By Toni Eatros, MS, Dipl Ac, AP
We all have had times in our life when we were under high stress for way too long. At first, we feel like we are handling it, but as we soldier on, often we start to feel like we are crumbling under the pressure. We start noticing a decline in energy and changes in mood, followed by anxiety and sleep issues. We become less active because we are stiff and our joints and muscles ache. The food cravings begin and the weight gain follows, especially around the abdomen. Our muscles start to disappear and we lose our sex drive. Suddenly, the foods we have always enjoyed start to bother us and we have allergies. Finally, our primary care physician tells us we are hypothyroid, pre-diabetic, and have high cholesterol.
This is the crossroads in our health journey. Option one is to take the handful of prescriptions that we will be on for the rest of our life. Why do I say the rest of our life? Because, if you stop the medication, the symptoms come back. That is suppressing symptoms, not fixing the cause of the symptom. We never really get better, just slowly circle the drain. Option two is to find the cause of the symptoms and correct it, thereby, eliminating symptoms, regaining health and avoiding side effects from medication.
The center of functional medicine is the stress response. Stress and lifestyle are the number one reason people get sick in the first place. If you are super stressed out and not eating as well as you should be, not getting enough exercise, not getting enough or good quality sleep and aren’t meditating, you are feeding the stress response and the more of the seven signs of adrenal fatigue you will begin to experience.
When we are stressed and not taking care of ourselves, we will have a problem maintaining stable blood sugar and making energy inside of the cells. Carbohydrate metabolism will fall apart leaving us exhausted. The body thinks we have a tiger chasing us and needs quick energy, so it starts to break down bone excessively (osteoporosis), tendons, and ligaments faster than it should. Now it feels like the body is breaking down and the pain creeps in as tendinitis, bursitis, and herniated discs become chronic issues. Inflammation leads to heart disease and more pain conditions.
When the tiger is chasing us all day every day, we pump large amounts of cortisol. This cortisol seeps into the hippocampus and destroys brain cells. Now we have brain fog, learning and memory issues. When we are stressed, we don’t sleep well and we don’t feel great. This has a huge impact on the brain and the neurotransmitters leaving us depressed and anxious. The brain controls the hormones and now thyroid and blood sugar hormones are impacted. The ovarian hormones become profoundly affected and fertility can become an issue.
When we are stressed we have digestive problems, even if there are no digestive symptoms. This leads to leaky gut and leaves us susceptible to bacteria, parasite, yeast, and viral infections, which stresses the system more. Weight and fat distribution problems become noticeable. This leads to more fatigue and depression. The liver gets bogged down and toxins begin to accumulate. Often this manifests as digestive or skin issues. Food and environmental allergies become a daily issue and lead to more medication.
All of this is a big deal. When we are stressed, all of the other hormone systems start to collapse. When we rebuild these systems, symptoms disappear and we feel so much better. The seven signs of adrenal fatigue tell us so much. They are indicators that we want to test the adrenal system and correct the stress response.
Testing the condition of your fight or flight stress response system is easy. Start by scheduling a functional medicine new patient consult with me, www.AcupunctureSolutionsOnline.com.
During that hour long appointment (telemedicine appointments are available) we will discuss, in detail, your health history. We will decide if testing is appropriate for you. If so, you will receive a salivary test kit to take home. Test results take about 2-3 weeks. If the test shows there is adrenal fatigue occurring, we will discuss ways to use lifestyle and short term vitamin protocols to correct the system. Treatment usually takes 4-6 months, but many start feeling better within the first month.
If you are really stressed out, and diet, exercise, meditation, and quality sleep aren’t happening, you will go through a predictable series of health problems. It doesn’t matter if you are coming in for osteoporosis, memory, pre-diabetes, infertility, weight, fatigue or pain. It doesn’t matter what the constellation of symptoms is. It is imperative that we get to the center of this and address the stress response. That is the center of our world and the center of our symptoms. Call me today, (239) 260-4566, so we can get you feeling better and living life to the fullest.
www.AcupunctureSolutionsOnline.com
(239) 260-4566