Who doesn’t have too much stress in their life?
Adrenal Fatigue …by Debbie Potts
Part One:
How well do you know your body? How well do you take care of your body? As a motivated small business owner, passionate fitness trainer/coach and competitive endurance athlete for the last ten years, I recently discovered that I have been living and operating with chronic stress. I have heard of excess cortisol production as a result various stressors. The result of chronic stress/adrenal gland overload is Adrenal Fatigue or cortisol deregulation/adrenal dysfunction. I eat healthy, avoid gluten, commercial dairy, peanuts and corn and exercise daily; have amazing clients and close friends. How can I be exhausted when I am so “healthy”… I need to look at the WHOLE picture which is why I am shifting my coaching to “WHOLESTIC APPROACH TO WELLNESS”. There is more to being “healthy” that exercising daily and eating real food.
After months of not feeling “right, rested and repaired”, I contacted a functional medical practitioner to get various panels conducted (saliva, stool and blood). The results definitely proved why I was feeling out of whack the last few months… STAGE THREE of Adrenal Fatigue! Ahhh… I was not aware of being in stage two adrenal fatigue, for many years I am sure, then my system finally had enough and crashed …overload on the stress hormones. After consulting with a practitioner from Dr. Kalish and my local Naturopath, as well as Sean Croxton and Ben Greenfield, I have started learning a lot more about Adrenal Fatigue and now it is my goal to help others be aware of the symptoms.
There are many symptoms that cause an overload on the adrenals then eventually bust the main circuit breaker.
- Are you tired for no apparent reason?
- Do you have trouble getting up in the morning?
- Do you need coffee, colas, energy drinks, sodas, salty or sweet snacks to keep going?
- Are you feeling run down and stressed?
- Do you have difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness?
- Do you feel more awake, alert and energetic after 6pm than all day?
To evaluate your stress level and adrenal health answer a few questions (check out Dr. Wilsons Adrenal Fatigue Quiz online for the full quiz www.adrenalfatigue.org)
Personally, I have been feeling tired for the past few years, dark circles under my eyes, shallow breathing, higher heart rate when exercising (past few months), trouble sleeping at night, peeing frequently, sensitive to medications, trouble losing weight (increase in fat/loss of muscle), blood sugar sensitivities/headaches, not feeling full after eating, sluggish on workouts (recently), slow to recover and more! I don’t feel that it is “normal” to have these symptoms or feel that they are a sign of aging. The body is still young, but breaking down thus increasing the aging process with chronic stress.
As a fitness professional and athlete for twenty years, I am in tune with my body and my health so I finally became more aware of my additional symptoms to know I was really “off”. As I learn more about stage one and stage two adrenal fatigue, I believe I have been living and operating in stage two for at least five years. The last year, I started drinking more coffee (waking up at 3:45am and getting home at 7:30pm), less frequent meals and constantly struggling with work related stress. Training for endurance events stresses the body. The only positive is that I have been already eliminating common food allergens that cause inflammation (gluten, commercial dairy, soy, peanuts and soy). Stress comes in different forms…chemical, physical, and emotional and more.
Watch this video from Reed Davis and Sean Croxton on UG wellness: http://undergroundwellness.com/the-free-webinar-about-adrenal-dysfunction/
