Adrenal Fatigue/Burnout/Insufficiency SOS

[MrBBQ]

Hey all,

Can anyone experienced here help me with impending/onset adrenal fatigue/burnout/insufficiency?

It seems that accidental ketosis started the cycle (I seem unable to stay out of ketosis with only fruits) or flicked the switch and now my circadian cortisol production is out of whack (no sleep), plus my body is constantly losing water (low production of aldosterone to maintain sodium levels).

No sleep and chronic water/sodium loss seems to be destroying my body (muscle, bone, connective tissues/collagen) and I need to initiate a program to break the cycle and support my adrenals (if the origin isn't actually more pituitary like some believe).

I'm classic low-adrenal here (http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-symptoms-matrix), even to the extent that I've lost lower leg hair (weird symptom) and I'm growing hairs in weird places (eyebrows particularly more full).

At the moment, it seems that the only way to combat low aldosterone production and resulting sodium/electrolyte imbalance is to drink unrefined salt water, but I'm sure this is also creating other imbalances (maybe overdosing on trace minerals).

Here're some suggestions for restoring/supporting the adrenals, which I may consider...
http://www.drrind.com/therapies/adrenal-support-recommendation-sheet

Too much longer in this metabolic state will easily suck what I have left of my health, so if anyone has anything to contribute, it would be most appreciated (trying to maintain calm)...

SOS, thanks!

[wodgina]

aahhhh the dangers of the internet!

[yuli]

Try eating a bit of potatoes, that may help you get the right amount of vit C with an ezymatic form of copper which is supposed to help.
You can try sweet potatoes raw, or regular potatoes baked (use the red ones with skin on!), sweet potatoes have less vit C and copper the regular potatoes have more. They may also prevent you from slipping in ketosis...perhaps only fruits does not work for you, I know I do well with a bit of potatoes every now and then 
Fruits have lots of vitamin C but not that much copper really.
This sounds like weird advice but thats what I would try if just plain raw paleo is not working for you.

[Iguana]

A few people like some varieties of regular potatoes raw.

[goodsamaritan]

You once said your main problem was you can't get enough sleep.
So get some SLEEP.

[goodsamaritan]

Is there any emotional, job, crisis in your life?

Maybe that is what needs fixing first?

[raw-al]

Is there any emotional, job, crisis in your life?

Maybe that is what needs fixing first?

Good catch GS.
I suspect they (sleep deprivation and emotional crisis) are the root of a lot of the chronic and acute illnesses spoken of on this site. In the Ayurveda system the mind and body are considered to be intimately connected.

[MrBBQ]

You make sleep sound simple..."So get some sleep" is an insensitive thing to say to someone with insomnia from dysfunctioning adrenals, who can try (or not try) all night to sleep. Sleep is controlled by hormones...

I go to bed and lay there all night waiting for the lull of sleep...it doesn't happen...I have to take pharmaceuticals to sleep at the moment...

I believe that it was eating excessive meat along with ketosis (not enough carbs) that pushed my cortisol out of whack. Now I seem to have high cortisol at night time (when it should be low), which prevents serotonin/melatonin kicking in and producing natural sleep. The adrenal fatigue has also given me poor digestion and it's affecting my energy production, so I'm becoming a skeleton with wasted muscles (catabolism).

The crisis is nutrition and health...

Only those that "know" of the experience of adrenal fatigue can identify with its all-encompassing crippling effect on all body systems...

[raw-al]

What time do you go to bed?

[wodgina]

I bet your in your 20's/male/very intelligent/middle class/educated/nice/a sense of justice/no girlfriend/with an internet connection at home.

My guess, not a stab at you BBQ.

[Nation]

Dude, twice in my life i had the exact same symptoms as you. Couldn't sleep AT ALL, had to drink insane amount of water, like 15 glasses, also had fast heart rate. I even had that weird symptom of losing hair leg. Really identical symptoms as yours. I didn't know anything about adrenal fatigue or any of that stuff since i don't read medical websites.

That all started when i discovered the ZIOH forum and tried Zero Carb (cooked), my goal was to get rid of candida symptoms. The 1st two weeks i was on that diet, i did not get 1 minute of sleep, i didn't even think it was possible to go that long without sleep but it is! One night i went to bed as usual and.. i finally fell asleep and started sleeping like a baby from then on. I went off that diet eventually, went back to SAD, yadi yadi yada. About a year later i discovered this website and tried RZC and suffered the same symptoms again for 2 weeks then after that, good sleep. There is definitely an adaptation to ZC for some of us, whether cooked or raw. My suggestion is to tough it out if you can. If i got out of it, you can too.

Hey all,

Can anyone experienced here help me with impending/onset adrenal fatigue/burnout/insufficiency?

It seems that accidental ketosis started the cycle (I seem unable to stay out of ketosis with only fruits) or flicked the switch and now my circadian cortisol production is out of whack (no sleep), plus my body is constantly losing water (low production of aldosterone to maintain sodium levels).

No sleep and chronic water/sodium loss seems to be destroying my body (muscle, bone, connective tissues/collagen) and I need to initiate a program to break the cycle and support my adrenals (if the origin isn't actually more pituitary like some believe).

I'm classic low-adrenal here (http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-symptoms-matrix), even to the extent that I've lost lower leg hair (weird symptom) and I'm growing hairs in weird places (eyebrows particularly more full).

At the moment, it seems that the only way to combat low aldosterone production and resulting sodium/electrolyte imbalance is to drink unrefined salt water, but I'm sure this is also creating other imbalances (maybe overdosing on trace minerals).

Here're some suggestions for restoring/supporting the adrenals, which I may consider...
http://www.drrind.com/therapies/adrenal-support-recommendation-sheet

Too much longer in this metabolic state will easily suck what I have left of my health, so if anyone has anything to contribute, it would be most appreciated (trying to maintain calm)...

SOS, thanks!

[goodsamaritan]

That is such a wild and dangerous transition.
Nation, are you still doing Zero Carb?

Are you doing Zero Carb MrBBQ?

[MrBBQ]

I've had to live with my parents for the last 2-3 weeks due to being hopeless from insomnia - I'm surprised that I still have my job and after sticking it out for 2 weeks, I've had to resort to pharmaceutical sleep, which is far from natural.

I feel like I've been kicked from my ivory tower and I've had to compromise a few times with meals, particularly to keep my energy levels up.

I've been reading about copper toxicity as a driver in adrenal problems (and also as a result of adrenal fatigue, because the adrenals work with the liver to bind unbound copper for utilisation/chelation). Funnily enough, I'd tried this dumb practice (from Ayurveda) of drinking from a copper cup and I'm really wondering if that's trashed my adrenals.

Funnily enough as well, increasing meat consumption increases zinc, which displaces copper. Copper creates all kind of symptoms if there is overload and it's "on the move", so maybe my problem with meat is copper overload and displacement. Of course, I'm hypothesising, but still, it's interesting to uncover.

http://www.arltma.com/CuIntroDoc.htm

Copper, Low Rate of Metabolism and Insomnia

    Individuals with a high copper level, together with a low rate of metabolism, frequently suffer from an inability to fall asleep or remain asleep. They frequently get up at night and go out for a walk, or drink hot chocolate. This increase in activity results in an increased rate of metabolism, which enables them to go back to sleep.
    Copper-toxic individuals are unconsciously, temporarily changing their mineral levels towards a more favorable balance, which is helpful to promote sleep.

[KD]

I feel like I've been kicked from my ivory tower and I've had to compromise a few times with meals, particularly to keep my energy levels up.

this sounds good!

I dunno man, in seems since in the past you applied this "means to an end" type thing with starches and even grains (if I am remembering) and even throwing out food combining rules and so forth per your choices. It seems like things have indeed taken a turn for the worst..but probably it just makes even more sense now to take things at face value on the ground instead of up in those towers. I'm not saying this will fix your problems per se, but maybe conventional wisdom is what you need and not so much on the esoteric troubleshooting. I think the sentiment is: Give it time on the sleep/rest relaxation and basic needs like eating enough and having some kind of joy/focus outside of health.

[goodsamaritan]

Have you tried adding Himalayan salt to your diet?
You may just be salt deprived.

[wodgina]

I wouldn't self diagnose from the internet, BTW that guy is trying to make money.

I've been like you and eventually you realise nothing works. Salt and potato peels? really? you haven't trashed your adrenals the human body is very resilient and if you calm down it will heal. I bet your 20 something and in complete health.

Seriously i'll put $100 bucks on it right now,

[pioneer]

Okay, I am just going to tell you from my own experience of being an insomniac for years before this diet. In my opinion it is possible that sufficient sleep may be even more important that this raw diet. Well, maybe not more or less, but here's my point. When I first started this diet, I was a total insomniac laying in bed for hours on end and sometimes getting no more than 1-2 hours of sleep a night even though I'd lay there for like 8 hours. When I first started this diet, after about 1-2 months, for the first in years I was able to soundly sleep 8 to 10 hours per night. That is when my body started to really heal itself.

So diet is a prerequisite to proper sleep, which is a prerequisite to health in my experiences. I know they both work in tandem, but in my situation, I healed and am still healing my body mostly because of the raw diets ability to improve my sleep.

As for hairs growing in weird places, look up morgellons disease. A common symptom of morgellans is for people to grow fibrous like hair in weird places. This disease is largely caused by GM foods such as corn, where they splice the DNA of insects within the corn and then, dont ask me how this happens, but the hair one grows after eating this food is the hair of insects, with the DNA and all. A lot of times people are growing this nasty insect hair out of their brains.

[raw-al]

One fellow wrote that they were working on making self limiting grass by splicing in the genes in pubic hair that limits it's growth.

My GF is an insomniac. This diet has not changed that. She sleeps lightly because stuff happened when she was a child that makes her sleep lightly. My snoring isn't making it any better, although since I started eating AV's recipe of cream/honey/butter and raspberries I seem to snore considerably less. Also propping my head up higher with a higher pillow is a great help.

[pioneer]

One fellow wrote that they were working on making self limiting grass by splicing in the genes in pubic hair that limits it's growth.

My GF is an insomniac. This diet has not changed that. She sleeps lightly because stuff happened when she was a child that makes her sleep lightly. My snoring isn't making it any better, although since I started eating AV's recipe of cream/honey/butter and raspberries I seem to snore considerably less. Also propping my head up higher with a higher pillow is a great help.

I know you've read the book lights out, which I recommended. So you must know that curing a sleep problem is more than just diet. Sure this diet was able to give my body the ability to go to sleep, but that was also after I made habitual changes such as going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (No exceptions!!!). Also you must make sure the room is completely dark with no lights on at all. Cut the power to your house if you have to. Electroradiation is a known cause of insomnia. Make sure all electronics such as computers and TVs etc... are completely shut off in the room. Get a good pair of drapes that let no light in whatsoever.

One thing I noticed as well is that I get extremely tired as soon as the sun goes down, which suggests that I obviously go to sleep, however I and everyone else commonly ignores this. Well, a few times this year I listened to what my body was telling me and just relaxed and ignored my schoolwork and such and just went to bed at 6pm as soon as the sun went down and when I got really drowsy, and I slept 14 hours straight  . Felt friggin great the next day.

Sometimes it is also rough to go to sleep on either an empty or full stomach, which depends solely on the person.

Make sure the room is either completely quiet, or some form of white noise, like a fan.

And obviously don't let her go to bed stressed. Watch a flick or read with her before bed. or just go to bed early as hell with her like 6pm and wake up at like 4 when the sun comes out.

I guarantee these methods make a world of difference for me. Take it from a person who was run down with insomnia for years with no help from anyone (doctors, pharmacists, etc...) It is all habitual and dietary.

As for you, try the Neil Med sinus rinse. Get rid of all the stored pollen in your sinuses. This thing has been known to even cure athsma, which I am a bit skeptical of, but it is still the absolute best tool to get rid of histamine and sinus problems. Just purchase it online for like $8-15 and follow the directions. Its like 10X better than a netty pot.

[achillezzz]

Get yourself magnesium supllements 500mg a day or twice a day..

Its helps lowering cortisol relax you and you might get a shot for a decent sleep... YOU NEED IT.

You cant check for magnesium Deficiency in blood test because it is only in tiny ammounts in our blood but tons of it in our cells.

[miles]

As for hairs growing in weird places, look up morgellons disease. A common symptom of morgellans is for people to grow fibrous like hair in weird places. This disease is largely caused by GM foods such as corn, where they splice the DNA of insects within the corn and then, dont ask me how this happens, but the hair one grows after eating this food is the hair of insects, with the DNA and all. A lot of times people are growing this nasty insect hair out of their brains.

After reading this I said "Oh-Jesus", reflex turned my head to the side whilst doing something weird with my top lip, shivered and felt a sickening hate.

[pioneer]

After reading this I said "Oh-Jesus", reflex turned my head to the side whilst doing something weird with my top lip, shivered and felt a sickening hate.

Yeah it is sick, the stuff big agri does is just downright evil and immoral, let alone just plain stupid.

[yuli]

"Many doctors say it’s all in the patient’s head. The fibers, they say, came from your bed or something similar . Yet these “fibers” don’t look or feel like regular thread at all"

Ha ha ha....what excuses will they think of next...I mean - what kind of beds are people sleeping on, do "fibers" from your bed really crawl up your skin 

I am surprised they didn't use this as an idea for a new horror movie yet.

[Sally]

Try eating 3 grapefruits per day.  This has greatly reduced my symptoms.  If you type grapefruit and cortisol in the search engine you will find a 2011 study showing that cortisol levels are much high in the blood stream after eaing grapefruit.  I also drink licorice root tea for the same reason.  The increased cortisol may lower your serotonin, so if you experience excessive hunger, insomnia or depression/anxiety, try taking 5 htp, or preferably a combination of excersise, sun exposure, massage and happy thoughts.  Also eat 30 grams of carbs by themselves.  Dont eat any protein for at least 40 minutes before eating any protein.  This is to ensure tryptophan can cross your blood brain barrier without having to compete with other amino acids.  After i worked out my grapefruit dosage, i added three capsules of raw adrenal glands.