Treatment

 TREATMENT

    Healing from Adrenal Fatigue requires a combination of things; first and foremost recovery depends on your lifestyle. How you spend your energy, how you conserve your energy and how you create energy are all very important. Recovery is also contingent on what you eat and drink as well as the thoughts that you feed your mind and the beliefs you base your life on. Lifestyle is extremely important. Unless you change your lifestyle that created the adrenal fatigue and develop a new lifestyle to allow your adrenals to recover, complete healing is rarely seen.  

    The elements of lifestyle are frequently the cause and the aggravating factors of adrenal fatigue that stand in the way of healing. First you must remove the cause and the aggravating factors of the illness. You have to determine which things in your life that are contributing to your health and which things are detracting from it. Remember that stresses are additive and cumulative removing or neutralizing your largest source of stress will make a very significant difference to you adrenal gland and your health and well being. Most of the time if you take care of the big ones the smaller ones will take care of themselves. 

    Relaxation is another key component to healing from adrenal fatigue. This includes belly breathing slowing down of the breaths, counting exhalations, repeating an affirmation, progressive relaxation scheduling unstructured time into every week, taking vacations and getting adequate sleep. Sleeping for patients really should aim to be in bed and asleep before your second wind hits around 11 pm. be in bed by 10:30pm. It is helpful to try to sleep until 9am. Most people with adrenal fatigue get the most restorative sleep between 7 and 9 am. If nighttime awakening is a problem you may be hypoglycemic. So, a bed time snack with protein, unrefined carbs and fat may be helpful. Both too high and too low levels of Cortisol can lead to sleep disturbances. 

     Additional advice for patients with Adrenal Fatigue is to take short rests during the day, physically lie down for 15 to 30 minutes, lying down is much more restorative than sitting. Laughter is important medicine as well. Physical exercise doing something you enjoy and that's not overly competitive and strenuous.  Your diet, it is critical to eat before 10 am eat an early lunch before noon around 11:30am. Eat a nutritious snack between 2 and 3 pm eat dinner around 5:30 to 6pm and eat a few bites of a high quality snack before bed.  You must eat before you have symptoms of hypoglycemia. 

    Eat salt if you crave salt.  Often, adrenal fatigue patients have low sodium levels.  Follow your blood pressure.  If it begins to raise some, it's your baseline you need to cut back on salt.  Sea salt mixed half and half with kelp is especially good for adrenal fatigue patients.

    High potassium foods like bananas and figs tend to make adrenal fatigue worse.  You want to avoid fruit and fruit juice in the morning.  Avoid all fried food because of rancid oils and toxic free radicals.  Free radicals are produced when the oil breaks down with heat.  Eat raw nuts and store them in the freezer to preserve the essential fatty acids.  Combine a fat, protein, and carbohydrate source with every meal.  Adrenal fatigue patients should eat 30-40% vegetables, 30-40% whole grains, 5-10% fruits, 10-20% animal foods, 10-15% beans/seeds/nuts.  Do not eat white flour and sugar, this leads to an addictive cycle with peaks and valleys in your blood sugar.  Avoid foods you are addicted to.  You may crave the food because of food sensitivities and or hypoglycemia.  Avoid any foods that you are sensitive or allergic to.

    If you have questions, please feel free to call 518-786-7004 to speak to Dr. Allison Pontius or email her at DrPontius@williamsfacialsurgery.com and she will be more than happy to help you.

Thank you.