I figure my adrenal glands must be about shot by now due to a consistently high stress load over a long period of time. What can I do for them? I used to take an herbal tincture with Siberian Ginseng, Astragalus, Nettle, Licorice, Oatstraw. It really didn't seem to do a thing which really surprised me. I got a really big bottle and took the max dose, must've been on it a month or two.

Are those herbs appropriate for serious adrenal support? Any additional to recommend? What other specific area is effected heavily by stress other than the adrenals? I've had hormone testing done, cortisol levels are through the roof in addition to a few other "stress related" hormones. How can I bring cortisol down? I tried bioavailable hormone therapy. Tried some traditional med therapies as well. They made me so tired I couldn't stop sleeping and just did not work at all. I really feel my body cannot take this load much longer.

DD teacher has the same thing - shot adrenal glands. That was the first time I had heared of that. We talked at leagth about it. It came up because I was complaining about chronic fatigue. Anyway she said that the only real thing that can be done is sleep. Lots of sleep.
I hope that helps a little.

I read this book on adrenal fatigue recently. I bought it. Now I can't find it. :rolleyes:

But ashwaganda can help a lot, I remember that.

The other thing he said is you MUST sleep between 7am and 9 am. As often as you can. That is some critical time for cortisol levels or something.

Um, I have memory fog as well...I will post back to this when I find the book and can type up some more specific strategies.

It's panax ginseng, not Siberian, that you want though. I was taking that for a while and it helped a lot.

Oh, also, if you drink coffee, cut it out. He said that it only makes things worse in the long run and depletes adrenals more.

Also, easier said than done, you simply must find a way to cut down your stress level. I don't think anything is going to help unless you do that. Our adrenals were not meant to function constantly at a high level. Yoga, meditation, sleep, therapy - whatever you have to do.

Susun Weed recommends infusions of nettle leaves for adrenal glands. Sometimes I think infusions are a better route to go than tinctures- but that's just me

I like infusions as well. Some things are yuck tho like wild yam and dandelion which are 2 recommended for liver cleansing and can really help with the adrenal function.

Watch what you are eating too. Esp PMS time since the adrenals can go haywire due to the liver not being able to process the hormones well. Then it starts the usual cycles we tend to go through.

Chocolate by the way is not a bad thing if you can get some dark chocolate. Even better if you can make your own with some stevia instead of sugar IF YOU CRAVE chocolate.
Or make something with cacoa beans..liek grind em up and make a smoothie or something.

Due to adrenal cancer I had all but a small part of one of my adrenal glands taken out last year (we hoped it would start working and save me a life of steroids but nope). Until then I never knew just how much the adrenal glands do for your body. It's amazing that these two small pieces that no one thinks about can control so much. They control hormones that trigger stuff in every single system of the body, they help control your heartrate, blood pressure, sweating, salt levels, how your body uses fats and proteins, and fatigue as well. Without them (or when you have insufficiency and fatigue) controlling everything is a royal pain in the butt! I have to take two different pills for the rest of my life just to make up for the function of those two little boogers.

Anyway- obviously I can't help with the supplement thing because there's no sense in me ever trying anything like that. LOL. But I was posting to comment to the cortisol level comment (yes, I honestly did have a point to posting. :) ). Cortisol levels drop throughout the night and are lowest in the morning as she said. They also drop again in the afternoon so the two best times to "baby" your adrenal glands is early morning and around 1-3pm each day. Those are the best times to boost cortisol, rest, and really take care of yourself. That's what doctors tell those of us with adrenal insufficiency to do and when to take our gluco and corticosteroids (sp?).

Wow, bless you, momofheathens for sharing that story. I too have shot adrenal glands from several years of taking diet pills with ephedra. I'm actually weaning myself off of caffeine this weekend, this is day 1 without any. I've taken Adrenal Support blends before, like the one from Paragon, which seemed to help. Maybe they come from animals though, you might not want that. (I went to the hf store looking for the homeopathic caffeine withdrawl formula and couldn't find it, I wondered if anyone had experience with that? )The thing that has been helping me lately is getting up an hour earlier to read and meditate. Also, in the book, Anatomy of Spirit , she says that the adrenal glands are tied to our ability to hope and trust. Surrender! has been a big mantra for me. ( maybe a little woo woo for some, I know)

I was having major adrenal gland issues 2 years ago. My homeopath put me on a bunch of stuff, one of which was this cream by Apex Energetics called Adrena Stim. I wouldn't use it without the supervision of a nautropath or homeopath, but it helped make me feel much much better.

thank you so much, i have really been absorbing this info you all have shared. I am ordering the panax ginseng and ashwhaganda, as well as valerian and melatonin to help me sleep (I do have trouble w/sleeping lately).

I am most physically active between 6:30-8:30 am and 1-2 pm LOL. Just the nature of my job, no way around it unfortunately. I am being more aware of those times on my days off though.

I have never drank coffee, and don't do caffeine at all except sometimes lately I have green tea.

I was reading about that adrenal stim stuff, and it actually sounds like I need the adrenal calm. Maybe my adrenals aren't actually "shot" yet afterall, but still in the maxing out phase. I don't really know since my hormone testing was done over a year ago.

Cortisol is really high, DHEAS is really high, prog is very low end of normal and estrogen is very high end of normal. Testosterone is absolutely normal. :) High DHEAS can lead to high estrogen so I think that's the reason for the low ratio of estro to prog.

Nettles were "calling" to me in particular, so I got a bunch of that and am doing infusions, I figure 32 oz daily? I infuse w/lidded glass jar overnight.

The other thing calling to me is exercise. Everything seemed to get even more messed up at the time I quit exercising and quit bfeeding. But now, I think at least the past 2 cycles have been annovulatory. :( Bleeding is waaaay down (I have an IUD) and I don't recall any ovulation mucous etc. Still regular timing on periods though. I think it's just another sign that my body just cannot handle the stress load it's under.

I have a local zen center I would love to start attending! But then I'd have to leave my kiddos and that causes more stress.... you can't imagine this cycle unless you've lived it. :( I am constantly searching for balance!

Hiya mama. I haven't had any problems, nor been involved with anyone with the same problems (well, none documented and aware of them anyway), but I do know that your calling to get exercise is actually closest to the most natural and effective way to reduce cortisol, and therefore stress. it is infact, the most effective that I've ever heard of too (bear in mind I haven't had the experiential guidance here, just the random book learng of various classes and dr visits and other random bits of info) I have no other suggestions than that. and it's a mighty big one, there is no other fool proof way to reduce the effects of cortisol...well....build-up. :)

So exercise! Your body is speaking clearly to you with that exercise urge you mentioned.

On MDC in the "Healing the gut" thread there was some discussion of adrenal support. I know it was in the thread for March. You might want to look there if you don't have enough ideas already. It it is a bit to wade through and you may come out w/ an overwhelming amount of info about ailments you didn't know you had, lol. I just remember seeing some info about adrenals there though.

Hiya,

Can you count your pulse? Can you press your fingernails, and then release? Do they turn pink quickly?

Can you take deep breaths? 5 in a row, ten?

If you can't make it to the zen center, do you have, beginning, ten minutes a day, to just count your breaths? Do you have a pillow to sit, or a couch, or a chair?

What are you eating? My guess would be to up the magnesium, and the potassium. This means, more or less, spinach salad with mushrooms: magnesium makes things green. Potassium is every not - meat thing. Cut out soda, it leaches out minerals.

Okay, what sort of social, community support do you have? Library cards count, too.

Can you do Oprah style stuff? Write down everything that scares you? Write down everything you want to do? Write down the gratitude moments for the day? Quantifying things helps me.

google maternal depletion syndrome, and see if it speaks to you.

good luck.

ari