I have been suffering from excessive amounts of stress all my life and was wondering what could be the cause of it. Could it be poor diet? Or maybe something else? I really do not know.
I went to a doctor that specializes in endocrinology and chinese herbology and he said that if I have been in such as constant state of extreme stress all my life, then it would have an affect on the adrenal glands. He said that when under stress, first the adrenal glands go through the "alert stage", then they go through the "adaptation stage", and then finally the "exhaustion stage", which I believe I have gone through many times. He said that I may be lacking a certain nutrient, such as a trace mineral, in my current diet. I am pretty sure that that is not the case though because I was on an extremely pure diet for over a year and was not lacking any nutrients besides vitamin d and vitamin b12. After over a year of being on this lifestyle, I decided to add meats back into my diet for the vitamin b12 to see if I felt any different. Well, emotionally I felt alot better but then I felt worse physically. I then proceeded in returning to the stardard american diet, and felt a lot better emotionally, but once again, did not feel good at all physically. So it has been a "trade-off". Is there any way I could correct this?
Wow! That's a great relationship. An endocrinologist and Chinese herbologist. Really. Good for you for finding someone with such credentials. Did he/she suggest supporting herbs, minerals, or vitamins?
You can't beat me in the field of worry. I'm the gold medal winner. Life is just not worth living without worries. Where there are none, I invent them. Literally all my life; in my career, hobbies, and other parts of my life. Even in my retirement. Stress seems to be my best friend.
Several members of this forum will have good techniques an protocols for relieving stress. Of course, they either don't work for me; or I don't have the patience to wait for them to work. But they seem to work for everyone else; so maybe they will respond to your post in that manner.
The adrenals can wreck havoc on other parts of the endocrine system for sure. In my case, they have bad effects on my thyroid and hypothalamus. Or maybe my hypothalamus is the cause of it all; since it is the master gland that makes the others communicate with each other.
Anyway, rebuilding the adrenals is fairly easy. The most important nutrients for the adrenals are vitamin C and vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). When the adrenals are very active, they use up all the vitamin C they can find - at the expense of other parts of the body. This reduces available vitamin C for other functions such as white blood cell activity leading to immune suppression, and collagen and elastin formation leading to problems including wrinkles, bone loss, and cellulite. So it is very important to supply yourself with an abundance of vitamin C. Not all at once. Perhaps 2 to 3 times per day.
I prefer the natural VitC; instead of the synthetic ascorbic acid. I like amla (indian gooseberry) the best. I take it as powder to avoid any other filler. Also check sources like watercress, papaya, kiwi, berries, acerola cherry, and rosehips.
Pantothenic acid is easy to find in bee pollen, if you are not allergic. Also rice bran, seaweeds, or nutritional yeast. It is important to take a complete complex of the B vitamins, instead of just one. Taking one, will deplete the others.
Adaptogenic herbs are also very important after the adrenals have sufficient VitC and pantothenic acid. The best adaptogenic herbs, IMO, include schisandra berry, licorice root, astragalus, Siberian ginseng, jiaogulan, and ashwagandha. Nettle leaf is also excellent for the adrenals.
Good luck on your health quest. I think I know the feeling.
If you think this stressed out condition is not the type that would be normal, such as living in prison or something like that, then I would consider supplements that quell inflammation.
Inflammation, even low grade unnoticeable inflammation changes the way the brain works, and causes it to function improperly. While I have not heard of stress in particular being a symptom, depression and anxiety are very common symptoms of an chronic inflammatory response.
Turmeric, Ginger, Pycnogenol, and Boswelia are all good at taking care of unwanted inflammation.
The use of these supplements cured my life long battle with depression, by accident.
Inflammation, even low grade unnoticeable inflammation changes the way the brain works, and causes it to function improperly. While I have not heard of stress in particular being a symptom, depression and anxiety are very common symptoms of an chronic inflammatory response.
Turmeric, Ginger, Pycnogenol, and Boswelia are all good at taking care of unwanted inflammation.
Good point Dan. Didn't think of that.
I've been using boswellia for a month now. I was taking it just to see if it would help any inflammation that I might have in my intestines. I have symptoms of inflammation there.
Boswellic acid has been shown to be an excellent anti-inflammatory and has strong anti-cancer properties. Boswellia does cover a number of species, including the species used to produce frankincense. Problem is that these are resins. I would be careful not to use them for long term use as resins can be very hard on the kidneys. I plan to finish the bottle, then lay off for a few weeks before starting another bottle.
Having had a stress-triggered stroke and heart attack some time ago, I have some experience and understanding of stress now that I didn't before. I've applied this knowledge to my life and successfully reduced stress while increasing my ability to handle it.
I've written a few basic articles on stress. Here is one on "How does stress affect health?" that not only defines stress, but explains the difference between "good stress" (which we do need!) and "bad stress."
Physical situations are caused by emotional stress, so that needs to be addressed first if you want to fully handle the results of negative stress on the body!
Don't get me wrong; anything you do to alleviate the physical results of stress will help. But learning what stress is and what causes it and what you can do about it goes the furthest in improving your physical and emotional health
STRESS
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