First thing that you can do is change your lifestyle. If you suffer from adrenal fatigue there is something in your life that needs to be changed. You just have to sit down and think of all the elements in your life that could be causing you stress. Examples that it gives in the book are: chemicalized water (there is enough fluoride in water to suppress a normal thyroid), financial pressures, emotional outlet, surgeries, unhappy at work/home, prescription/non prescription drugs, chronic pain, overwork, sickness, junk food, soft drinks, tobacco, lack of fresh air, alcohol, coffee and the list goes on. You have to take a step back and look at the big picture and really be honest with yourself and think of all the things that could be contributing to your decline in health.
For me I now know looking back on the last 9 years, my health problems started with stress and just snow balled from there because my stress triggers were never addressed. I had 2 pregnancies back to back that were stressful because we were having issues financially and I never got to relax and enjoy my babies. I went back to work after 6 months with my first and 4 months after the second. In between those 2 pregnancies it always seemed like when we got ahead one of us would be laid off or unexpected bills came our way. It was like trying to go up stream without a paddle. Right after I had my second child is when everything went down hill. I was having all kinds of issues. Sciatic nerve, gall bladder removal, umbilical hernia, diagnose with hypothyroidism, cysts on my ovaries, 2 miscarriages, anemia, endometrial ablation due to severe menstruation (uterus was burned to slow down my periods as I couldn't reproduce my blood fast enough month to month), 2 failed root canals that were re-done twice and this January had one of those teeth extracted from an infection from a routine dental visit. Once I turned to alternative medicine I paid out of pocket to get more answers and found out that I have Hashimotos, celiac, SIBO, leaky gut, helicobacter pylori, methylation issues, digestion issues, adrenal fatigue and a few other issues. That is what 9 years of unresolved stress and unchanged lifestyle changes have done to me.
If you want things to change in your life, you have to change and I know this from experience. Nobody is going to come to your door and give you the EASY button from Staples to push. You have to take the reins in your life and do what needs to be done, the first steps are always the hardest. I always thought that I was eating healthy but know now that was far from true. I was eating all the wrong things and in the wrong ratios. I started digging into research and now know much more about health and what I should be eating to benefit myself. There is no cookie cutter diet as everyone is different. We have different personalities, different blood types, different goals. There is no fix all diet and you have to look at the whole picture. The short version of this is do the things in your life that make you feel good physically and emotionally, try to drop the rest if you can. There will be things in your life that you just can't change but you can change how you react to them. Remove the negative talk in your head as positive thoughts attract positive people or situations just like negative talk attract negative.
Next thing to work on is to make sure that you are taking time for yourself everyday to relax or unwind. Making sure that you sleep enough is key. The book indicates that you should be in bed before 11pm every night before your second wind hits. I know this first hand, as I try to start and get myself ready for bed by 10pm. If not, those are the nights that I have trouble sleeping or staying asleep. If possible, stay asleep until past 9am. For me this is not possible because I work Mon-Fri but I do this on the weekends. Apparently there is "something magical about the restorative power of sleep between 7-9am in the morning for people with adrenal fatigue." I can say that those times where I wake up and go back to bed until around 9am are the best naps I ever have and feel most refreshed. If you are waking up in the middle of the night, this might be due to your adrenal glands not able to keep your glucose high enough to get through the night.
If you feel like you need a break during the day, the best thing to do is lay down for someone with adrenal fatigue. Sitting down is not enough and you will feel much more restored after laying down for 15-3o minutes. I nap most days after work to get my second wind and get through house hold chores.
Exercise is something else that will help you recover but it needs to be the right kind. You cannot push yourself too fast as you will just burn yourself out even more. I did this a few weeks ago. I was starting to feel much better and started running between 5-10km a day and within 3 weeks I was so tired I had to stop. The best exercises for someone with adrenal fatigue are a combination of aerobics (builds stamina), anaerobics (builds strength) and flexibility (increase range of motion). I found an image on-line to show examples of each type of exercise to start incorporating into your daily routine.
I think that is quite a bit of information for today. We've talked about lifestyle changes in this post so the next post will concentrate on changes that should be made to your diet.
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