Adrenal fatigue and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Many people with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis have adrenal fatigue. My goal is not only to explain how this plays out, but also to provide you with some tips that will help restore your adrenal glands to health. In addition to being a licensed healthcare professional who has helped patients with adrenal fatigue, I was personally diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid disorder, had stressed adrenal glands, and successfully restored my adrenal glands to health.
While many people are aware of the common symptoms associated with adrenal fatigue (a constant feeling of exhaustion, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, etc.), what many people don’t realize is that stressed adrenal glands can actually cause an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis to develop. The reason for this is that chronic adrenal fatigue can compromise the immune system. So over a long period of time, this weakened immune system can make someone susceptible to an autoimmune thyroid disorder, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
The good news is that most cases of adrenal fatigue can be reversed. The problem is that most people don’t know how to do this, as many just go out and buy some nutritional supplements at their local health food store, hoping this will help. Some will consult with a medical doctor or holistic doctor, but the fact is that most doctors do not know how to properly treat this common problem. I was also guilty of this when I started practicing, like in my first few years of practice, I would just tell a lot of my patients to eat healthy, tell them to take some supplements, etc.
Top 3 Common Causes of Adrenal Fatigue
The truth is that a good diet and adequate nutritional supplementation can help, but doing it alone will not be enough. To understand this better, let’s look at three of the main causes of adrenal fatigue:
Cause #1: Chronic stress. This is one of the main causes of adrenal fatigue, since while the adrenal glands were meant to deal with acute stress situations, they cannot effectively deal with prolonged chronic stress. Unfortunately, we live in a society where most people have some form of chronic stress in their life, which over a period of months and years will affect the adrenal glands, leading to adrenal fatigue.
Cause #2: Bad eating habits. Eating poorly can definitely affect the health of the adrenal glands and eventually contribute to adrenal fatigue. This is especially true for those who frequently eat refined carbohydrates, where many people fall into this category. The reason this can affect the adrenal glands is because refined foods remove both nutrients and fiber from the whole food source. While manufacturers replace some of the removed nutrients, these refined foods no longer have the fiber component to help slow absorption. What this means is that when you eat a refined food, it is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream and spikes your blood sugar levels.
So someone who is in the habit of eating refined carbs throughout the day (sugary cereals and snacks, bread, pasta, etc.) will cause blood sugar levels to spike and drop over and over again. Over a period of months and years, this will put a considerable amount of stress on the adrenal glands, as well as other endocrine glands in the body. While I’m not going to discuss the physiology behind it here, adrenal fatigue affects the hormones cortisol (released when blood sugar levels are too low) and insulin (released by the pancreas when blood sugar levels get too low). They are tall). Over time, this can lead to reduced cortisol levels, which in turn can lead to chronic fatigue and many other symptoms associated with stressed adrenal glands. This can also lead to conditions such as insulin resistance, diabetes, autoimmune thyroid disorders, etc.
Cause #3: Not eating regularly. In addition to eating junk food frequently, many people are guilty of not eating consistently throughout the day. Many will skip breakfast, which is also not good. Again, this is all about balancing your blood sugar levels, and if you skip breakfast and/or go more than a couple of hours without eating when you wake up, this will put a lot of stress on your adrenal glands, which will eventually lead to adrenal fatigue.
There are other causes of adrenal fatigue besides these three factors, but simply making these lifestyle changes can really work wonders when it comes to adrenal health.
How to restore the health of your adrenals
So how can you reverse adrenal fatigue and restore the health of your adrenal glands? Here are some of the things you can do that will have a profound impact on your adrenal health:
1. Manage the stress in your life better. I realize this isn’t easy to do, but the fact is that if you don’t manage the stress in your life well, there’s virtually no chance of restoring your adrenal glands to health. Almost everyone deals with chronic stress, so I’m not suggesting that you can eliminate all the different stressors. However, most of us can handle stress much better.
2. Reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates you eat. While it would be great if you could completely eliminate all refined foods from your diet, even just drastically reducing the amount of refined foods you eat on a daily basis could go a long way. Eat more whole foods and try to make sure each meal includes some protein. Personally, I grew up eating sugary cereal every morning for breakfast (Fruit Loops was my favorite), but these days I have a healthy protein shake for breakfast, which includes some berries (raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries), a little water protein, protein powder, flax seed oil, and an egg. And while this may not sound very appealing to you, it actually tastes good and gives me a lot of energy to start the day. If you really want to make it a little sweeter, you can also add half a banana.
This doesn’t mean you should also start your day with a protein shake, as you can have some organic eggs or some other healthy source of protein. And no, organic cereal is not healthy! I mention this because some people think that the fact that a product is organic means that it is healthy, but this is not true. While it might be better than eating a non-organic brand, it’s still a refined carbohydrate.
3. Eat regularly throughout the day…and don’t skip breakfast! In addition to breakfast, try not to spend more than two hours throughout the day without eating. And by the way, going back to breakfast, you don’t have to eat too much breakfast to start the morning. I realize that many do not feel hungry when they wake up, but you still need some type of protein to start your day. Even if it’s just a few bites of something high in protein, that’s better than eating nothing at all. I personally like the protein drink not only because it gives me a bit of protein to start the day, but it also hydrates my body immediately, since I add two cups of purified water to it. So eating breakfast when you wake up and then eating every couple of hours will do wonders for balancing your blood sugar levels.
4. Nutritional supplementation can help. Many people want to know if taking nutritional supplements and/or herbal remedies can help with adrenal fatigue. Personally, I think it’s best to consult with a natural endocrine practitioner, mainly because it’s not like everyone with adrenal fatigue needs to take the same supplements and herbs, and more people will need to take different doses. The only herb I will mention that can help with sugar cravings is Gymnema. This is very effective in helping to eliminate any sugar cravings you may have. Once again, I recommend that you consult with a natural endocrine doctor to find out what dosage you should take, as well as to obtain a high-quality product.
If you follow the advice I’ve given you, over time you’ll see your energy levels return, you’ll sleep better, and you’ll generally feel much better. Not only can this help reverse adrenal fatigue, but along with the incorporation of other natural treatment methods, it can also help fully restore the health of someone who has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. While some of these things can certainly be done on your own to help improve your adrenal health, if you suffer from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and would like to consider a natural treatment protocol, I recommend consulting with a knowledgeable natural endocrinologist. After all, we are talking about a serious autoimmune thyroid disorder, and if you want to receive optimal results, it is best to consult with an expert.