Last week, I went over the recommended supplements to treat Adrenal Fatigue. This week I’ll go over adrenal recommendations as well as a plan to reduce stressors.

My Advanced Adrenal Recommendations

If more energy is needed and cortisol remains low (less than 15 in blood on serum cortisol), I recommend a prescription medication: Hydrocortisone/cortisol (Cortef). Your healthcare provider must prescribe this. 

Cortef is a steroid, and you may have concerns about taking it. Cortef brings your cortisol levels into the normal physiologic range that the adrenal glands would be producing if they were functioning correctly. The recommendation is to replace what is deficient and not take any more than that. The goal is to restore your body to how it was before you became unwell.

Treat the causes and reduce the stressors

Treating the physical symptoms is only the first step. Once you start to feel better, it’s important to begin addressing the causes of the problem: the sources of stress that compromised your adrenals in the first place. 

Stress can have physical, mental, emotional, and energetic (spiritual) elements. 

The physical stress from heavy metal toxicity, infections, chemicals, molds, and food allergies must be addressed. 

Mental and emotional stressors are just as important. Here is a list of action items. Besides restoring your adrenals, choose one thing to do from this list: 

1. Make a plan to manage the stress that arises from juggling relationships, family, finances, and work. 

2. Go to bed at 10 p.m. This will help reset your circadian rhythm, and you’ll avoid missing your sleep window. Lights go off at 10, so start getting ready before then. 

3. Start a gratitude practice. You will experience a noticeable reduction in your level of stress. Every day say out loud or write down three things you are grateful for. 

4. Start a stress-reducing technique. Effective stress management tools include:

• meditation, 

• mindfulness training, 

• yoga, tai chi 

• Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT or tapping) 

There are many others. Pick one and go for it! Start slow, once a week, and increase as your energy grows. 

5. Start having more “YOU” time! You deserve 30 to 60 minutes of “YOU” time each day to take care of yourself. Put the time on your calendar and make it happen. You will be amazed at how you can transform your life! 

Other Lifestyle Action Items: 

1. Avoid caffeine in chocolate and coffee. 

2. Drink more water and sea salt. When your adrenals aren’t working, you’re not making enough aldosterone to keep the salt in your body. Start with a pinch of sea salt per glass of water and increase slowly. Consume 3-4 liters of water per day in between meals. 

3. Eat protein and fat every 2 hours and stop eating grains and sugar. Grains and sugar will spike your blood sugar and your insulin reacts to push it into your cells. Cortisol is then released to manage the insulin. When your blood sugar is stable, your cortisol is preserved for other adrenal functions. Good sources of fats are nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado. Your ideal diet will be meat and vegetables. A 1/4 of your plate at every meal should be meat and the rest vegetables (1/4 can be starchy vegetables). A plate of varied, colorful vegetables is ideal.

4. Exercise and move as you are able. Exercise is a powerful tool for mitigating stress, but only if you have enough energy to tolerate it. Start low and go slow. Too much exercise will deplete the adrenals. I recommend 5 to 10 jumping jacks or burpees per day as a starting point. 

Consider if you may be “spiritually, or energetically stressed”. I encourage you to visit LifeTakesPractice.com for tools and support in pursuing a richer life. My wife, Stacy, suffered from chronic fatigue for 3 years. An important part of resolving her fatigue involved exploring opportunities for mental, spiritual, and emotional growth. She took her personal experience and her experience with her clients and created LifeTakesPractice.com to help you change your life for the better.

The Plan

If you have adrenal fatigue, this plan is for you.

1. Start Adrenal Stress End: 1 capsule in the morning and noon. Take with food. Watch for side effects of the licorice root in this product: feeling wired, insomnia, high blood pressure, heart palpitations or swelling. If this occurs, stop the product and start BioAdreno 1 capsule in the morning, noon, and at 3 p.m. Increase to 3 capsules 3x/day as able. If BioAdreno is too stimulating, take chromium picolinate 1000 mcg 1-6 caps/day. It’s a great treatment for sensitive folks, just not very strong. 

Note: 3 p.m. doses are not needed if you do not have an energy crash between your last dose and 10 p.m.

2. Start Adrenal Px: 1 capsule in the morning, at noon, and at 3 p.m. Increase in one week by 1 capsule per dose. Max 4 capsules 3x/day to get cortisol levels into the normal range. Decrease if you experience any agitation, insomnia, or feeling wired (rare). 

3. Start DHEA 25 mg per day (for men) and increase up to a max of 75 mg/day as needed to fix your blood levels. For women, start at 5 mg per day and increase up to a max of 25 mg per day. 

4. Start Cortisol Manager: 1 tablet 2x/day if you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or have insomnia. It can also be helpful if you are feeling “wired and tired,” if you startle easily and for high cortisol readings.

I recommend taking the above supplements until energy increases to a 7/10 and symptoms and laboratory values improve into the normal range. Once the causes of the adrenal fatigue are remedied, you can wean down as able.  

Take Action

• Start Low. Go Slow

• Continue to implement the lifestyle changes you have made.

• Join the Conversation in our Facebook Group

• Share this article with your friends and loved ones on social media and help me achieve my mission of helping 1 million people increase their energy!