Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Why Adrenal Health is So Important
- Dependence on Sunglasses
- Hollow Cheeks
- Lines in the Fingertips
- Pale Lips
- Balding Lower Legs
- Unexplained Back or Knee Pain
- QUICKLY Get Relief From Adrenal Fatigue
- Get to bed no later than 10:30 pm
- Throw out the processed salt and replace with sea salt
- Eliminate coffee and refined sugar from your diet
- Reduce dependence on grains
You’d have to be living under a rock not to notice that adrenal fatigue and adrenal problems, in general, are at epidemic proportions in our modern culture.
Just notice how nearly every gas station sells energy drinks and shots and there is a coffee shop on practically every corner. The average American now consumes a whopping 180 lbs per year of refined sugars. These signs surely provide sufficient evidence.
By the way, the 180 lbs of sugar per year figure is a shocking 27% increase just since 2003 when sugar consumption was 142 lbs per person per year!
Caffeine and sugar consumed in excess amounts will sucker punch your adrenal glands faster than just about anything else, no doubt about it.
I’ve read a lot of articles about the adrenal glands and adrenal fatigue over the years. Most of them focus on the symptoms which include excessive fatigue, hair loss, sleep problems, difficulty getting going in the morning, etc. You know the drill.
What I haven’t seen as much written about is why it is so critical to keep these two walnut-sized glands at the top of your kidneys happy and healthy and how to spot the freight train of adrenal fatigue coming full speed down the tracks and about to smack your life upside the head.
Fact is, once you are losing your hair, can’t sleep at night or get off the couch during the day, adrenal fatigue has already sucked the “life” out of your life. At that point, mustering the strength and courage to reverse course can be quite daunting indeed.
Why Adrenal Health is So Important
A few years ago, I attended the Wise Traditions Conference hosted annually by the Weston A. Price Foundation. One of the most interesting lectures I attended during that information-packed weekend was given by Dr. Bruce Rind MD, a holistic endocrinologist whose talk focused on spotting and reversing thyroid and adrenal problems.
I learned from Dr. Rind that the health of the thyroid gland and the adrenal glands is inextricably linked. If one goes south, the other one probably will too and in very short order.
Adrenal problems can frequently masquerade as thyroid problems. As a result, if the adrenal glands are experiencing high levels of stress day in and day out from lack of sleep, too much sugar and caffeine in the diet and a rush rush lifestyle loaded with carbohydrate-heavy processed foods, thyroid gland problems will eventually manifest along with the adrenal problems. Panic attacks may occur as well.
Why is this such a big problem?
Because thyroid problems often end up going hand in hand with insulin resistance problems. The development of insulin resistance is a BIG problem as this has a direct effect on longevity.
Once insulin resistance and blood sugar problems enter the picture, the domino effect to Metabolic Syndrome takes place, a fancy name for a group of risk factors which includes heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.
Now that we know why we need to keep the adrenal glands in ship shape and why ignoring this problem will only lead to more serious and imbalanced endocrine problems in the future, let’s explore the early signs of adrenal problems.
As you can see, a person’s overall hormonal balance is extremely intricate and one endocrine disorder frequently portends another then another. Hence, keeping one’s adrenal glands from becoming overly fatigued is extremely important as the seemingly insignificant signs of early adrenal dysfunction and insufficiency can rapidly start a person into a downward spiral to Metabolic Syndrome.
When does one cup of coffee in the morning or that afternoon pick me up candy bar suddenly indicate a major problem on the horizon?
Here are a few lesser-known signs of adrenal fatigue as described by Dr. Rind in his Wise Traditions lecture and as written in my notes:
Dependence on Sunglasses
Are you one of those people who can’t stand to be out in the bright, midday sun without your shades? Oversensitivity of the eyes to bright sunlight is a sign of adrenal problems from a chronic sodium-potassium imbalance which prevents the pupils from properly constricting in response to bright light.
The good news is that being out in the midday sun with no sunglasses is a way to strengthen the adrenals. When I do errands, I try to leave my sunglasses in the car and walk to and from the stores so that my eyes get a good dose of unobstructed sunlight.
I’ve noticed that my eyes have become significantly less sensitive to sunlight over the years as my diet has improved with the general banishment of refined sugars and carbohydrates in my home. While I still wear sunnies for safety reasons to reduce the glare while driving, I frequently find myself forgetting to put them on at all on very sunny days.
Hollow Cheeks
This young person shown in the picture to the left has some serious adrenal fatigue! My bet is that there is a lot of sugar and caffeine going on in that diet. Being young is no protection from the ravages of hormonal disruption. If you find your cheeks hollowing out, take a look at your diet pronto.
Skip the collagen injections and lose the sugar, caffeine, and refined carbohydrates instead!
Lines in the Fingertips
Turn your hand over and examine the skin of the fingertips. Do you see nice, plump fingertips or is the skin covered with vertical lines? If they are nice and plump, that is a good sign for your adrenals. Lots of vertical lines in your fingertips indicate adrenal stress.
My own fingertips used to be quite lined years ago, but getting off refined sugar plumped them out nicely within a few months.
Pale Lips
I have a friend who once told me that after about age 30, a woman’s lips disappear into the back of her head! This was a colorful way of saying that lipstick was mandatory after a certain age.
I don’t agree! Lips that have no color whatsoever is not always an age thing. It can also be a sign of weak adrenals. When refined grains and sugar are eliminated and any grains that are eaten are properly prepared with minimal to no caffeine in the diet, most women are delighted to see a youthful pink return to their lips once again!
One of the most striking things I noticed when I went on the GAPS Diet a few years back was how the color flooded into my face and lips. Clearly, my adrenals were on the mend!
Even now, I can tell within an hour or two if my adrenals have been stressed by the meal I just ate…my lips go pale almost immediately. Watch this yourself. You will be amazed at how quickly the amount of color in your lips will indicate how your adrenals are feeling at that moment.
Balding Lower Legs
Do you have bald patches on your lower arms and legs or sparser hair in those areas than you used to (particularly men)? This could be a sign of adrenal fatigue.
Boys entering puberty with sparser beards and leg/arm hair than their peers are frequently those with low adrenal function and an overall lower drive to achieve.
Unexplained Back or Knee Pain
Muscle weakness is a frequent sign of adrenal insufficiency. Unexplained back or knee pain with no accompanying structural defect may indicate weakness of the muscles supporting the pelvis and/or knees.
In the case of lower back pain, chronic adrenal stress leads to weakness in the muscles which support the pelvis causing the pelvis to subluxate in a posterior direction. In other words, the lower back pain has nothing to do with the lower back and everything to do with muscular instability in the pelvis.
QUICKLY Get Relief From Adrenal Fatigue
If you suspect that you have adrenal fatigue, it would be a good idea to get a holistic physician to do a thorough examination and consultation. Hormone problems are incredibly intractable conditions to reverse and professional advice is warranted in most cases.
In the meantime, you can quickly provide your adrenals relief if you do the following:
Get to bed no later than 10:30 pm
This piece of advice was given to me by an Ayurvedic MD over 15 years ago. It is still one of the best pieces of advice any doctor has ever given me. She explained how the hormone system cleanses between 11 pm and 1 am (generally speaking) and if you are not asleep during this time, the flushing process will not take place, essentially backing up the hormone system with toxins.
Throw out the processed salt and replace with sea salt
The adrenals need GOOD salt. Use sea salt to taste in your dishes at home and your adrenals will thank you!
It doesn’t matter the color either! Just make sure it’s not white.
Eliminate coffee and refined sugar from your diet
This is a simple piece of advice but easily ignored in our crazy modern lives. Continue with the daily caffeine/sugar fixes, and you WILL have serious hormonal issues down the road if you don’t already. Coffee has already been linked to blood sugar issues (sorry bulletproof coffee fans). Combine this with a sugar-filled diet and the Metabolic Syndrome freight train has left the station.
Is it really that hard to replace that cup of Joe with dandelion coffee or green tea and the white sugar/high fructose corn syrup with natural alternatives like raw honey? Do it today!
Reduce dependence on grains
The Western diet is overly heavy in grains and starches which tax the adrenals when consumed to excess. Focus the diet on clean meats, organic and biodynamic vegetables and fruits, seeds, nuts, eggs, and grass-fed dairy. You will very soon feel the energy that comes with a significantly reduced digestive burden and begin to regain more youthful vitality that comes with healthy adrenals!
References
Dr. Bruce Rind MD, Lecture at Wise Traditions Conference
CBS News: Coffee and Blood Sugar
More Information
Vitamin D Deficiency Signs Most People Miss
Rethinking Fatigue: What Your Adrenals are REALLY Telling You
Adrenal Exhaustion: A National Epidemic
This is amazing! Thank you so much for posting this. I read Dr. Wilsons’s “Adrenal Fatigue” and discovered that I was having adrenal issues, but the book didn’t mention all of these.
It’s a funny feeling to read a list and think “Yeah, I do have that. I thought I was going crazy.” 🙂 I’ve been noticing full-on vertical creases in my fingertips and figured it was related to my new nail growth. I used to have such strong nails that I would grow them long and instead of chipping they would simply snap off if I whacked them. Nowadays they chip–or rather, peel. I’m off to see if that’s related. 🙂
HI HT, not vertical lines in the nails .. vertical lines in the skin on the fingertip on the underside of the nail.
Oh, this is good to know. 🙂 I have vertical lines on my nails but definitely not under the nails. I don’t seem to have any major adrenal gland symptoms.
Not the nail bed, the fingertips – the part you touch the keys with when you type. Medscape says that lines on the fingernails themselves indicate diabetes, thyroid disorders, vitamin B deficiency, arthritis, poor circulation, iron deficiency, folate deficiency or protein deficiency. Frequent hangnails indicate vitamin C deficiency. Nails tha break easily woul dbe worth googling about. A lot can be inferred by the health of your nails and tongue!
Alicia, I went through the same thing recently. I found that I was really sensitive to sulfites, so cut those out of my diet, started eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and as much clean meats and eggs as possible. I also supplemented with high doses of B12 and some magnesium. The panic attacks only come back when I go back to drinking caffeine and eating the processed foods. Also, take some probiotics and natural anti-fungals to wipe out yeast issues. This also helped me alot
I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with me and considered the possiblity that my adrenal glands may be malfunctioning. I do have some of the signs you mentioned above, the loss of hair, lines on the fingertips, and loss of color in my lips. However, the bigger issues I have been experiencing are Heart problems, such as palpations, fluttering, and occassionally anxiety attack symptoms that accompany the palpations and fluttering that can be so severe that I feel like I can’t breath and I feel like something very heavy is pressing down on my chest. I went to a cardiologist and he wanted to run a stress test which turned out fine. No blockages or other problems were detected, so I don’t know if these symptoms can be related to adrenal problems or not. It , of course, costs alot to have these kinds of tests run, even with my insurance, that until this bill is paid I won’t be returning to any doctors. It would help to know which direction I need to go and where I need to begin searching for answers, so I don’t end up with having to have alot of tests run because the doctor is grasping at straws to try and figure out what is wrong with me, and end up with even more unwanted medical bills. Please let me know if this is a possibility and worth searching into further or if it is unlikely adrenal gland problems. Thanks
Hi Alicia, I used to have panic attacks when my adrenals were particularly weak. Here’s how I beat mine .. haven’t had one in many many years:
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2010/07/natural-remedies-for-panic-attacks/
I have this too. I did the stress test: nothing. Ultrasound (happened during the test!): nothing. 24-hour look-like-a-borg monitoring (happened so often I stopped recording the times): nothing. Pat on the head and a prescription for iodide. GR!
The only trigger I’ve found is sugar, but it’s not the culprit every time. Thyroid problems can do it, and I’ve just seen that Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride has a book called Heart in your Mouth, which would be about gut flora and cardiac health – might be worth checking out.
Good luck. If you find out anything else, let us know!
Great Article! I had a special needs child and lived on caffeine and sugar for 6 yrs, ended up with exhausted adrenals, systemic candida, low thyroid (though from this list of symptoms I think my thyroid was low already from childhood illnesses, too many medications, immunizations). Weston Price foundation diet helped tremendously, but adding YLEO gave me back my life (heart, mind, and soul healing). We have so many environmental toxins suppressing our immune system and cultural negativity that we have to promote healing the emotions and spiritual health to really heal.
Emotional roots to adrenal problems: feels defeated, feels like a victim, no belief in self, “don’t care what happens to me” attitude, lack of courage, feelings of anxiety, misusing the will, subconscious belief that life must have burdens, being disloyal to self, unresolved jealousies & fears, feels that one must struggle for success, power or position.
sensitive eyes are a reflection of what’s going on in the body… A nice addition would be
high quality cod liver oil which contains Vit D and Vit A… vitamin A is crucial for eye health.
Yes, it’s all connected. The hypothalmus feeds the pituitary which feeds the thyroid (queen
of the endocrine system), etc. Once again, a nutrient dense diet is the bottom line.
good health to all ~
Excess bromine can also cause light sensitivity (and depression, impotence, delirium and exhaustion). All the more reason to drop SAD bread!
Bromine’s also in the halogen group along with iodine. If you get too much in your diet and not enough iodine you can wind up with your thyroid uptaking the bromine instead. Bad scene.
Thanks so much for this information. I did the tummy test and failed. Every symptom you mentioned I have. I also have Type II Diabetes and low level carbs really mess with my blood sugars. I am going to take your suggestions and see how I feel. I am so tired I can’t see straight and am a slug all day….NO ENERGY. How long do you think before I should see some improvement?
Hi Katherine, I am so sorry to hear of your adrenal struggles. While my tips will definitely help and probably improvement will be noticeable pretty quickly, you may need professional help as well to examine the situation as extreme cases such as you describe may need a bit more of a healing boost if you know what I mean. The suggestions in this blog will defnitely help and put you on the path to recovery no doubt – just may need a little more tweaking by a holistic healthcare professional trained in this area of specialty. Good luck!
I am a severe case of adrenal fatigue, the kind is discussed here that you dont want to get to – thats me!!! December of last year I had a saliva test done. When it came back, the Doctor said “I dont know how you even make it through an hour of Zumba your adrenal glands are so fatigued” ( This was before I wound up with permanent nerve damage in my lowerback and now can not walk without a cane!) No cortisol at all, no iodine, no vitamin D, DHEA messed up, NO Progesterone at all, had not had a period in monhts!!the list went on and on. I have been tested every 3-6 months since then. DHEA levels are better thats about it. I am on disability now because of my back. I have been eating NT, raw milk, organic veges, grass fed chicken and beef. Even gave up my love for coffee, I still LOVE a quarter cup at the most in the am.
I have finally had a period the last two months. I know this means my body is getting better – oh and hair loss yes I had it thats why I finally went to the doctor and spent a fortune.
Anyway, I have been taking Wilsons supplements for adrenal fatigue, with all that I read I am not sure the supplements are absorped by my body. I have made the Dr.Connelys soup for the NT book and am going to start drinking a cup each day.
I am a severe case of the adrenal fatigue. I used diet pills to keep me going during the day, and coffee then took sleeping pills or Xanax to help me relax, and yes I had panic attacks, no progesterone so my body could not calm down. I had lost weight finally was a size 10, now i have gained it all back but am slowly getting better. It took me years to get like this I am sure it is going to take years to undone and learn to heal myself. Any other good suggestions on foods for the adrenal glands? Or any other good tips? Oh and I am not a patient person!!! I think God is trying to teach me a lesson with all this and my back:)
Hi Merryl, can you please give me your email adress? I’m in the same situation as you, I have panic attacks, and I would like to ask for your advice! Thank you very much!
My one is: schumi03 @ mailbox . hu without spaces. Thanks!!!
Here’s an excellent article on adrenal fatigue.
http://www.tvernonlac.com/adrenal-fatigue-diet.html
Light sensitivity is related to pyroluria, a condition that clusters in families. Here’s a very long but related article on how metal toxicity, adrenal fatigue and its many associated symptoms can create mental health issues.
http://www.westonaprice.org/mentalemotional-health/metals-and-the-mind
Thanks you!
My biggest problem, that I cannot handle stress situations well, or at least as others do. When I need to call somebody, or when I see my best friend coming, or I visit her, or when I watch an exciting sports event. I don’t know, but I think it is something to do with the hormones, maybe cortisol, maybe progresteron, don’t know yet. And surely, if this is a long situation, that leads to panics. What do you think?
What I know is that I do not want to take anti-depressant pills aor anything like that, because I would like to CURE and not just COVER my illnes. I belive the panic attacks are a sign of someting went wrong in my body, or the balance is missing.
So, head up people in the illness, and keep researching until you find the root of the problem! Do not give up!! I know how bad is it, believe me. But I keep going…
To merryl n julia n others….I also suffer from adrenal fatigue n hypothyroid….my naturopath has said n u can google this. .most cases indicate a magnesium deficiency…its common in western diets now. ..magnesium destresses u..calms u down n puts u right to rest….also candida n low stomach acid…this is all from hypo n adrenal fatigue…therefore I could not absorb my nutrition n suplements….fix ur diet… then u won’t b anemic or deficient in anything!!!
Thanks Sarah for this great information. I have suspected this in my own body for a number of years and have been taking steps to help heal. Do you know of any holistically minded Drs in the Clearwater or even Tampa area that have a strong background in helping heal adrenal fatigue/hormonal imbalance? Thanks so much.
Hi Dori, you may try Dr. Saxena at <SevaMed Institute in Lutz, FL, or Dr. Ron Shemesh at <Mind, Body Spirit Care in the Carrollwood Area or South Tampa. At the latter location, they also have an acupuncturist who does ayurvedic medicine, and he’s currently contracting with a kinesiologist/nutritionist person for the time being too.
Thanks so much for the information.