If you could suggest ONE thing for adrenal fatigue

[Friendlee]

...what would the one thing be? The thing is, when I look at all of the changes that need to be made...I just want to go take a nap. I can barely stand up for long enough to make anything healthy to eat. And trust me, I know how important it is that I DO, but after having this baby, getting very little sleep for 9 months and letting convenient foods creep back into my life, I need ONE supplement or tea or SOMETHING that will make a dent enough to give me the stamina to take charge of the other areas.

So, what ONE thing would you suggest I try for a week or so, that will make a difference enough to give me the energy to start making other changes?

P.S. I know there isn't ONE quick fix. But if you give me a laundry list of things to do, I will keel over from exhaustion just thinking about it.

[lil_miss_understood]

Hard to pull off with a LO, but my one suggestion would be: rest. And if you can handle it, I'd add: relax.
I would try for something along the lines of meditation. Decrease your stress as much as possible and/or implement stress management strategies, basically.

[nichole]

I agree with the suggestion to rest/ relax more...b complex is helpful too

[Friendlee]

Shoot. That simply won't happen...it's what got me into this mess. The dear child doesn't nap. Night's aren't much better. It's kinda the one thing I can't do. At least not until she learns to sleep longer than 20 minutes. I always tell people that I would dream of a full night's sleep IF I ever slept long enough to get into a dream!

[lil_miss_understood]

Have you looked at food sensitivities for your DC?

[KimPM]

I've had adrenal fatigue. It took me a long while of taking supplements to finally recover. But here are my best suggestions.

1) Vitamin C in large doses (perhaps 500mg-1000mg at a time), taken throughout the day. The bodily organ that uses the most vitamin C is the adrenals. I'd suggest the sodium ascorbate form, and it's hard to get in a local store. I get mine online.

Since you are short on time, here is a thread with suggestions of where people get their supplements:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...dium+ascorbate

2) Besides vitamin C, and while you are buying supplements, Pantothenic Acid (= vitamin B5), 500 mg at night before you go to bed (if you actually can go to bed, given your little one - I've been there, too). This helps the adrenals recharge overnight.

3) Also make sure you are getting a good complex of B vitamins.

4) You might also consider trying CoQ10 to help generate energy (but it can be expensive).

I hope these things aren't too long of a list. The vitamin C is the most important, I think. For everything else, save this information and come back to it later.

[Friendlee]

KimPM, thank you! That sounds doable! My dh will probably kill me if I say I want to try even one more supplement (cause I just remain low energy no matter what I do) but I'll see what I can do. I used to take coq10 awhile back, but it got too expensive...but I vaguely remember thinking it might have made a slight effect on my energy. So maybe if I can get my hands on some of that and combine it with the other stuff, I might have a fighting chance! I've always heard that you can only absorb so much of vit C at a time and that you'll pee out the excess. So 1,000 mg wouldn't be too much?

Jacquelin, thank you, yep I've looked into food sensitivities. She's an angel and often wakes happy and babbling...babbles for quite awhile and it drives me crazy (but it IS really cute) but I can't sleep. Eventually she'll start getting whimpery and whiny. If I wait to see where that leads, it always ends in crying. So my point it, I don't lean towards her frequent waking due to food sensitivities, although I would never rule it out since it's such a complex thing and so hard to zero in on. One issue is that with this adrenal fatigue, I simply can't give up things like coffee. I did try eliminating it earlier on because I worried that it was a trigger. There was no improvement and I decided I needed the coffee back! I've never been addictied to coffee and I am positive that once I can restore myself I will be fine without it...but currently I am coasting on coffee. I'm typically a very healthy eater and I believe that food can be used as a preventative medicine...but I've lost my way due to mind blowing exhaustion. No one should endure such a long stint of such frequently interrupted sleep! I feel like my dd isn't getting what she needs through my milk...I want to badly to get back on track and eat right again.

[wagamama]

My suggestion to you is: nightweaning. I went through something similar when my first was born -- he woke every hour or so for the first year of his life. I became so weak and ill -- I really ruined my health, not to mention my personality -- I became so grumpy! At the one-year mark, out of desperation, I nightweaned him. It was a gentle process, and within days he was sleeping through the night! I was floored, because I had been convinced that he NEEDED to drink breastmilk at night. Turns out it was merely a habit.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by Friendlee

One issue is that with this adrenal fatigue, I simply can't give up things like coffee. I did try eliminating it earlier on because I worried that it was a trigger. There was no improvement and I decided I needed the coffee back! I've never been addictied to coffee and I am positive that once I can restore myself I will be fine without it...but currently I am coasting on coffee.

Can you at least cut back on the coffee...like only do 1/2 cup instead of a full cup? Caffeine really exhausts your adrenals. I like tea, and during that time I found that taking only a little tea instead of a full cup would get the job done while not being over stimulating.

[WuWei]

sleep. In bed by 10pm, walk in the sunlight by 10am, even just to the mailbox and back will help.

Pat

[mbravebird]

Raw liver pills, nettle infusion, and going to bed early were the most helpful for me. I was in your exact situation, and harmed my adrenals. My first son didn't sleep more than a couple of hours for three years, and my early attempts at nightweaning did not work. When I was in that situation, if I drank a lot of nettle infusion (not the tea, the infusion) I would at least be able to sleep soundly between wakeups, instead of getting jittery. And the raw liver majorly helped the energy during daytime hours.

They are both really affordable. Find a local farmer for your grass-fed liver, and order a pound of nettle from Mountain Rose Herbs.

If you can spend a bit more on supplements, you could order Dr. Ron's "Organ Delight", which is a mix of liver and adrenals and other glandulars. That stuff got me through my last pregnancy and the first sleep-deprived months.

Good luck, mama. Hope your babe sleeps soon!

[Beth F]

I'll echo a PP. Food sensitivities. For dd, if she or I ate any apple, she'd wake a lot more during the night. Once we figured out many of dd's food sensitivities (and there are many, many sensitivities), she slept better. She was joyful but unable to sleep well when she ate the offending foods.

[balancedmama]

Have you had your thyroid tested? And make sure you're getting enough Vitamin D. Heck, you're probably not...so I'd supp that.

[Friendlee]

I've had my thyroid tested about 3 times in the last 2 years. In fact, I'm waiting on my blood test for the 4th thyroid test! My doc wanted to see if pregnancy sent me out of whack. My guess is that it's fine...it's always fine. But we'll see!

Doc is also an expert on vitamin D and speaks at conferences about it - she LOVES vitamin D. So she is frequently testing me and recommending I take about 4,000 iu a day because I've been low in the past. Waiting on those results too, to see if I am still low. (Probably). I do walk to the mailbox and back...I also slug around the backyard with the dog who tries to get me to throw sticks - but I'm just so tired. I get some sun most days since the weather's warmed up (just recently about 3 weeks ago). And I use a special sunlamp in the winter. Even so, I've always been low and try to remember to take D3 most days.

So I bought sodium ascorbate and it's about 1,600 mg a dose. Also bought coq10 and a good B complex.

We're working on night weaning now. It's better...but I'm still a far cry (no pun intended) from getting any good chunks of solid sleep. Even when she finally is asleep I feel so frazzled that I just sit there listening to dh, the dog and the baby breathing heavily and wishing I could join them in slumberland!

I still don't think she has any food sensitivities. She really doesn't display any symptoms of that so I don't have much reason to suspect it.

I do have nettle tea from when I was pregnant...mbravebird: what is the ratio of tea to water to make the infusion? And what exactly does nettle tea do? I'll try the tea, but I don't think I have the energy to figure out how to manage the liver yet.

[mbravebird]

The infusion-strength brew is a cup of the herb to a quart of boiling water, covered and steeped for 4-8 hours or overnight. I use wide-mouth quart canning jars from the grocery store. You can get the nettle from Mountain Rose Herbs if you don't have enough.

I would usually have to drink about 2 cups during the day to feel the effect of sleeping better. It helped me fall asleep without that jitteriness or insomnia, even when frequently woken, and sleep more deeply as well. It saved me, really. It's different than taking cal/mag supplements.

When you're ready to get the liver, all you have to do is cut it up, raw and frozen, into pill-size pieces. Swallow three or four "pills" of the liver in the morning. You can't taste it that way. I started to feel the effects about three days into it. Even my husband could feel the effects. Here's an article to inspire you about it:

The Anti-Fatigue Factor of Liver

Good luck, mama.

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by mbravebird

The Anti-Fatigue Factor of Liver

Good luck, mama.

Coolest research ever! Thanks for the terrific link.


Pat

[Friendlee]

Wonderful! I look forward to reading that because the liver is sort of like when I first heard of people eating their placenta...totally strange upon first hearing it...but really intriguing and I'd probably try it!

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by Friendlee

We're working on night weaning now. It's better...but I'm still a far cry (no pun intended) from getting any good chunks of solid sleep. Even when she finally is asleep I feel so frazzled that I just sit there listening to dh, the dog and the baby breathing heavily and wishing I could join them in slumberland!

.

Sounds just like me when DD was that exact age! I eventually NW her at 13 months and yes we slept better but even then was rough because you're used to not sleeping (but then a little melatonin could be useful). BUT it will get better I promise. I still don't sleep great but dd does. Our lifestyle isn't "normal"(we move alot) so that's really rough on my adrenals but like the PP said B vits do help and C so I'm glad you're starting there. and nettles are so yummy...I hope you notice a difference soon