Welcome, welcome all you tired and weary people. If you suspect you have Adrenal Fatigue and haven't had it confirmed, please read my post on the symptoms and How To Diagnose Adrenal Fatigue. You can't properly treat Adrenal Fatigue until you know where you're at.

First, I want to extend my sympathies, as a fellow Adrenal Fatigue sufferer. It’s taken me 5 years and several doctors to finally make progress with my adrenals. I know what you're going through and also assume that most people have probably told you that you are crazy, confused, and just need more coffee.

This guide is going to cover the basics of understanding Adrenal Fatigue, how you got here, and how to get better.

WHAT IS ADRENAL FATIGUE?

Adrenal glands are essential to life. Besides producing adrenaline and handling the "fight or flight" response, they are responsible for producing hormones that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, response to stress and other essential functions. Adrenal glands are composed of two parts — the cortex and the medulla — which are each responsible for producing different hormones.

Our bodies are built to handle trauma and stress, but CHRONIC and prolonged stress over time, takes its toll.

Dr. James L. Wilson first came up with the diagnosis of Adrenal Fatigue in 1998. To break it down, he found that Adrenal Fatigue occurs when the body undergoes chronic stress, which leads to overworked adrenal glands as they try to pump out cortisol (the stress hormone, see: What is cortisol?). This can result in highly imbalanced individuals with too elevated or too low of cortisol levels over time. As well as this, Dr. Wilson discovered that adrenal fatigue sufferers often have low DHEA "the parent hormone" which is involved in producing many necessary hormones.

In holistic circles, Adrenal Fatigue is a very common diagnosis, but in conventional circles not so much since there is no drug to fix it (unless you have Addison's Disease). My doctor at Mayo Clinic so much as told me Adrenal Fatigue wasn't real— and when I forced her to do a cortisol stimulation test, she ended up saying, "your adrenals are sleepy." Okay... so FATIGUED, you might say?

WHAT CAUSES ADRENAL FATIGUE?

Simply put, stressors and lifestyle factors are what got you in this mess.

The problem lies in figuring out your stressors. We might think of common things like: having babies, over working, poor diet, etc. but we also need to consider things like: underlying infections, food intolerances, gut imbalances, emotional stress— anything that puts stress on the body. Unfortunately, I had several doctors attempt to treat my Adrenal Fatigue with zero success because they had not dug deep enough to find out that I had Epstein Barr, which was causing constant stress on my body.

HOW DO YOU HEAL ADRENAL FATIGUE?

The whole point of fixing adrenal fatigue is to get cortisol on its normal rhythm and hormone production regulated.

1. Regulate Blood Sugar.

Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and/or blood sugar spikes both put the body under stress. You have to maintain balanced blood sugar or you die. When the body is under stress, the adrenals release cortisol. When we skip meals, cortisol has to kick in to tell the liver to pump out some glucose to keep our blood sugar from dropping to dangerous levels. So as you can see, this is another way in which we overwork our adrenals. Here's a great article that goes more in depth about cortisol and blood sugar.

Stop abusing insulin: avoid eating too large of meals, starving, or eating too much sugar. Eat a balanced snack every 2 hours, starting an hour after you wake up. Always eat within an hour of waking.

You can also take blood sugar supplements to help metabolize glucose better - chromium is one my doctors always suggested.

2. Schedule.

You know when you have a dog and you want to get it on an eating and potty break routine — you have to get them on a SCHEDULE. So, treat yourself like a dog. Your body is designed to have energy in the morning, when the sunlight hits your eyes, and to start slowing down at sunset. This is called circadian rhythm. As you send your body the wrong signals (staying up late and sleeping late, exposing yourself to blue light after dark, not eating regular meals) it disrupts this rhythm. I used to be a total night owl (hello RIGHT BRAINED CREATIVE) and so I get the struggle.

get to bed at the same time (preferably by 10 pm —the most restorative sleep is before midnight)
turn phone settings to night mode (warm light) after sunset and until sunrise and use blue light blocking glasses if viewing technology after dark.
rise at the same time
be sure to get sunlight on your eyes right after you wake — it’s also great to do a light workout like walking, yoga, or pilates to signal to your body to start producing energy in the morning
eating regular meals, and snack every 2 hours

Then your body knows when it's supposed to create energy and when it isn't. I notice a significant difference in my fatigue when I stop technology at 9pm and go to bed by 10:30. I also wrote a post on 7 Natural Insomnia Cures to Knock You Out, where I outline more ways that I got my sleep under control.

3. Cut Out Caffeine.

The very reason you NEED caffeine is because of your adrenal issues. What does caffeine do? It forces your adrenals, which are already struggling, to pump out adrenaline. So caffeinating yourself is making everything worse. You can either take my word or read this article that explains the affect of caffeine on the adrenals.

Swap out coffee for the adrenal cocktail. Take it upon waking and again at 11am. {4 oz fresh OJ / 1/4 tsp himalayan salt / 1 TB coconut cream or collagen}

4. Supplementation.

This is where you need to have testing — because you need to know how your adrenals are performing throughout the day to know what supplements you need (energy or calming).

A good general adrenal support formula is this one by Organic Olivia. Supplements that I found the most helpful for low cortisol: licorice root, rhodiola, ginseng, liquid B-12, Biotics Research AB5.

For better sleep: lemon balm, magnesium oil spray, and all the things I mentioned in this insomnia post.

5. Identify Hidden Causes.

You can take all the supplements and get all the sleep in the world, but if you have something internal going on that continues to cause internal stress, you will never heal. This happened to me and I wasted LOTS of money, time, and took hundreds of unnecessary supplements - you can read all about my quest to uncover what was wrong here. If you’ve been trying to heal from adrenal issues for a while and aren’t making any progress, you must dig deeper.

Be sure you find a licensed naturopath or integrative doctor who is experienced at getting to the bottom of underlying issues and identifying any underlying infections, heavy metal or mold toxicity, or diseases. Chronic Adrenal Fatigue often has a source and fixing that is your first step.