The Great Adrenal Fatigue Debate

[Kali]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and desperately in need of help. My head is spinning, both literally and figuratively, re: the topic of adrenal fatigue. I have been on T3 for years, then NDT for the past 15 months but am still dysfunctional. (Just flopped on sofa, barely able to move and have barely worked for the past 9 months.)

People seem to cite Danny Roddy's blog post 'Have Adrenal Fatigue? No You Don't' a great deal but the links don't lead to it and there's nothing on Google. (Does this mean he's changed his mind?!)

I know it's easy for people to say it doesn't exist, but when you can't function, it's not very helpful! I'm pretty exhausted from spending the past week reading all your great posts and trying to figure out how to follow a Peat-like protocol. Would REALLY appreciate some clear explanation as to what to DO. I saw that Peat said to sort your adrenals out first, but how? My cortisol starts at 6 (the so-called peak) instead of 20+ and then declines from there. Utter disaster, but an improvement on constant spikes during the night, which was my reality for many years.

I have lots of pieces of jigsaw in my hands but my brain-foggy head is reeling, trying to figure out what to do. Every doctor I've encountered, whether allopathic or naturopathic, has been underwhelming in their understanding of what is going on.

FYI, it's not an option to come of the thyroid meds: when I have tried, it's been a road crash.

Thanks in advance for anything you care to share.

Yours desperately,

K

 

[redsun]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and desperately in need of help. My head is spinning, both literally and figuratively, re: the topic of adrenal fatigue. I have been on T3 for years, then NDT for the past 15 months but am still dysfunctional. (Just flopped on sofa, barely able to move and have barely worked for the past 9 months.)

People seem to cite Danny Roddy's blog post 'Have Adrenal Fatigue? No You Don't' a great deal but the links don't lead to it and there's nothing on Google. (Does this mean he's changed his mind?!)

I know it's easy for people to say it doesn't exist, but when you can't function, it's not very helpful! I'm pretty exhausted from spending the past week reading all your great posts and trying to figure out how to follow a Peat-like protocol. Would REALLY appreciate some clear explanation as to what to DO. I saw that Peat said to sort your adrenals out first, but how? My cortisol starts at 6 (the so-called peak) instead of 20+ and then declines from there. Utter disaster, but an improvement on constant spikes during the night, which was my reality for many years.

I have lots of pieces of jigsaw in my hands but my brain-foggy head is reeling, trying to figure out what to do. Every doctor I've encountered, whether allopathic or naturopathic, has been underwhelming in their understanding of what is going on.

FYI, it's not an option to come of the thyroid meds: when I have tried, it's been a road crash.

Thanks in advance for anything you care to share.

Yours desperately,

K

First start is to create an eating plan that provides all micronutrients the human body needs. Lean meats, milk(if you can tolerate), eggs, potatoes, orange juice, fruits, vegetables(that you like eating). If you can eat liver which is often recommended by Peat that will put you way ahead of the game in terms of nutrient intake. As for fat solubles, A and D should be provided my milk, eggs, liver, other animal foods. Certain foods have K1 especially vegetables, K2 is found in animal foods like pastured eggs, liver, aged cheese... and E is very rare to find without a lot of PUFA. E and K2 are commonly supplemented especially because E helps mitigate PUFA damage and is great for hormones.

Also feel free to browse other foods for nutrient content, there are many ways to get nutrients, as long as the foods are whole foods you can have quite a varied way to eat. Cronometer is incredibly helpful and it would probably help you track macros and micronutrients to see how your foods stack up.

 

[YourUniverse]

Ray seems to find the idea of adrenal fatigue annoying

 

[tara]

Hi Kali,

I have no special knowledge about adrenal fatigue, and no expert on thyroid supps, so not sure if I will have relevant clues. But I or someone might.

Do you want to tell more about your situation? For instance:

What is your diet like? What and how much do you eat? History?
I second Redsun's suggestion to try totting up in cronometer or similar for a couple of days of typical eating to see roughly what you may be getting/missing.

How long have you been this fatigued?
Did the beginning of it coincide with something in particular?

What is your resting body temp and heart rate?

I'm not expert at reading thyroid lab results, but have you had a look at yours?
Are you spreading your thyroid dose thtrough the day?

Is your breathing relaxed, diaphragmatic, nasal?

Are you getting some sunshine?

Good luck.

 

[Lokzo]

Do you respond well to licorice?

 

[StephanF]

It may be your bed place. I am a physicist but I also know about dowsing and noxious Earth energies. I just came back from Germany, meeting family and friends. My high school friend’s son Marco did not finish high school at first. He had really bad grades. I told my friend about a noxious ‘line’ going through his house, which affected his son’s bed place. So my friend and his wife built Marco a custom bed that fit in the corner of his bedroom. Then he suddenly changed: he went back to school, was in the top of his class, went to get an engineering degree at the university and now has a great job! All because of changing the bed place. He is now married and my friend and his wife now sleep in that bed. His wife also picked up dowsing and confirmed my results.

Try this: go to Home Depot and buy an aluminum fly screen or two, buy some electrical wire and a power plug. Connect the wire to the safety ground of the power plug, place the screen under your bed or under the mattress and connect the wire to the screen. Plug it into the electrical outlet. Then see if this improves your sleep and maybe your adrenal fatigue will go away.

Another sleep inducing tool is the Acid-Vac coil designed by the late Slim Spurling. It makes you sleep deep with vivid dreams. Or buy the EarthPulse magnetic pulser, it has a sleep program that is amazing. I lent one of mine to a young woman that suffered from a brain injury due to an accident. Since using this pulset she finally can sleep.

But shielding or moving the bed is most important.

I posted more on these subjects here, search for my posts.

Regards,

Stephan

 

[BigChad]

First start is to create an eating plan that provides all micronutrients the human body needs. Lean meats, milk(if you can tolerate), eggs, potatoes, orange juice, fruits, vegetables(that you like eating). If you can eat liver which is often recommended by Peat that will put you way ahead of the game in terms of nutrient intake. As for fat solubles, A and D should be provided my milk, eggs, liver, other animal foods. Certain foods have K1 especially vegetables, K2 is found in animal foods like pastured eggs, liver, aged cheese... and E is very rare to find without a lot of PUFA. E and K2 are commonly supplemented especially because E helps mitigate PUFA damage and is great for hormones.

Also feel free to browse other foods for nutrient content, there are many ways to get nutrients, as long as the foods are whole foods you can have quite a varied way to eat. Cronometer is incredibly helpful and it would probably help you track macros and micronutrients to see how your foods stack up.

Does vitamin e in high doses deplete iron, potentially ca using deficiency and then worsening hypothyroidism? If iron gets too low, thyroid and temps would drop right.

Also, would 5g routers (internet) at home or work mess things up. I've heard they have astronomically more radiation?

 

[mostlylurking]

Read Ray Peat's articles on sugar. See here: Google Custom Search . It's important to understand how much sugar you need to consume daily (and why). On an Herb Doctors with Ray Peat show 150 grams/day was suggested; 1 teaspoon sugar = 6 grams. One quart of orange juice/day is an ideal amount of sugar per Ray Peat.

Also evaluate a possible magnesium deficiency. Hypothyroid people cannot "hold onto their magnesium" (per Dr. Peat). My chiropractor suggested I try this: stir 1/2 teaspoon of magnesium into 12 ounces of orange juice and drink it 30 minutes before trying to exercise. It was like a miracle. It showed me that magnesium is an important part of keeping me feeling better/normal. I recently switched to magnesium glycinate and I have less bowel irritation with it than with magnesium carbonate. Do not use magnesium citrate.

Read up on the Randle cycle to understand the problem with free fatty acids (FFAs) that are polyunsaturated when they are released into the blood. see here: Ray Peat, PhD Quotes on Therapeutic Effects of Niacinamide – Functional Performance Systems (FPS) . FFAs keep your cells from being able to burn sugar. If you take niacinamide (say, 90 mg. 3 times/day) it will keep the fatty acids parked safely in your fat cells so your cells can burn glucose which increases your carbon dioxide which makes your whole body work better and will make you feel better.

Avoid PUFA like the plague. No vegetable oils, no nuts, no seeds, no grains.

Here is a link to a Ray Peat search engine that I have found to be extremely helpful. Trust Ray; use the cell that searches his articles (the 3rd on on the page): PeatSearch: a Ray Peat-specific search engine - Toxinless . Search for caffeine and aspirin too as they can be very helpful. I've noticed that if I have a really bad time of it and can't get moving a couple of aspirin along with about 90 mg of niacinamide can really help.