Good News About Adrenal Fatigue!

[GoddessKristie]

YOU CAN HEAL!! I can't believe where I am today.

In April of 2009 I discovered I had Adrenal fatigue. I'll share with you a quote I posted over on THE Adrenal Fatigue thread:

I've been treating my AF on my own for 18 months. I suspect I've had it for a very long time (more than 10 years), but it got really bad after a particuarly stressful time in my life and that's when I learned what it was. I have had a number of very bad experiences with doctors in the past who only want to treat the symptoms and not cure the cause, so I was not open to adding to those bad experiences. I feel like I am an intelligent woman and though I'm not a doctor, I was confident I could educate myself and at least help my condition naturally. 
So that's exactly what I did. This forum was my first stop and I got a lot of great book recomendations here. I read everything I could get my hands on about the endocrine system and how it works and anything I could find that was specific to the adrenal glands. 
I ordered a blood and saliva test through CanaryClub.com and when I got my results there was a write-up by a doctor interpreting my results that confirmed that my adrenals were to blame. 
At that point I put into work all the information I had found and started on a huge regimine of dietary suppliments. At that point I was unable to get out of bed and in and out of sleep all day and night. When I could get out of bed I could do no more than basic personal care for myself and my baby. I was taking 32 pills a day. 
Within about 6 months I was out of bed, but still needing a 2-4 hour nap every day. At that point I started looking to herbs for some additional support. My moods were out of control and my high evening cortisol was causing a lot of disruption in my family relationships. I found an adrenal support herbal suppliment that I liked and that evened out my moods and reduced my stress response. 
At a year I no longer needed a nap, but wasn't able to sleep at night. I was now taking 34 pills a day with the herbal suppliment added in. I tried supplimenting DHEA for a while, but it didn't help at all, so after about 2 months I stopped taking it. I continued to slowly feel better during the day. 
Now, at 18 months since I started treating my adrenals I am down to taking 11 pills a day plus my herbs, which are now different. I am now sleeping at night! I am usually in bed by 10 and sleep until 9am (luckily I'm a SAHM). I still don't need a nap during the day, and I am able to do all of our cooking and some cleaning. Normal exercise is still out of the question (though I try regularly), but my moods are normal and I feel about 85% normal on most days. Stressful situations and overexertion still make me really tired for the next two days, but I'm really glad about the progress I've made and it makes me feel good that I was able to do it on my own. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress I'll make in the next 6 months and we're hoping to get pregnant in 2011!
Real healing can be done, and if you have no help you can make it happen on your own!

After posting that, I was asked what I was taking, here's that info:

I'll do my best! I had a card that said everything I was taking in the begining on it, but I just decided last week that I should get rid of it.

Multi (Rainbow Light Prenatal One)
Calcium plus (magnesium, D, Copper, zing and manganese)
Chromium
B Complex
Additional Panto
Additional B-1
Biotin
Zinc
Adrenal Caps
5-HTP
Papaya Enzyme
Vitamin E
Selenium
Vitamin C
Adrenal Caps
The herbal: Dr. Lorna Vanderhaeghe's Adrenasmart
each capsule has:
100mg rhodiola rosea
100mg eleuthro
80mg schizandra
80mg ashwaghanda
Recomended dosage on bottle: 1-3 caps daily

I took two of these with lunch unless I was having a particularly stressful day (and around hormonal adjustments with my menstrual cycle which are particularly difficult for me).

I'm now taking:
Multi (same)
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
B complex
Additional Panto
Zinc
Magnesium
Adrenal Caps
Eleuthro (410mg)
Astragalus (470mg)
Alfalfa (405mg)
Schisandra (480mg)
Royal Jelly (500mg)
I take the herbs with lunch every day.
This is a new combination that I chose based on my specific needs. I just started it on Wed after going off of Gaia herbs' System Support Adrenal Health. I took that for a month, but it stopped my period (Holy Basil) and seemed to give me a hair trigger temper, so I went off of it on Tuesday and got my period today. As I mentioned earlier this is a rough time for me, so I can't say how my new herbs are doing yet.

In April of this year I was able to begin exercising in addition to the cooking and cleaning that I was still doing. I started with walking videos (Leslie Sansone) 15 minutes every other day, then after two weeks went up to 30 minutes, then after two weeks went up to 6 days a week. I was feeling completely back to normal and discontinued all my herbs and extra vitamins and went to just continuing to take the prenatal vitamin daily. The plan was to try to lose the excess weight I've packed on through this illness and then try to get pregnant in August. That plan didn't quite work out.

In late May I had a strange conversation with my husband (I would share, but you'd think  I was crazy), and as a result I took a pregnancy test. It was early detection (from Amazon SO CHEAP! I was only 7 dpo), and I got a positive! So, now I'm almost half way through (20 weeks on Thursday), and everything is going perfectly so far! I have energy to do the things I need to do, I am still able to exercise 6 days a week and live a perfectly normal life, with my perfectly normal pregnancy.

My journey has been a difficult one and I went through periods where I honestly thought I wouldn't heal, that I would just get worse and worse and die. We wanted more children and with my progesterone levels as low as they were there was just no way I could get pregnant. Then, on my very first ovulation after 2 years of treating my adrenal fatigue I got pregnant. I could not be happier and my belief in the power of herbs and vitamins for healing (not just treating) illnesses will never be wavered. 

So, don't give up! You may not have the same experience I had and I honestly thought it would take longer to come back from where I was, but if I did it, I believe you can too! Don't give up hope!

I want to say thank you for all the support I've received here. I would never have had the courage to try to heal myself if it weren't for this community of amazing women. I would never have guessed I could come this far, and I don't think I would have if it weren't for all of you. Thank you, thank you!

[subtlycrunchy]

That's really inspiring!! I found this great article on 

Eating to support your adrenal glands — small choices can make a difference

Did you make diet changes as well? 

[GoddessKristie]

Thank you!

I did adjust my diet. I concentrated on whole foods, traditional foods and because of my low blood sugar problems I found that I feel best when I eat "in the Zone." Balancing my fat, protein and carbs at 30/30/40 made me feel better all day long. I slept better, too. Of course, getting lots of sleep is important to all healing, but it's especially important when what you're dealing with is a problem in a stress-related organ like the adrenal glands. 

I also timed my meals like she talks about in the article. Breakfast by 9:30, lunch by 11:30, snack around 3 and dinner before 7. She suggest something similar, but not exactly what I did. Eating more often and keeping meals and snacks balanced in carbs, protein, and fat helped my blood sugar stay balanced all day.