I wouldn’t suggest cutting carbs to an extreme, for that reason. You may want to ask your doctor about adding in those two hormones and see if that helps at all.

I’ve been healing my adrenals for the past year with ongoing improvements in my saliva tests. However, 3am cortisol spikes have recently entered in my life in conjunction with low stomach acid problems. I suspect this might have to do with my progressive increase of intensifying of my workouts, and reducing my calories (especially my carbs) in an attempt to lose all the weight I gained, and ironically my weight has been going up despite these efforts! Ugh! Also, my progesterone has dropped radically in the past year and I’m trying to figure out where this fits into all. It’s as if fixing one hormonal issue simply leads to uncovering another hormonal issue. I am working with a functional medicine doctor, and, would like to learn from those who have lived through the hormonal mess and made it through to the other side. Your experience, wisdom and guidance are deeply appreciated.

HI Tiffany – low HCl can cause constipation or the heavy feeling of food just sitting there. You can read more here: https://healthygut.com/3-tests-for-low-stomach-acid/

How and what Betaine HCL to supplement with: https://healthygut.com/how-to-supplement-with-betaine-hcl-for-low-stomach-acid/

Our Solving Leaky Gut program includes a specific protocol for adrenal problems including dietary and lifestyle recommendations as well as a targeted supplement protocol specific to the adrenal system.

You can read about the program and sign up for a free webinar on this exact topic here: http://solvingleakygut.com/webinar/live-qva/

Steve and Jordan’s research has led them to believe that hormones and gut health are closely linked, so the SLG program addresses both hormonal and adrenal conditions.

The Master program also includes several masterclasses that might be of interest to you specifically including:

The Gut-Thyroid Connection with Izabella Wentz, PharmD
The Gut-Hormone Connection – With Dr. Dan Kalish
The Gut-Metabolism Connection – With Dan Pardi

If you have adrenal fatigue and leaky gut what is the best thing to do.

Lysine 500 mg daily

Hi Star – try consuming your carbs with a protein/fat source so you avoid that spike. Also, if you’re consuming whole food carbohydrates like potatoes this should also help eliminate the spike. Eating too few carbs can certainly take it’s toll on health and may have played a role in the condition you’ve developed, it’s hard to say for sure.

Hi Kate,
Have you read Nurishing Traditions? I soak my oats and other grains overnight and this has helped with my digestion. Started taking some sporadic probiotics like coag bacillus too.

HI LIsa, that’s a tough question. While it’s possible your adrenals will improve, the unfortunate truth is that it will be very difficult to heal if constantly under chronic stress.

Hi Ben –

Initially, high cortisol can actually cause weight loss. However, if your cortisol becomes chronically elevated, it can lead to weight gain (especially around your stomach) and resistance to weight loss. Both chronically low and high cortisol can lead to changes in weight. The only wy to know for sure what you’re dealing with is to have your levels tested. We recommend the DUTCH urine test – you can get it here: http://www.DirectLabs.com/SCDLifestyle

Controlling your anxiety will the be the first step in healing. We all have stressful circumstances – learning how to deal with them is critical for healing. Meditation can really help deal with the unchangeable stressful circumstances and is a greta place to start. We love the Calm app for getting started meditating.

Also great point about not eating enough. But many don’t eat (or eat enough) because they are anxious, so therefore they are not as hungry, or simply can’t control the environment that maybe is thier main source of stress. ie (screaming babies keeping parents up at night
bad neighborhood, work hours, night shifts, )

In those situations what do you suggest? Calming herbs/aminos?

Glad we can help Amy 🙂

This gives me hope and realization on what I need to be focusing on to heal my body as this has been a very tough ride on my body to put it nicely

I have always been a very active person and with this new round of adrenal fatigue my physical body is responding to it by turning off my ankles – making it very painful to walk etc. thank goodness for high-paying tolerances! But I now know that this is serious stuff not a game – and any protocol I doctors can give me Are not going to help unless I actually eat I s are not going to help unless I actually eat – sufficient calories etc.

I have been paleo – fish only for over a year and I’m now incorporating more regular Paleo eating into my lifestyle with The grass fed meats etc. Dash I should note that I was vegetarian for a few years

Stress is always been something that has been a primary role in my life – and realize how much that really affects me – the American public !!!

After reading this I have a new hope and new light and appreciate all that you’re very informative data that you set forth

I am bound and determined not to drive myself into the hospital again because of my health or the wei after reading this I have a new hope and new light and appreciate all that you’re very informative data that you set forth

I am bound and determined not to drive myself into the hospital again because of my health or low weight and sickness from stress and being underfed

I appreciate the fact that mentioned that these so-called wait we will put on healing our body – will come off and be at a healthier maintainable level where your body would like it to be after you’re done getting yourself healthy – I really needed to hear that

So thankful that there are people out there like you in the Paleo community who are helping people like me who are having questions about protocols that they’re spending a lot of money on supplements etc

Hi Cari – thanks for reaching out. It is possible you could be over-training, even if you don’t feel “over-trained.” I was over-trained for a while and it made me feel terrible – I had high cortisol, was cold, fatigued constantly, hungry all the time, and grumpy!! I was only running about 20 miles a week (spread out over several days) so I had no idea that was TOO much – but when combined with other stresses in my life and adrenal issues, it was. You might consider cutting back on your training and adding in more gentle, restorative movement like walking and yoga and really focusing on self-care. Take a bath, too! https://healthygut.com/real-food-tips-constipation/

I hope this helps 🙂 Overcoming over-training is hard (especially when running is your stress relief) but you can do it and will feel better for it.

Hi Sarah – we haven’t used that one so we’re not sure if it would be legal. A good place to start is checking the ingredients against this list: http://www.pecanbread.com/supplements.html – remember you get to decide what works for your body.

Hi TM thanks for commenting. I’m sorry to hear you’re going through such a difficult time. Our Solving Leaky Gut Program addresses adrenal problems and is helping many people achieve better health. You can learn more by signing up for a free webinar here: http://solvingleakygut.com/webinar/live/

HI Karen, we suggest the Leaky Gut diet, WHich also includes protocols for for adrenal fatigue. We suggest learning more here: solvingleakygut.com You can also watch our Free wbinar and register here: http://solvingleakygut.com/webinar/live/?inf_contact_key=feb10c4385dfede8ad010c6546ad98f55f5c89ac8065688ae0901838e0a81588

Really.. many thanks for starting ths up. This website is something that’s needed on the internet, someone with a bit of
originality!

Hi Carol, thank you for reaching out! We highly suggest you work closely with a practitioner to help you interpret the results as well as provide a plan to support your adrenals. If you are in need of a practitioner, you can find one here: https://healthygut.com/practitioners/ It would be best to have a qualified individual look at your health history and take all of this useful information into account when reading these results.

Thank you!

Hi Dalia, thanks for reaching out! Our viewpoint on these fillers is that for most people they are not an issue as there is such a small amount, but you’ll have to pay attention to your body if you decide to go with them. We’ve worked with many people and have used these ourselves without issue. If you’re the type that seems to react to anything and everything, then you may want to listen to this podcast: https://healthygut.com/3-trends-preventing-you-from-getting-healthy-podcast-63/

Hi Warren, interesting comment, thanks for sharing. Like you I experienced Glandular Fever over a decade ago (I am 29 now) so it hit me in my prime and when I was at quite a high level of sport & gym training. I have never been able to get back to the same level since for any sustained period of time (again low endurance is an issue as you also mentioned) & it’s got to the point where everyone is like “well you should be over your glandular fever by now and feel 100% recovered” but I think it damages your system, as you’ve found out with the kinesiology (which is something I’ve always been interesting in trying but haven’t yet tried). I have been working with the SCD guys – Jordan in particular – to try to unravel the digestive/adrenal issues I have. I’ve seen improvement but now I’m at the stage where I am trying to increase my activity & start doing gym training again but this past week I’ve been running so low on energy that I haven’t even left my house let alone done any exercise! So it’s still a very up-and-down road and I’ll continue to follow all the advice from the guys here and hopefully one day be totally symptom-free 🙂

Great article by the way Steve & Jordan, I had never really thought about increasing carbohydrates before in relation to adrenal fatigue, I’ve been focusing on ensuring I have enough protein & fats, but the info you shared about carbohydrates makes sense…it’s easy to slip into the low-carb mode when starting out on a SCD/Auto-Immune Paleo diet…I’m really trying to tighten up my diet again at the moment after slipping a little lately & realised that I’ve probably been a bit too-low carb lately, especially when doing my gym training, so that’s probably not a good combination when trying to overcome adrenal fatigue as well! It is hard to increase carbohydrates to the levels you suggest when only eating vegetables & fruit, if you can digest starch well this would be a lot easier & at the moment I’m not eating starch, but I’ll try “dancing with carbohydrates” as you suggest!

Hi Nancy! Thanks for reaching out =) We suggest searching for a Functional Medicine Practitioner by using http://functionalmedicine.org. Best wishes!

Hi Loriann,

Thanks for reaching out about the Gut-Hormone Event! We’re so grateful that you’re interested =)

Yes, you can certainly benefit greatly from this by purchasing a seat to get a recording and transcript. Let us know if you have any further questions.

No, you want to keep your blood sugar under control. Focus on that while working on the adrenal fatigue piece via a solid supplement program and with the help of a qualified practitioner