Dr. Elizabeth Tully
Image Massive Health
30Nov

Nutrients Needed for Adrenal Repair

Posted by: E Tully Categories: Nutrition Stress
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In my last two blogs, I have touched on the idea of Adrenal Fatigue. That is the concept that chronic stress and poor diet can lead your body down the path of hormonal imbalance and physiologic dysregulation that will eventually cause symptoms to appear.

These are not disease states. Many times you may have symptoms, for instance fatigue, and no disease is present. Adrenal Fatigue is a term that represents what may be taking place in your body during that time when you ‘don’t feel right’ but no disease or pathological process can be identified.  Another ways to say this is “The doctor says my tests are normal, but I still don’t feel good.”

Therefore the advice given here is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or identify any deficiency. It is meant to give you some information on how to support your body with correct nutrition, either by diet or supplement.

Because the adrenal glands are our stress handling center and a place of hormone manufacture and release, their effect on our body is intertwined with the other steroid family hormones.  For this reason you may suspect (or know) that you have imbalances in male or female hormones, the blood sugar handling hormones or even thyroid hormones.  If this is true, much of the same advice will apply to helping your body heal. Click here for stress inducing behaviors to avoid.

The adrenal glands secrete cortisol.

Common signs of increased cortisol include:

  • Increasing Fatigue
  • Weight Gain
  • Tired after meals
  • Mood, Thinking and Memory problems
  • Sleep Disruption (Inability to fall asleep or stay asleep)
  • Anxiousness/Nervousness
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Infections/Low Immune
  • Food Allergies/Seasonal Allergies
  • Leaky gut
  • Stomach Burning (Indigestion, Reflux, GERD)
  • Sweet and Carb Cravings
  • Decreased Libido

Notice anything familiar? If you do, you need to change your response to stress and watch your diet.

Get off the SAD diet

If you have never heard the term SAD, you may be a prime candidate for this advice. SAD stands for Standard American Diet and represents foods that are over processed and under nutritious. This topic could constitute many pages of research, recommendations and commentary, so for now I will trim it down to 3 recommendations :

  1. Reduce or Avoid processed foods including all grains .
  2. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables to include some at every meal, including breakfast.
  3. Eliminate any beverage that is not water.

And 3 comments:

Processed foods describes anything not in its natural state and includes staples like fast food, junk food, snacks, flours and sugars and just about ANYTHING that comes in a package.  Fruits contain sugars in natural form and they can be consumed daily, but twice as many vegetables should be eaten. Beverages that contain caffeine or alcohol should be slowly eliminated by tapering down.  (Those with known conditions, such as diabetes, should follow their doctors recommendations on sugar and alcohol consumption.)

 Supplements to Increase Vitality and Healing

(I only use whole food supplements in my practice and find them superior for many patients.)

Vitamin C – The adrenal glands use and store Vitamin C because it is needed for hormone production. Vitamin C is also used for many other bodily functions and reactions. Because Vitamin C is a water-soluble hormone, it is easily excreted from the body and must be consumed every day.  Foods  high in vitamin C include broccoli, peppers, strawberries, oranges, and spinach. In my office, I recommend Cataplex C, a whole food supplements made by Standard Process Inc.

Vitamins B – When we are under stress, eat refined foods, smoke, or eat sugar we burn though our Vitamin B stores. Also needed for adrenal function I recommend Standard Process Drenamin which contains B vitamins and adrenal extracts.

Vitamin E is a precursor of hormone production and a food sources are usually high in (good) fat.  Add olives, avocados, sunflower seeds, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip mustard and beet greens to your diet. Whole food wheat germ oil is a natural source of tocopherols (an explanation of tocopherols is found here) and is an excellent way of getting Vitamin E.

Vitamin D – Vitamin D testing is strongly suggested as the many benefits of normalized Vitamin D levels are well-known.

Herbs to Consider**

Another topic that many pages can be devoted to, herbal support is appropriate for many tough cases.

Licorice – Known as an adrenal tonic, licorice is a support which may work best for those with low cortisol, as it has been shown to extend the life of cortisol. It has anti-inflammatory effects and may support lung and bowel function. Licorice is contraindicated in high blood pressure, edema, low blood potassium and congestive heart failure.

Ashwaganda – Considered adaptogenic,  it helps the body adapt to stress and is indicated with fatigue, sleep problems and weakness. Good for those who feel stressed out, its anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects have been studied.

**Care must be taken when using and buying herbs. Most herbs are contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation. Consult your doctor before starting any herbal protocol.

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23Nov

Top 3 Behaviors Pushing You To Exhaustion

Posted by: E Tully Categories: Stress
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Are You Driving Yourself to Exhaustion?

Are You Driving Yourself to Exhaustion?

Are You Driving Yourself into Adrenal Fatigue?

In a society where parents vie for prestigious preschools for their Ivy League bound toddlers, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we prize behaviors that prove we are driven, high energy personalities.  Our role models are politicians, celebrities and entertainers who work themselves hard.  Reality TV shows push contestants to the breaking point with long stress filled days, physical challenges, lack of sleep, and fear.  The winners must prove that they are capable of withstanding various types of physical, emotional and mental stresses and we applaud their toughness.

Are we applauding patterns that will lead us to adrenal exhaustion?

We all know that if we want to be healthy we need to eat right, exercise, lose weight. But many people do not realize that they can do themselves harm by pushing too hard. The American motto “If a little is good, more is better” does not serve us well.

Top 3 Behaviors that Could Be Exhausting You

1. Skipping meals

2. Intense or Overly Vigorous Exercise

3. Waking too early

Over the years I have read many quotes by successful people extolling the virtues of rising before dawn, exercising strenuously and eating sparingly or skipping meals. These people look like the lean, mean corporate raider types that we expect.  But in reality, you have no idea how they feel and if they are in good health.  Swallowing a hand full of vitamins with your prescriptions does not mean you are healthy. They may be able to live this lifestyle for many years, but others will burn out and become ill or injured.

Here’s Why

The adrenals help balance blood sugar, so if you have unstable blood sugar your adrenal glands will respond to bring your body back to homeostasis.  This is true of skipping meals and eating highly processed junk food which will cause your blood sugar to surge then crash.

Intense exercise is a form of stress that can wear you out instead of building you up and it can actually become counter productive in weight loss. If you have ever found yourself bemoaning that fact that you exercise but don’t lose weight, you might be pushing yourself too hard.  Once your body secretes cortisol, the stress hormone, all of its properties come into play, including the one that causes your body to convert stored glycogen back to blood sugar.  So instead of following that Calories In – Calories Out equation, the body follows its own rules and dumps some glucose into your blood to help you deal with stress.

Lastly, because the adrenal glands secrete hormone in a daily rhythm, people who stay up late, work nights, sleep during the day or get up too early will be fighting against their body’s inner clock.

If you suspect you are suffering from Adrenal Fatigue (to check click here), you must avoid the following behaviors:

  • Pushing yourself to exhaustion
  • Junk food, sugar and caffeine use
  • Eating carbohydrates without protein or fat
  • Staying up late with a “Second Wind”
  • Drinking high sugar beverages (soda, sweet tea, coffee beverages, alcohol)
  • Caretaking behavior (not leaving time for yourself)
  • Over committing yourself (Supermom syndrome)
  • Being too serious and ‘stressed’
  • Doing things you dislike because you have to
  • Negative self talk

After years of overtaxing your body, being kind to yourself is part of the healing process.  To recover you must eat every two hours, sleep until 7:00 -8:00am, if possible and exercise moderately.

There are many supplements which will help heal the adrenals, which I will touch on in my next post.

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!

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16Nov

7 Hidden Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

Posted by: E Tully Categories: Nutrition Pain Relief
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Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue or Adrenal Insufficiency

Do you have problems with fatigue or lethargy? Is it hard to get up in the morning because no matter how long you sleep, you just don’t feel rested? Or do you have problems getting to sleep because you catch a” second wind” in the evening and stay up too late trying to get things done, and then can’t fall asleep easily?

Lethargy, fatigue or inability to handle stress might make sense to some who understand that the adrenals are part of our stress handling system. But what about the hidden signs that you might be taxed to the max?

Do you experience any of these Hidden Signs?

  1. Salt Cravings
  2. Allergies (Food allergies, Seasonal Allergies, Pet allergies, etc)
  3. Low Immune
  4. Increased Recovery Time from illness or injury
  5. Digestive problems
  6. Hormonal Problems
  7. Dizzy or light-headedness when standing quickly

If you see yourself in the images above, you may be suffering from Adrenal Fatigue

The Adrenal Glands.

The Endocrine system

The Endocrine system

 

The Adrenal glands are part of the endocrine system which is the interconnected system of hormone secreting organs.  Like the pancreas, ovaries or testes, the adrenal glands produce very powerful substances which are released into the body in tiny amounts. These substances create a complex system of signals designed to keep us healthy, fertile and able to meet the stresses of everyday life.

The adrenal glands are two small glands, approximately the size of a walnut, which sit on top of each kidney.

Adrenal Glands

Adrenal Glands

The adrenals are the stress handling glands and produce a number of hormones that help you process stress — physical, mental or emotional. They keep your body in balance and mediate the ‘flight or fight’ response.  The adrenals control fluid balance, blood pressure balance, blood sugar balance (especially between meals), inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response and immune system response and strength.

The hormones that the adrenals produce belong to the steroid family and help determine overall strength, energy, vitality and stamina. These hormone help us maintain a sense of well-being and keep up healthy mood and emotion and act as the back up system for our male and female hormones.  The adrenals produce precursors to testosterone, estrogen and progesterone along with the anti-aging hormone DHEA.

A cup full of Stress, anyone?

Is it any wonder that people who have stressed their adrenal glands are tired, anxious, overwhelmed and at times unhappy?

Bu, you may ask, how did my adrenals get stressed? I don’t remember a lot of big stressors, just normal life.

Therein lies the problem.  Our bodies are designed to handle a big stress and then rest.  A big happy stress, like having a baby and then a few weeks of rest.  Or a major negative stress, like the death of a loved one, and then back to life as usual. But in our hectic, over scheduled, traffic ridden, can’t-find-a-parking-place-and-I’m-late existence, stress accumulates and then tips you over the edge.

Factors Leading to Adrenal Fatigue

  • Lack of Relaxation
  • Emotional Stress
  • Lack of Sleep
  • Processed Non-Nutritious Food
  • Oral Contraceptives
  • Work Stress
  • Marital Strife
  • Sedentary Lifestyle
  • Smoking
  • Antacid Use
  • Persistent Pain
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Skipping Meals
  • Caffeine Use
  • Negative Thinking

I’m Stressed out just reading this.  What do I do about it?

The following is a list of positive things changes you can make. You will not erase a lifetime of bad habits immediately. First you must recognize the patterns that led you down the road to adrenal fatigue.

Change your daily patterns to include the following:

Pace yourself and allow down time to rest

Eat real, whole, fresh foods

Eat every two hours (yes even breakfast, even if is just 2 bites)

Eat a protein and fat with every carbohydrate

Get to bed by 10 – 11pm

Sleep until 7 – 8am when possible

Drink more water and herbal teas

Do things that you enjoy

Mild exercise such as swimming, walking, yoga

Find things that make you laugh, like a little kitten in a big comforter.

 

Little kitten, Big comforter

Little kitten, Big comforter

 

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26Oct

Are You Sabotaging Your Health?

Posted by: E Tully Categories: Chiropractic Nutrition Pain Relief
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He who has health

 

He who has hope, has everything.

 

So the proverb goes.  But do you really think about your health? Many of my patients consider themselves healthy even though they are taking multiple prescriptions or have borderline conditions.

When I go over a patient’s health  history, I ask them many questions about their complaint and the conditions and medications they listed on my forms. Mind you, most patients come to me with a pain complaint without realizing how diet, obesity, prescription drugs and even food allergies can contribute to all kinds of conditions, including joint pain.

More and more I hear patients comparing themselves to other people instead of a healthy norm.  A few months ago a man came in for a nutritional consultation about some abnormal blood work he had received.  It seems he had suffered from high cholesterol all his life.  Because he was not overweight or diabetic, he did not think it had anything to do with his diet.

“How is your diet?” I asked.

“No worse than anyone else’s,” he answered.

I find this interesting for a few reasons.

1. If you are paying a doctor to consult with you about your diet, why are you even mentioning what anyone else does? This may seem counter intuitive, but just because you know someone who eats badly and ‘gets away with it’, doesn’t mean you can.

2. Having a long-standing problem, should not exclude a cure.  What I mean here, is that if you have had a problem since you were young, maybe you have been inadvertently causing that problem in some way you are not aware of.  In the example of the patient above, his doctor had finally given him an ultimatum due to his age. But his age was not the problem.  His consumption of carbohydrates was.  This led to his so-called ‘unhealthy’ cholesterol level.  (For why I don’t believe the Cholesterol Myth, click here.) His refusal to recognize that his diet could be improved was also part of his problem.

3. There are no Free Lunches.  While in school, my Endocrinology professor often started a lesson with this statement. Then he would go on to teach us about the many hormones in the human body and why you must play by the rules that nature has given us. The one story that stands out in my mind was of a male medical student who had a situation in a very sensitive area ‘down below’.  It seems he had a problem with itching and found that the use of a topical cream containing cortisone helped the itching.  Instead of seeking a diagnosis, he continued with the cream for a long enough time that he began to suffer a side effect of the hormone: thinning skin. Since this area of the body already has thin skin, the excessive use of a hormonal treatment caused the skin to thin even more.  And bleed. He did not consider the delicate balance of hormones before, but he certainly did after he gave himself a difficult-to-reverse condition.

So what does the ‘Free Lunch’ have to do with anything? Just this, you can fool yourself, but you can’t fool your body.  If you  fell off your best friend’s car in a high school game of ‘chicken’, just because you didn’t tell your mother, does not mean your spine didn’t get injured.  You would be amazed at how many ‘I’ve had it all my life‘ pain complaints can be traced back to an accident or injury that was ignored because the patient didn’t have to go to the hospital.  Your body knows it’s injured even though you don’t have the sense to figure it out.

4. Doing something the same way every day does not mean it’s NOT hurting you. This may seem indistinguishable from my comments above, but it is slightly different. For example, a well-known side effect of statin (cholesterol lowering) drugs is muscle and joint pain. When I see one of these drugs on a patient’s drug list, I usually mention this fact. Almost invariably the patient replies, “That can’t be it, I’ve taken it for years.” Unfortunately, the longer you take this class of drugs, the more likely you are to have side effects.

Are you Sabotaging Your Health?

What about you? Are you sabotaging your health?

Are you guilty of any of the following:

  • Poor Diet including trans fats, refined foods (white flour, white sugar, packaged foods)
  • Not eating raw and cooked veggies every day
  • Smoking
  • Excessive alcohol intake
  • Consumption of hidden sugars in ‘fat free’ foods, especially dairy products
  • Excessive protein intake
  • Lack of exercise
  • Lack of Chiropractic care for spinal issues
  • Treating yourself with ‘natural’ hormones
  • Following fad diets or the latest supplement trend
  • Multiple prescriptions without understanding side effects

Did you notice a few things that you didn’t think were bad?

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12Oct

The Cholesterol Myth

Posted by: E Tully Categories: Nutrition Research
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Halloween

The Cholesterol Myth

I was speaking with a patient this week about some of her health issues.  Many people come into my office taking a boatload of medications.  As we conversed about her and her husband’s prescriptions, cholesterol lowering medications were on both their lists.  I had to keep myself from blurting out, “Why do people still believe this cholesterol crap?”

Since Ansel Key’s 1950’s study of diet and heart disease, the medical establishment has demonized cholesterol as the culprit in heart disease. But not just heart disease and heart attacks, high blood cholesterol levels has been considered the cause of fatal heart attacks.  As a nation we have been encouraged to give up fats and fatty foods including eggs, bacon, red meat, and butter all in the name of living a longer healthier life.

The only problem is, it’s a big lie.

Cholesterol, my old friend, where would I be without you?

Dead, that’s where.

Not only is cholesterol a necessary part of every cell in your body, and used in abundance by your central nervous system (read: BRAIN), but cholesterol is the precursor for every steroid in the steroid “family” of hormones.  This ‘Family’ includes Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, DHEA, Cortisol, Aldosterone and a few lesser known but no less important cousins.

I am always amazed when I hear about doctors who tell older females that menopausal women “Have no more hormones.” In plain medical facts, if you had “no more hormones” you would be in the hospital or dead.

This doesn’t say much for the doctors understanding of the human body.

Let the Brainwashing begin.

Unfortunately many medical doctors in this country have forgotten their basic understanding of human physiology.  (You know, those classes you have to pass BEFORE they let you into medical school.) They spend so much time learning to memorize symptoms in order to name a disease, that they stop asking why.

Why is the patient sick? Why is the cholesterol level so high? Why is the body pasting this sticky stuff inside arteries and blocking them up?  And there are answers to all these questions, if you know where to look (hint – in the physiology textbook).

But modern medicine doesn’t need to answer these question in order to do what they have been trained to do: Prescribe drugs.

Please Dr., can I have some more?

Prescribing drugs to address a condition (notice I did not say cure a condition) might be an appropriate thing to do if the drugs worked and the patients recovered.  But when you are talking about preventative medications, shouldn’t the medication actually be proven to prevent what it claims to prevent?  Like fatal heart attacks?

Sadly, this has never been the case with cholesterol lowering medications.  No studies have ever definitively linked a low total cholesterol level with decreased death rate from heart attack, though you have been lead to believe otherwise.  However, many studies have pointed to the side effects and ineffectiveness of cholesterol lowering medications, which in turn cause patients to seek even more medications to alleviate the side effects.

“Let me take you off that harmful drug.” Said no doctor, ever.

A 2012 study in the Journal of Evaluation of Clinical Practice¹ followed 52 thousand people for 10 years.  This study indicates that lower cholesterol levels don’t equate to less heart disease.  For women, it seems that a slightly elevated cholesterol level may even be beneficial.

None of these studies ever seem to deter our friends with the prescription pads. Even worse they continue to give dietary advice that has been proven incorrect, frightening people away from moderate consumption of fats and meats, but condoning the wholesale misuse of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

Nina Teicholz, writing in the Wall Street Journal, notes that

“there has never been solid evidence for the idea that these fats cause disease. We only believe this to be the case because nutrition policy has been derailed over the past half-century by a mixture of personal ambition, bad science, politics, and bias.”²

 

When your doctor pulls out his prescription pad, what are you going to do?

 

 

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21951982  Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 study.

2.  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/377275/saturated-fat-and-skepticism-mona-charen

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