By Julia Gumm
Full disclosure: This article just might suck. Please keep reading, but my usual flair for wit, sensical sentences and my (at least) rudimentary grasp of grammar might be lacking. And there’s a reason for that.
The reason is, I am operating under a certain haze of exhaustion. I’ve spent the past few days lying in bed, nursing cravings for gallons of orange juice, dark leafy greens, clams, and ice cream with maple syrup. I have had no caffeine. I have now officially watched every Golden Girls episode ever aired at least four times. Probably more. My skin is a pasty hue, my memory sucks and my thighs are protesting the prospect of a mere flight of stairs. So what the hell happened?
Well, looking back it was a perfect storm. Now as some of you may know, I am a past sufferer of ?adrenal fatigue? whatever the heck that is exactly. It’s a broad term and I’d say that anyone who has felt ?burnt out? from chronic stress knows what it feels like. It hits us in varying degrees and for different reasons. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, eating disorders, drug addictions, chronic dieting, not enough sleep, too much caffeine, too much exercise…any of these things can cause (or be symptomatic of) ?adrenal fatigue. Basically what it means is you’ve been running the systems on red alert for too long and that behaviour is rewiring things to function sub-optimally. You get lots of cravings for cortisol-dampening foods, you gain abdominal weight, you mess with the parts of the brain that govern memory and emotions causing ?brain fog? and you generally feel like garbage.
It’s hard to catch a break with adrenal fatigue since few people acknowledge it as a real condition in the first place. Nope, as long as you don’t have a cold or cancer, you’re in the clear, right? Now pick yourself up off that couch and get some exercise, you lazy sack of sod! (I don’t think ‘sod? really works there, but hey, I told you this was probably going to suck.)
Well I’m here to tell you that adrenal fatigue is a real thing. And you’ve got a pretty good shot at overcoming it if you follow some basic techniques laid out here. And once you start feeling better, you’re going to want to be more active. You’re going to want to push your boundaries. I feel great? you’ll say. I feel like I can take on the world! You’ll start thinking of the stuff you used to do in your previous life, before you were bogged down with all this adrenal fatigue nonsense.
?You know what? you’ll muse to yourself. ? I think it’s time I start exercising like I used to. And man, I love coffee. Maybe I’ll start drinking it again. Not too much, just some. And maybe now is the time to take on a few radical life changes like moving or becoming a vegetarian or taking care of a needy, elderly person or waking up at dawn or jogging every morning!
Slow down there, Killer. You’re not ?fixed. You can’t just go and do all the crap you did that got you into this mess in the first place. You have got to slow down. Do you hear me? The lesson in adrenal fatigue is that You. Have. Got. To. Slow. Down.
And I’m a fine one to talk.
Here’s what my past month has looked like:
So I’ve never been a morning person. My natural rhythms have always leaned towards the ?night owl? end of the spectrum, but recently I decided that I was going to start sleeping on the floor in front of a huge array of eastern-facing windows which would force me to awake at dawn. At first, it was exhilarating. Felt great. So I 
decided to jump start my mornings with a brisk uphill walk. Then my chicken got sick. I’m sorta in love with my pet chicken, so that meant that I had to be up at the veritable ass crack to get her fresh hot breakfast cooking (that’s right). I also started hiking again. I call them walks, but anyone I have ever dragged on these walks calls them hikes. I live in the foothills of a mountain region (made popular by crappy honeymoon resorts), and the inclines and declines make for rough travel. I was taking longer, more difficult walks then I had since way back before my adrenals went south. I felt great. And hell, I was feeling so good, why not start ripping up the lawn in preparation for a garden come spring? I don’t have a rototiller or anything, but no matter! What did the good Lord give us hands for???
I found myself looking for things of a kinetic nature to do, anything. I was in the mood to lift things, throw things, turn over deep, heavy soil by hand. But something had slipped back into my routine without my having noticed. Well, I didn’t notice because I wasn’t feeling the negative side effects of it so I felt I could get away with it. I was back to guzzling coffee. Oh coffee, such sweet ambrosia! I got a new french press and began brewing my own since no matter how many shots of espresso I added to it, the java at my favorite coffee stop just wasn’t cutting the mustard. I was drinking coffee to put hair on my chest, and I loved it. I went to bed with the solace of knowing that my coffee awaited me come morning. In addition to that, I had drastically reduced my meat intake as I was trying to prove to myself that I could live within my personal ethics, i.e, I think animals are really cute and I feel bad about eating them. Hey. When you have a sick chicken and you look up herbal remedies for them and the first things that come up are recipes (garlic chicken, to be exact), you start contemplating your habits. After you get done laughing.
I should have known trouble was coming when my bowels lapsed into a three week long state of constipation.
I should have known trouble was coming when I felt constantly hungry but never satisfied, like there was something my body needed that I wasn’t registering.
I should have known trouble was coming when I stopped being able to sleep through the night, despite being really really really tired.
I should have known trouble was coming when I hit a wall of total and utter exhaustion while out on a walk.
I should have known trouble was coming when I became totally unbearable (even to myself) until imbibing heady amounts of that dark, rich, heavenly brew…it’s been a few days since I’ve had a cup of coffee, can you tell?
Then one morning I could barely peel myself out of bed (floor), but I had to anyway. And the damn chicken required special attention, the kind that delayed my breakfast for hours. But I had a goal, to keep increasing the length of my walks and I had to meet it. So four shots of espresso and not enough lunch later, I was out on a walk. Not a long one. But long enough to be too much.
And the next day I woke up and I felt light headed, achy, blurry eyed, unbelievably tired, extremely depressed, generally miserable…and that’s how it’s been ever since! Wee!
But let this serve as a warning: Adrenal fatigue did not just happen to you on a fluke. You probably have some tendencies that led you to this unseemly fate, and once you feel better, you best keep checking yourself or you just might be wrecking yourself. Oh god, that was bad. Check yourself before you wreck yourself? Oh man. My brain is fried.
Anyway, here are some helpful hints to avoid ?rebound fatigue? as I’m going to coin it. Is that brilliant? Or stupid? Or do people already say that? I don’t know, I’ll have to wait till I’m all better to find out.
1.) Beware the catecholamine honeymoon. Once you get your adrenals back on line, you can easily again fall prey to the manipulations of cortisol. And you’re probably the kind of person who relishes the kind of high it initially gives you, so you’re apt to forget about the inevitable crash. Constantly evaluate your stress and activity load. Eat at regular intervals, don’t diet, and don’t do something dumb like pull an entire food group out of your system while simultaneously beginning a trying exercise program. Sheesh. Who the hell does something that dumb, anyway?
2.) If you feel like you need caffeine to wake up or get through something, don’t do it. Just don’t do it, man. All that caffeine is going to do is turn on your cortisol response. If you don’t feel like you have the energy, that’s because you don’t. Drugging yourself is not going to help you in the long run. And especially if you feel you have to keep increasing your dose to the point that a casual flirtation with said beverage has turned into such a commitment that you’re purchasing new apparati to assist in brewing the perfect cup, that is really a signal that you’ve gone overboard. Dial it back, friend.
3.) If you begin noticing telltale signs of metabolic changes like reduced body temperature, lowered resistance to infection, fatigue or constipation, take note. Eat a little more. Sleep a little more, like say, past dawn if you can muster it. Reduce endurance exercise.
4.) A word about endurance exercise: it’s probably a bad idea. Studies have shown that (duh) moderate to heavy exercise increases cortisol levels (which can increase belly fat stores.) Conversely, light exercise has been shown to actually reduce cortisol levels. So tune out the love songs about pain and punishment you learned from athletic shoe commercials and take a stroll. Do a little yoga. Swim. But don’t get all crazy about it, ya nut.
5.) Meditate. Stay calm. Be mindful. Take a chill pill. Some good ones to try are various adaptogens like ashwagandha, holy basil and rhodiola.
Well I’ll tell you what, after that last plate of clams with swiss chard and salted butter, topped off with orange juice and ice cream with molasses and maple syrup for dessert, I am feeling a little bit better! I really am! But I’m still gonna take it easy for the next few days. I’m gonna follow my weird cravings, probably eat a whole side of cow, sleep till noon and be the laziest sonofabitch this side of the Mississippi. And if you find yourself in a pickle like I did, I advise that you do the same.
This is so true to my own personal experience as well. I took almost 10 months to really start feeling “normal” (whatever the hell THAT is) after a childhood and young adulthood filled with trauma, abuse and chronic stress to the MAX. I quit coffee for about 6 of those 10 months and now that I’ve made so many other diet/lifestyle changes, I can enjoy it without the negative side effects, one cup o’day. Great post!
Since you are listening to what your body is demanding food wise, why not listen a bit more to the fact that your body did start waking you up earlier. I too was a night owl, but my body wakes now as soon as there is a glimmer in the sky. So now I’m backing up the 9 hours my body wants and hitting the hay at 9pm. Simultaneously to this change, my body no longer needs thyroid meds!
And because I’m susceptible SAD, I want to be soaking up as much daylight as I can find. Thus a win/win.
Well, I can’t really sleep when there’s blinding light in my eyes. We’re talking a whole face of a wall that’s almost entirely in windows with no curtains. It was fun for awhile, but I’ve never done well with dawn awakenings. Not unless I can go to sleep as soon as it gets dark, which is unrealistic. Let’s see, it’s 4:52 and the sun is already down. Know what I mean? Also I like nights. They’re when I have my mojo.
I went back to my bedroom with the tiny window and slept in my bed and when the sun came up I did wake up for a hot second, but then went back to sleep until 9. I feel much better. I’ve read stuff about cortisol spiking in the early morning, and if you’ve had adrenal fatigue it’s a good idea to sleep through that spike if you can. I don’t know how true that is, but I definitely feel more rested when I sleep until around 9 and stay up till midnight.
You and that damn chicken. Just eat the thing already!
You watch your mouth, Stone. That is my angel baby hen thing you’re talkin’ bout. Besides, she’s old and and her meat would be gross and stringy.
Ah, just braise the heck out of her and stick her in some raviolis. Mwah!
No sir! I will not! She’s my special friend! My special hen friend!
I enjoy 1-2 cups of coffee in the morning with plenty of cream, gelatin and sugar.
Thank you for this article! I tend to overdo it during the week and then I’m exhausted all weekend, sometimes with a migraine. When I give myself plenty of rest during the week, I do much better on the weekends.
Also, I have had some extreme stress this past week and it has been so energizing for me to get outside in the sun for walks and to spend lots of time by myself, watching movies or reading. I’m an introvert, so it especially helps to be alone when I’m stressed, plus a few outings with friends.
And caffeine usually makes me tired afterward, so I am trying to stay away from it. Sometimes there’s more energy from it, but usually not.
The stress I have had this week is because of some of my family members who are going through some very heartbreaking challenges. I think it’s worse than anything me or my family have had to deal with before.
My parents are staying with them, helping to support them. My Mom texted me the other day and told me that she’s been snacking a lot to relieve the stress. I texted back and told her to eat salty, starchy, sugary, saturated-fatty snacks. One of my favorites is boiled or baked sweet potatoes, with butter, salt and brown sugar on them. And good cheeseburgers. That stuff always helps me when I’m dealing with stress. Plenty of sleep helps too!
Thanks Beth. I hope you and your family make it through your ordeal ok:)
Thank you Julia! :-)
that was an exceptionally real and I though,t quite witty post. i chuckled several times. i really like the “check yourself before you wreck yourself”. I can totally relate to your driven personality. I have been berating myself lately about why I will devise some amazing plan to torture and deprive myself. I have figured out that I really do want to be healthy, and as you know you can find facts that prove that anything someone comes up with in regards to health is truly the best , healthiest route, or the only route. People have some pretty convincing information. And success stories. As I have gotten older and have read hundreds of books and blogs on the stuff, I have been better able to wade through the crap. Someone mentioned Sally Fallon the other day. She looks pretty good on the back of her book, maybe even a little on the”under-nourished” side. And now look at her, She is not exactly the poster child for optimal health. So in regards to health I have really been praying about it honestly, because I am tired of tormenting myself and at the same time I do believe there is an optimal diet. What i feel in my spirit is similar to what your post declares. Listen to your body. Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired, etc. etc.., and you will learn to really honor your body and give it the nourishment and rest it needs. Or sex or a walk on the beach. We are so driven in our society( and what, do we really want to impress everyone with the perfect body?) that we have lost touch with what really makes us happy and peaceful.
One of my favorite people is my little brother. He has always been a big boy. He loves food, loves to play, loves to laugh. he makes me laugh my ass off. And i realize that his outlook and carefree attitude are far more healthy than my driven to lose weight and beat my records for the most workouts done in one day way of doing things.
I do love coffee though, just a cup a day. A really strong one. For me it is more stressful not to drink it and force myself to abstain, it is sweet pleasure. I do have two small kids though, so that gives me an excuse to drink it. I actually do not feel guilt about it. Like Cartman and his cheesypoofs, i need my string cheese, coffee, hummus dip with onions and cucumbers. I love that stuff.
Anyway I feel for you girl and your post rang a major bell with me, and I hope you never get in this situation again. It sucks. It just happened to me recently! Get better soon girl, your posts are dope.
Thank the tooth fairy for the timing on this post. Let’s see, my acne’s awful, my food allergies have returned, and I’m hacking up a lung every other minute fighting a “seasonal” cold. Clearly, I need to do GAPS. Doh! Ice cream for dinner it is.
I tell ya: Coffee will throw me into overt adrenal f*&%ed-up-ness in less than a week or maybe two. I love the taste. I feel *totally brilliant* for like two or three days. Then the shit starts to hit the fan, and yes, insomnia is part of that pattern. My adrenals actually start to ache in that area of my back.
I love the taste of it and what it does for my mind (and verbosity), but it comes with a high price!
Oh, ain’t it the truth. I find that the aroma of freshly ground and brewed beans has the strange ability to erase all memories of fatigue, bloated bellies and all overt adrenal f*&%ed-up-ness. I begin to rationalize it’s use as a sort of adaptogen, I become excited with my exercise endurance and my blooming creativity. And then, I too, crash. And crash with vigor. And wonder what the hell I was thinking.
I am a teensy bit jealous of my old self, the teen-early twenties gal who could skip dinner in favor of a pot of bad diner coffee with no issues. But she probably served to get me into this adrenal mess in the first place!
Sean C, are you the one who interjects with Chinese medicine information? Because if so, I’ve been thinking of coffee in terms of Qi. Like we only have so much of it and coffee makes us burn through more of it than we normally could or probably should. And there’s certainly consequences for that!
I do pretty well on coffee as long as I limit myself to a cup a day and put lots of happy milk and honey, as well as eating breakfast. Yay for me, but a bummer for those of you who have issues with it. :(
Ugh, see that’s the thing. I can’t doctor a cup of coffee with a bunch of stuff. Like people adding gelatin and coconut oil and maple syrup or whatever? I like it strong, black or with cream but nothing else. And you know, I must be rounding the bend here because this morning nothing sounded better to me than a cup of coffee. I know I made it sound like I really wanted coffee in this article, but since I felt shitty, the idea of coffee was making me feel sick. This reminds me of a previous conversation we were having on a different post about quitting smoking. The idea is to smoke a ton, get yourself sick of it and then be done with it. And the problem with that is just what I’m doing here. I’m not sick of coffee anymore because I feel better so now a fresh cup sounds delightful. I gotta hold off on purpose, I gotta exercise a little will power. Maybe drink dandelion root tea, tastes a lot like coffee:)
The idea is to smoke a ton, get yourself sick of it and then be done with it.
I’ve tried this technique with coffee before, many times. In fact I’m in the midst of another trial of intentional over-indulgence. And the problem remains that I NEVER get sick of it.
A huge problem for me with coffee is that it totally kills my appetite, and when I drink a lot of it, like today, it serves as a substitute for breakfast and lunch.
Thanks for your article, I found a link to this site from butterbeliever.com and this is very timely for me as I really, really need to quit coffee. I’ve gone through the withdrawals before, and it’s sooo difficult. But the calm and peace one supposedly feels once withdrawals have subsided, is worth all the pain. At least that’s what I’ve read.
Good luck in staying off it, I have found days 4-7 are when hyper vigilance is needed. And, well, I never made it past day 7. eek!
I may be in a distinct minority when it comes to the “smoke yourself sick” strategy. Granted, it’s not a permanent solution, because cravings do come back, but over-indulgence is the easiest way for me to become disgusted with a drug. It helps me see that it’s not actually making my life better, and I stop using it, or revert to moderate, occasional consumption.
In some ways I have an addictive personality, but I detest negative side effects so much that I tend to stop addictive behavior before it gets serious. Maybe that’s why the smoking strategy has worked for me. I am very likely to steer clear of things that make me feel sick, even if I am otherwise drawn to them.
David, you sound a lot like me. I spent a lot of time as a teenager engaging in risky addictive behaviours, but whenever my habits began chipping away at my health, I’d repent. But once your health is better, unless you have enough will power or you’re really just over it, it can be easy to dip back in. At least for me, anyway. Though coffee is the only “vice” I have left, and I’m really not even that bad about it usually. I regularly go whole weeks without a cup. The waking up at dawn thing was requiring a little rocket fuel, I guess.
Leanne,
I’m like you when it comes to coffee. I have to be very careful with stimulants, because they can set off a paradoxical effect of pain and fatigue for me, but if I consume the coffee with a full meal, then I can enjoy a cup and be okay. I’m almost certain to regret it if I have plain coffee on an empty stomach–but even a piece of toast is helpful.
Glad you’re feeling better, Julia. I agree listening to the body is key. I’ve found even a small amount of time to rest can be restorative. It’s all about making friends with your body and giving it what it really wants. When I’ve had a long day, I come home and lay on my couch for 20 minutes in the quiet dark, and feel golden after. Little moments like that make a huge difference.
Not sure I agree on the endurance exercise. Too much endurance exercise, when you’re pushing yourself hard and don’t feel good, can be problematic, yes, but I’ve been running a bit lately and it’s been good for me as far as I can tell. Sometimes I only make it once a week, and that’s ok. I built up really slowly. I could only run a mile when I started, now I did 5 today no problem, but I don’t really want to go beyond that. I also take weeks off exercise whenever I feel I need it. Moderation is a beautiful thing.
Real Amy, if I ran five miles I would die. But I’ve never been able to run five miles, even before any kind of adrenal crash. That you can and do well with it just speaks to how we’re all different and have to find what works!
I’m sure my hiking thing wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if I hadn’t been drinking a bunch of coffee. But then, I probably wouldn’t have had the energy for it, not while waking up at dawn at least. I think this feeling was also brought on by an iron deficiency. I cut my finger and instinctively put my finger in my mouth and my blood didn’t taste very irony at all. I’m guessing that’s where my cravings are coming from, because as it turns out, clams are an incredibly high source of iron, as are leafy greens, but you need vitamin c (orange juice) to absorb it. Neat. Also, coffee blocks absorption of iron and if I had removed 90% of my normal meat intake from my diet as well as increased coffee, I think low iron is a definite possibility. I didn’t start hitting the wall until I ovulated, I imagine a woman’s iron needs increase at that point in her cycle?
I could not have run 5 miles a year ago. You definitely need to be in a good place to do it. Iron is super important for women. I have also noticed it’s very connected to energy levels. Has thyroid effects too.
Julia, why not just take iron tabs? I became severely anemic while pregnant and felt like complete shit- exhausted, racing heart, etc. Iron tabs made a world of difference. I felt like a whole new, energized person (well, as energized as a pregnant lady can be). I know a lot of people here are anti-pills, but it’s completely worth it when they make such a positive difference and you don’t have to stuff yourself with greens.
Good point. I actually am taking iron pills, I dug a bottle of Megafoods Blood Builder out of the back of my cabinet. Although it is a food-based supplement, I do prefer to get my nutrients from my diet. My boyfriend is at the grocery store as we speak procuring more clams and mussels and maybe oysters. You know, I think I could live with being a pescatarian…
Shellfish is awesome, and I could also see myself as a pescatarian if decent seafood wasn’t so expensive where I live. On the other hand, most other meats are very cheap here, and even steak is reasonable.
My most memorable seafood experience was in Naples, Italy. My wife and I stopped off in a little restaurant near our hostel during our honeymoon, and I ordered the most expensive soup on the menu. It looked like someone had just dipped a net in the sea and thrown the catch in a pot of broth. There were clams, shrimp, various small fish, and other bits, and everything was in its original form–no shelling, no scaling, no de-eye-balling. I ate it with relish, but I think my wife was a little grossed out.
Amy,
It sounds like your experience with running is similar to mine. Gradual improvement really is the way to go. I couldn’t even run a mile when I started, and now four miles is easier than half a mile used to be. It sounds like you’re a little ahead of me. I did 6.5 miles today after a shorter hill run yesterday, and I’m regretting it.
My current solution to over-training is whiskey, but I’m not offering that as a recommendation to others!
It kind of crept up on me. I set a goal back in the spring that I wanted to be a runner again, and I just slowly worked towards it. It feels really awesome actually :-)
What a freaking joke, this lady should be embarrassed, she is a health author and can’t even take care of her self. thats the problem with matt stones philosophy, he appeals to average joes but in the end all their health deteriorates. This is the last straw< I am done listening to to these wannabees
Actually my health has been pretty awesome, which is what led me to get a lil’ over zealous with the activity level and the coffee. Hey, live and learn. But if you think I should be embarrassed, why I’ll just go ahead and hang my head in shame.
Ya you right health articles yet your not healthy… Its like matt stone becoming a personal trainer…he fat.. dont take advice health advice from fat people. Look your a fraud ok simple as that how about you go start blog that better suits you
Ronda, you might do better sticking with websites that end in .gov. Probably more your style.
a little over zealous, are you flipping delusional or something? oh ya i became a little to active i didn’t notice but now i feel like crap, im stuck in bed oh and i passed out, but hey im still extremely health. sorry you are delusional and you are a fraud.
Ronda, not only are your comments useful to the dialogue, but they’re full of enlightening information! I must have been in such a stupor that I hadn’t even realized I passed out at some point! Wow!
Ronda, on the journey to good health, there are sometimes speed bumps along the way. I think it’s best to share them, be open, exaggerate the details for humor’s sake and learn from our mistakes. There’s nothing fraudulent about that, ma’am.
Your post should be for your own personal blog, maybe we can title your blog “Middle Age Women Gives Health a Shot”
We? Ronda, are you saying we’re going in on this blog together? Excellent, I nominate you for editor.
I love your denial strategies. Look deep down and you know im right
Ronda, I think you should leave the writing (specifically the grammar and spelling) to Julia. Health is more your thing. Go do some burpees. Spelling was never meant to be your true calling. Both your first and last names are spelled incorrectly.
can a name be spelled incorrectly if it was made by someone? You need to go write some fiction novels and leave health to real gurus
I would embarrass you in the gym, you need too lose a few lbs
@Ronda- As a general rule, I don’t criticize anyone’s grammar, spelling, or basic usage on internet forums, but for you I decided to make an exception. If you’re going to be rude and cast yourself as superior to others, you should be a little more careful about how you express yourself. Your spelling makes you sound uneducated, and that impression is strengthened by your complete lack of tact when expressing disagreement.
I don’t agree with everything published on this website, and sometimes I disagree a lot, but what I do appreciate is that alternate views are respected. I know from my own struggles that there can be lots of setbacks and wrong turns in the quest for health. I usually prefer listening to someone who’s struggled and faced these setbacks than to someone who thinks he has all the answers. For people with long-term problems, the solutions aren’t always obvious or easy.
To bad I am actually healthy and you cant even run around the block
Uh.
;)
The heck is your issue, Ronda? The main point to this post is to listen to your body… in fact, that’s one of the major points of this site! Matt and Julia were the first “health” people that I’ve ever heard stress that. Well, stress is the wrong word, I suppose, lol.
Maybe you should take some of their advice… and some ashwagandha. ;)
Sorry honey these people are amateurs if you want health advice maybe you should look else where. Seriously, who the heck writes health articles and gets adrenal fatigue on the job, a donkey thats who.
Hmm.
you seem perplexed maybe its time you go eat your donuts and hit the hay. Ignorance is bliss, luv ya babe
Eyes on the road Rhonda http://youtu.be/85ubtVs5n6A
Yes, your Chinese Medical diagnosis would certainly be “kidney (includes adrenal) qi defeciency” and your herbal tonic would include licorice and ginseng. But also, every minute of sleep before midnight is worth an hour after. If you can get your 9 hours from 10-7, 10:30-7:30, or as a last resort 11-8, you might feel more restored. That late night perk is probably an undesirable cortisol spike at the wrong time. Your diurnal rhythm might be skewed, and getting it on track can take a while but have some awesome results. There’s still time for mojo before 10:30, and if in candlelight all the better. -Lauri the L.Ac.
This made me laugh so much. The chicken and sleeping in a room filled with east facing windows! I love your honesty and trial and error… and I have to wonder, what the heck do you cook a chicken for breakfast?
Well, the perfect food for chickens is actually eggs. It’s also the perfect thing to feed chickens if you have entirely given up on caring about your ownership of said chickens being at all profitable..;)
Great article Julia. Since I work in the gym and the temptation there to blast myself daily it’s easy to fall back into.
Ice cream makes me a fat bastard very quickly so more sleep usuall does the trick!
I’m gonna follow your advice. Thanks for a great post.
Thanks for the warning. I’m just getting back on my feet and wanting to do everything, but trying to stay aware that I can fall back into my old push and spaz mode. And oh yes, the feeling that you can’t wait to go to sleep so you can wake up in the morning and have coffee! I’ve already found myself thinking I could maybe have just a wee little bit :) If only something without caffeine actually did taste that good.
Oh wow! This is something I’ve been figuring out along the way…as soon as I start to feel slightly better I start trying to add in too much. Thanks for this post, because it gives me more perspective on the process… I’m slowly starting to realize that I still need to be careful, even when I’m feeling better. It’s such a tricky balance, because certain activity will help, but only if you’re healthy enough. The downtime can be so frustrating and demoralizing, too..
One of the things I start to notice is that I start craving animal fats, and they make me feel so much better. When I don’t need them, I don’t crave them. Just yesterday I was dipping bacon back into the grease in the pan, and it made me feel like Popeye. When I’m not depleted, that’s not something that would appeal to me, or make me feel good..
Iron-rich clams with vitamin C-rich OJ? Isn’t that as bad as crossing the streams ala Ghostbusters? (tongue-in-cheek; poke against Peatatarianism)
I’m kind of curious why the CDC and conventional wisdom say that insufficient iron is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the developed world, yet Ray Peat says we have too much of it and we should probably be drinking lots of coffee to get rid of it. Either way, I’m pretty sure I needed more of it.
Iron overload is mainly an issue for men and post-menopausal women, since women lose a significant amount of iron every month. There are also genetic abnormalities (hemochromatosis) that lead to high iron stores.
The western diet definitely has the potential to cause iron overload problems, since we eat so much red meat and fortified grains. Fortunately, there’s no need to speculate individually since it’s so easy to check. I tend to fall on the far high side of the normal range, so I’ll probably need to donate blood more often as I get older.
Conventional wisdom also tells us to eat less salt and heart health PUFAs so I wouldn’t rely too much on conventional wisdom.
In regards to ferritin I saw a study from Japan that the anemia status of women eating red meat and not eating red meat wasn’t much different, meaning that even though they ate more red meat they weren’t necessarily free from anemia. Another Italian study showed that women who were given supplementary lactoferrin(which is considered an iron chelater) improved iron status in women.
I personally believe that anemia is a much more complex than lack of iron, something that Ray Peat even goes into some detail. He even talks about supplementing copper and/or thyroid to fix anemia status rather than giving iron supplements.
My father is diagnosed as bipolar–a fact he wouldn’t mind me mentioning here (if anyone could identify me by my first name and avatar) because he wrote an article about it for a local paper and has been publicly active in NAMI. I myself have also struggled with mental health issues, and my first impression after reading this post was that your symptoms of adrenal fatigue sound very similar to bipolar: a period of increased energy, heightened mood, drug seeking, and constant need for activity and stimulation, followed by depression, fatigue, lethargy, and inactivity.
I’m not trying to diagnose you or contradict anything in the post. What interests me is how the same set of symptoms can be described with totally different labels. Orthodox medicine has one way of talking about a cycle of increasing and diminishing energy, and naturopathic medicine has another way. I’m not convinced it matters which languages one uses, as long as the sufferer can find suitable treatment, and in some cases the treatment may be the same. For example, your advice to avoid caffeine would also be sensible for people with bipolar, as stimulants are thought to trigger manias.
Finally, I wanted to comment on your advice about exercise. I both agree and disagree. I agree that people who suffer from regular bouts of fatigue should avoid excessive exercise, since they’re probably going to crash if they push too hard. I’ve experienced this several times myself, and there’s a line I now know not to cross, unless I want to suffer from insomnia, pain, and fatigue for a few days. However, based on my own experiences, I still disagree that moderate endurance exercise is a problem. I find that nothing regulates my energy levels and mood like regular running, though I aim to keep my exertion at a reasonable level (not past the point I would have to breathe out of my mouth). I feel that my mental and physical health are both improved, and they decline not only when I exercise too hard, but also when I exercise too little. I think there’s a balance that everyone has to find for themselves. You made a similar point, and put it very well: “Challenge yourself, but not to the point of pain.”
I hope you feel better soon.
Thanks David. Indeed, my moods are prone to swinging high and swinging low. Whether or not that’s something I’d call a mental disorder is a whole other matter, but I see your point. It is interesting that there are different lenses to look at the same things through.
I agree that moderate endurance exercise can be wonderful. Hence why I was trying to get back into taking 1-2 hour long hikes without breaks. They used to make me feel really good, and probably, with the right nutritional and sleep support, they still can. In moderation. But when you’re feeling low and you’ve had a major adrenal crash in the past (which I have, like the kind where my catecholamines were running really low and I was sick for a year over it), it’s probably wise to reduce any cortisol spiking activity if you can. I had held off from any endurance exercise for over a year since I began feeling better, and I think some part of me wanted to feel as able and indestructible as I did before. But we have limits. It’s wise to heed them.
I agree completely. We all know our bodies better than anyone else, and moderation will mean something different to everyone. When I started exercising, I just went on easy 30-60 minute walks on flat terrain, and I gradually built up. When I pushed too hard, I would experience a crash just like you did, and then I had to back off. It’s about a half a year since I started, and running slowly (jogging, I guess) for 30-60 minutes now feels moderate, although I should confess I overdid it on my run today and probably won’t feel well for a couple days. And I should also admit I followed the run with a double cheeseburger, some chips, a Klondike bar, a couple cookies, and a big glass of soda, knowing I shouldn’t worry about calories after pushing myself to run 75 minutes (when I wasn’t really ready for it). Like you, I think it’s a good idea to eat when you feel physically drained.
Concern about catecholamine regulation is another similarity between adrenal fatigue and depression/bipolar. But I waiver on my opinions on some of these issues. I have no doubt that physical and psychological issues are profoundly intertwined on many of the problems that I personally experience. Whether the original cause was one or the other hardly even seems significant to me anymore.
That’s interesting about the endurance exercise. One of my crashes came on a few years ago when I was training for a half marathon. When I crashed, I was up to running 8 miles on my distance run days and only eating 1200-1500 calories a day in hopes of losing weight (which I didn’t ha). I stopped my training.
A few years, a long super low calorie/carb diet and 50 pounds later, I now am starting to run again. I’m taking it super slow though, and I eat enough calories. This is my first week in and I’ve run 3/4 of a mile at a very slow pace. I also take 30-60 minute walks 3-4 times a week. I’d
love to be able to run half marathons again, but am okay if I can’t.
I’ve had some similar thoughts about bipolar disorder as well.
If you keep your training easy and listen to your body (and eat to fuel your exercise), I’m sure you’ll be successful. I’m shooting for a half-marathon in May. That gives me plenty of time to build conditioning and I’m really looking forward to making slow and steady gains.
Good luck with your training!
I also feel very much better for some exercise, the key in my case being : not to be a Nazi about it and keep it positive always.
Thank you and good luck with your training as well! :-)
Thanks for the article. Adrenal fatigue is so confusing to me personally. I’ve had a couple of those 24 hour saliva cortisol tests and given what I know about my stress levels it surprised me that I had low cortisol. I also have a skewed rhythm, but that has not always jived with the great energy levels I’ve enjoyed and still enjoy. I don’t use or abuse caffeine, although it can affect me negatively as in too jittery. I also see my insomnia and/or early wake times as adrenaline produced so I do think the adrenals are involved. But ultimately I don’t know if I have adrenal “fatigue” I just can’t produce the fatigue part. Am I just weird or is there a spectrum of adrenal fatigue that includes the symptoms I have? I’ve read that there are levels and once you cross to the last level you will get the extreme fatigue so there may be something there, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone mention it.
Most fatigued people I speak with produce way too much adrenaline and cortisol at night, finally feel alive at 5pm or later, get crappy sleep, and spend the rest of the following day tired due to the adrenal glands pumping out a lot of juice when they should have been resting and recharging. Most people then get juiced up on stimulants in order to be more productive during the day when the adrenals have their only chance to rest, which leads to further problems in the future over time. As far as what causes that pattern to emerge to begin with, I think there are a lot of places to point fingers. Artificial lighting, especially electronics are definitely a player, eating patterns where breakfast is skipped and most of the food is taken in with calorie dense snacks after dinner, and other things are probably all involved. Reduced metabolic rate is probably a central feature, as the adrenals seem to overcompensate for a lack of true energy production when metabolic rate is reduced, especially in the middle of the night.
Why do you think dense, caloric snacks after dinner cause the problem. I thought food stopped the production of stress hormones.
I want to know too! This is how I eat, though I don’t skip breakfast, but it’s kind of light. And sometimes I go for too long before lunch. But after dinner, it’s always calorie dense muffins and yogurt. I’m not fatigued, but could definitely use some improvement in energy production.
Does anyone experience racing heart after eating sugar? I have very fast heart rate as it is but after sugar it’s crazy. I’ve also got poor circulation so no warm hands and feet for me. Is this something that should improve over time? I’m pretty much bedridden because of “adrenal fatigue”.
I’ve been told sugar can stimulate adrenaline. Contradictory, but might explain a few things.
I think sugar gets a reputation as putting stress on the adrenal glands because it causes “blood sugar to crash.” Wow, if that ain’t the biggest oversimplification in all the health world. While carbs of all kinds can cause a crash in blood sugar in a certain state, avoiding them is not less stressful to the adrenal glands (more stressful actually), and there is nothing inherently adrenaline-stimulating about sugar that I know of. The contrary actually.
A lot of people also have the false belief that sugar spikes blood sugar faster than other carbs, when in fact even whole grains have a more dramatic effect. I’m not sure where the myth came from, except maybe that the word “sugar” is in “blood sugar” and so it’s easy to make the association.
I’m no longer affected by those myths and I credit sugar with big improvements in not just energy but also steady, constant energy. But I’ve become wary of it at bedtime because I go through bad patches with sleep and once or twice it has seemed to play a role.
Hi Julia et all. Awesome post. I really needed to hear this. I have been drinking yerba mate though. And that seems to help my sleep more often than not. Very strange. I can fall asleep
earlier too.
Julia some food for thought re the vegetarian thing – for me it’s a recipe for feeling awful and getting rapidly fat(ter). From day 1. I also think animals are cute and killing them is horrendous but I have resigned myself to making peace with animal protein because it agrees with me. I suspect it’s my liver that’s central to the issue. I’m in the early stages of a setback myself due to total but unavoidable (and fortunately temporary) overload. I’m no great fan of eating liver but for me it’s almost like coffee – the good side of coffee, that is. Eggs ditto. I’ve been where you are so often I thought I’d mention it.
Yes, every single time in my life that I’ve tried to cut back on meat I’ve had the same problem. For some of us (women especially, I think), meat is essential to health. I love animals, too, but I try to buy humanely raised meat as the best I can do.
Matt, this has nothing to do with the post but this new comment format is driving me nuts. I don’t really mind the order change with new comments first, but it’s really annoying to scroll between pages. Any way to change back to the long scroll?
I hate it too. My web guy made some executive decisions without me on a few things when we were panicked trying to get the site up. We’ll get it back soon hopefully.
Great, thanks!
Sounds like you gave yourself transient hypothyroidism.
Insomnia, constipation, exhaustion??? These are all classic hypothyroid symptoms.
Have you seen Danny Roddy’s blog post on adrenal fatigue?
It’s here:
http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/2013/6/4/have-adrenal-fatigue-no-you-dont
The Ray Peat quotation might be a useful one for you to look at. Funny that your cravings include a lot of the things that Peat recommends…
Listen to those signals and follow them the best you can: sleep; eat well and look after yourself.
Good article. Staying off of caffeine has been a big thing for me. So far, so good. Acupuncture and a customized blend of Chinese herbs has really made a huge difference in overall energy levels. Also, instead of “gym” exercise, I am hauling, stacking, splitting (and restacking) firewood, while taking plenty of breaks and days off along the way.
I too wish I could be a vegetarian, but even being off of collagen hydrolysate for about 4 months was a problem for me in the form of achy tendons from pretty much any kind of sustained physical exertion. I had Pho with extra tendon a couple weeks ago and could feel my body responding with a resounding YES, GIVE ME MORE as I was eating it.
I had problems with fatigue and depression before for a long time but since I changed my breathing to nosebreathing all the time even when doing exercise I don’t have those problems any more. I think how you breath is something that is overlooked in the healthworld, it’s all about diet and exercise but almost no one talk about how important breathing correctly is.
I am also unable to tolerate the caffeine anymore. I just went through a few weeks where I was drinking dark hot chocolate and I just for the life of me couldn’t figure out why I was grumpy and irritable all of a sudden. Duh, it was the caffeine. So, I’m off that. Similarly, I also get cold/tired from cutting out too much carbohydrate.
If you drink your espresso with a decent amount of milk or cream, sugar, and maybe some gelatin (I’m not a fan of it in coffee, but some are), it shouldn’t wreak as much havoc on your adrenals.
whoops! I meant “your” espresso :)
I recently found a book called “The Magnesium Miracle”. It has a lot of good information about the benefits of getting the proper amount of magnesium. It is needed to keep the adrenals functioning properly and it is estimated that 90% of the population is magnesium deficient. I have been taking a pico ionic form of magnesium for 4 weeks and I am starting to tell a difference in the way I feel and the warmth of my hands and feet which have still been cold since before I started RRARFing at the start of the year. I highly recommend this book by Dr, Carolyn Dean.
first, the golden girls rock . second, are u sure your not preggo with all those good cravings? maybe u need to poas? third, why won’t my new sentence automatically begin with a capital letter?
It seems like this is what is going on with people who think or have been told that have have chronic lyme disease. Wouldn’t it make more sense that their adrenals are destroyed and so they cannot deal with any sort of pathogenic load? This behavior of getting addicted to catacholamines is a very real thing and I have a handful of patients who struggle with this. They get better and then they indulge in their deep-seated exercise addiction and 4 days later they call me telling me that they LITERALLY feel like they are dying, probably have chronic lyme disease and have no idea what happened to them because they had been feeling so much better.
Great article btw, thank you for sharing.
Just a test, it keeps telling me my comments are duplicates…
Loved your article oh my goodness you send me up in a nutshell in April this year 2016 I will be working on my adrenal fatigue for one year I have gained 30 pounds belly fat can’t do all the great workouts I used to love yoga bores me walking bores me but I’ve learned that I have to become one with them keep writing this was great for anyone that is suffering with this.before this happened I was in the best shape of my life for 40 to love doing my MMA workouts Kickboxing and now my best class I can do is Jazzercise that I modify senior citizen style keep up the work hope this helps somebody else to