You notice that you seem to be feeling more and more tired, kind of lifeless as each day goes on.
Are you wondering what happened to that get up and go that used to be “normal” for you?
You’ve heard this term adrenal fatigue, but don’t really understand what the signs of adrenal fatigue really are? You need some clues right?
Well, I’m here to give you 4 clues – all signs of adrenal fatigue, in every day scenarios that I’m confident will finally get you to do something about this and get the support and understanding that you need.
CLUE #1
This morning you found it so hard to get out of bed. The feeling of being “run over by a truck” felt like an understatement. You were so kind of wired last night, but then when you went to bed you couldn’t get to sleep, and now, well ……….. uuuugggh. You wonder how you are going to get through this day.
A few hours into the morning you finally wake up and begin to feel, well, somewhat ok. Pity it’s only lasted a few hours; you’ve had lunch and now you’re ready to crawl under your desk and hibernate for the winter. Instead, off you go and grab yourself a coffee or worse still a diet coke (you know this stuff is terrible, but the craving is ridiculously extreme so you get it anyway), you’ve got to get through the afternoon somehow.
Finally, the day is over, finally you feel a little better, you have a little energy, it’s nearly 10pm but oh goodness it’s the best you’ve felt all day. But the next morning, oh gosh here we go again ……….
When we are stressed, we begin to release too much cortisol and our cortisol levels begin to work the wrong way around – our cortisol levels are too high at night when they should be low, and too low in the morning when they should be high. This leaves us feeling wired at night and tired in the morning.
CLUE #2
Wow, what happened to your muscle mass? You always used to pride yourself on your strong, muscular, legs, but they seem to be disintegrating by the day. It’s weird, you wanted to quickly cross the road but as you went to take off, you noticed that there just wasn’t the same strength in your legs, you are realising that your muscle has wasted away on you, what is going on?
You always used to find it easy to get into a rhythm with exercise – three times a week didn’t feel like a chore, it felt doable; now you’re lucky if you can manage once, it seems like after you exercise, you are just sooo exhausted. You used to feel energised from exercising.
If the stress hormones are pulsating far too often throughout the body, many other systems are working to try and compensate for this. Our muscle is literally being eaten away.
It is important to adjust your exercise to gentle walks and gentle yoga (leave the high intensity cardio workouts and weights out), while your adrenals are going through the process of replenishing themselves. Intense exercise will further deplete the adrenals making the recovery process even longer.
CLUE #3
You got in the shower this morning and as you were washing your hair, you noticed that big clumps of hair were falling out. You wouldn’t have thought anything of it, except that this seems to have been going on for a number of weeks now. You have also noticed that your hair seems very dry and brittle; an unusual scenario for you because people had often commented in the past how healthy and shiny your hair looked.
One of the knock-on effects of adrenal fatigue is that your thyroid can be affected, these are symptoms of an underactive thyroid. Very often doctors prescribe thyroid medication when the root of it can be exhausted adrenals. Speak to a doctor or natural health practitioner who understands adrenal fatigue to get an accurate diagnosis.
CLUE #4
You ate a good breakfast around 8am this morning, and it’s only 10am and your blood sugars feel really low. You feel extremely tired, a little dizzy and sometimes nauseous when this happens. The thing is this is happening often, within a few hours of eating you feel a desperate need to eat again to stabilize your blood sugars.
This is a very common sign of adrenal fatigue. If you are very fatigued, your blood sugars may drop just 2 hours after eating; as you improve you will find you can eventually go around 4 hours. It is vital to have a protein, fat and complex carbohydrate with every meal and snack and to eat something every 2-3 hours. Maintain 3 meals and 2 or 3 small snacks during the day. Blood sugar crashes are extremely draining on the adrenals.
If you are in one or more of these scenarios, I highly encourage you to see a doctor or natural health practitioner who understands adrenal fatigue. Make sure there are no other health issues going on, and if what you are suffering from is in fact adrenal fatigue, you can then set about on the path of healing.
For more detailed information about adrenal fatigue, I highly encourage you to check out the work of Dr Lam. His book, Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome is one of the most comprehensive I have read on the subject.
Healing from adrenal fatigue is very possible! I suffered from severe adrenal fatigue and I recovered. It takes diligence and commitment to yourself and your own needs, and I know you too can make this change.
Have you noticed any of these scenarios in your own health?
Do you have any other scenarios that may help others understand what adrenal fatigue “looks like”? Go ahead and leave your comments below.
Much love and encouragement to you.
Lisa.
