Are Supplements Holding You Back From Recovering from Adrenal Fatigue?

When it comes to all the puzzle pieces that go together when taking a holistic approach to addressing adrenal fatigue I always say that supplements are the easy part.

I don’t mean they are easy in the sense that they are easy to pick out or necessarily easy to afford, that part can be tricky sometimes—- but when I say easy, I mean it in the sense that they are something that you can just ADD to you current lifestyle without much interruption to business as usual.

After working on the floor in a busy supplement shop when I was studying nutrition, I saw the pattern of people coming in looking for that one silver bullet— that one supplement that was going to make all the difference in the world— to help them lose weight, to help them balance their hormones, clear up their skin, improve their sleep or all of these things put together and the some.

The truth is, I used to be like this too…spending whatever I had to on things I had heard were really effective for certain things. I was right there with ya, I wanted it to be that easy too.

Perhaps you can relate to the disappointment that crept in when you were done a bottle and you literally didn’t notice anything different.. or maybe a bit, but you still didn’t feel fully fixed… and this is something we see ALL THE TIME in this community and with the clients we work with.

Here are 3 common mistakes that can actually sabotage your results

MISTaKE 1: You think a supplement alone is going to be that silver bullet that heals you.

• If it were ONLY that easy… and yes, in some cases we HAVE seen that a supplement can be enough to bring someone back into balance simply and easily. For instance, this is commonly seen in cases where someone is deficient in a certain nutrient and starts supplementing it, but there is almost always more to the picture.

• When it comes to adrenal fatigue, there is more often than not, a lifestyle behind the fatigue that has been supporting the burnout for sometime. Supplements can be supportive and help us feel better day to day— but dealing with the lifestyle and the way the body is perceiving stress on an ongoing basis MUST be addressed if you really want to address this long term. Click here to learn our 7 step system to adrenal fatigue recovery!

KEY THING: DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE LIFESTYLE CHANGES NEEDED!

Mistake 2: You are using supplements to put a band-aid on an issue that is not the root cause

• This is another really common situation and with adrenal fatigue, there are 2 layers to this mindset we want to shine a light on.

  • Layer 1: You are using supplements to support your adrenals but there is another, deeper and larger root cause to your adrenal issues that is being looked over. This is common because for many, adrenal fatigue is much more complicated then simple fatigue and simple burn-out—there is often mineral imbalance, heavy metal toxicity, underlying infections or bacterial overgrowth, auto-immune conditions, etc. In these cases, if you aren’t sure, when it comes to supplements- there is likely a lot of guessing going on. This can draw out the process for a long time in an expensive and frustrating way. We recommend working with a professional who can run the appropriate tests and help you target the right root cause so that all your supplement efforts can be more targeted and more effective.

  • Layer 2: You jump straight to adrenal formulas or adaptogens without addressing an anxious, wound up nervous system that needs calming. You can support and stimulate the adrenals all you want, but if you neglect to address the overdriven nervous system that is keeping the demands on the adrenals high, then you’ll be supporting the adrenals forever. This requires lifestyle adjustments (more deep breathing, more meditating, more sleep) and when it comes to using supplements, think about supplements that are calming and rejuvenating to the nervous system—instead of stimulating or energy producing.

kEY THING: FIGURE OUT THE ROOT CAUSE and ADDRESS iT FIRST!

mISTAKE 3: LACKING PATIENCE

• Patience is a virtue, but when we are burnt-out, exhausted and tired, sometimes we don’t want to wait. We wanted results yesterday! However, we have to remember (especially with hormones) things take time and a supplement may be providing tremendous benefit but the results won’t really be seen or felt for a good few weeks or even months. For this reason, it’s common to see people jumping from one supplement to the next month after month, bottle after bottle, because they aren’t seeing the desired result quick enough.

• We encourage you to think about how you can gauge small and subtle changes that might be showing up along the way—sometimes we are so focused on going from 0 to 100, that it’s easy to discredit or disregard the progress being made along the way.

  KEY THING: Consider how can you track your progress more objectively and less emotionally?

When it comes to using supplements to support your adrenal fatigue, think about what’s causing the imbalance in your body carefully and intuitively. If you aren’t sure, working with a professional who can help make this clear for you can make a huge difference and can really help get you our of a rut if you have felt stuck with the progress you have made up to this point.

Supplement Hacks for Common Adrenal Fatigue Complaints

Adrenal Fatigue is complicated, many of us know this to be true all to well.

The effects of HPA (hypothalmus-piuitary-adrenal) Axis Dysfunction can be vast and varied— so many different symptoms that affect so many different areas of our life. This is part of the reason it can be hard to pinpoint adrenal issues as a root cause and address them properly.

Some of the symptoms are often so common that we come to see them as normal— fatigue, feeling tired in the morning, anxiety, sleep disturbancess etc. While others are less common and a bit more worrying— the heart palpitations, excessive urination, restless legs and on going insomnia.

Today, we want to address some of the most common complaints we hear about in our Adrenal Fatigue Community on Facebook and give you a few supplement tips that you can use to help with them.

Before I dive in, I want to remind you that supplements are just one piece of the puzzle. Without taking holistic action on the dietary, lifestyle and mindset part of things, your supplement efforts may be undermined. For best results, you need to address this from ALL angles.

DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT MEDICAL DOCTORS AND NONE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS BLOG SHOULD BE TAKEN AS MEDICAL ADVICE.
These are basic examples of common supplements known to help support adrenal issues caused by mineral imbalances. Before you start taking any new supplements we strongly encourage you to discuss with your doctor and ideally, work with one of our adrenal recovery coaches to ensure you are taking appropriate steps for the unique needs of your body. Click here to read full website disclaimer.

Supplement Support for Four Common Adrenal Fatigue Complaints

SLEEP

Sleep is one of the main complaints we hear about in our community.
Unfortunately, the irregular hormonal fluctuations that go along with adrenal fatigue can make sleep a real challenge for many of us. Our number one recommendation for addressing this head on is getting advanced hormone testing. Honestly, it’s an investment but the clarity you will receive from understanding exactly what is going on with your hormones and how they fluctuate throughout the day is invaluable. From there you can target your symptoms head on with specific lifestyle and supplements and a good practitioner can help you fine tune a plan for your needs.

Testing a side, when it comes to supportive supplements for sleep here are our top 3 recommendations:

• 200-600mg of Magnesium Glycinate or Threonate before bed to help support deeper sleeps and relaxation.

• .5mg-3mg of Melatonin taken after dinner when it starts to get dark out for those who wake up frequently throughout the night or early morning.

• some sort of nervine tonic— something to calm down your nervous system— you can follow the dosing on the bottle based on what you get, here are some of our favorites: CBD oil, lemon balm, milky oat straw, magnolia bark, passion flower, chamomile, and valerian.

You can try one of the above or a combination of all three.

HEART PALPITATIONS

There can be many causes behind heart palpitations and if you are experiencing this symptom, we highly encourage you to discuss with your doctor. Many adrenal fatigue sufferers experience this symptom and it can be caused by low blood pressure, low blood sugar, anxiety, thyroid issues, diet and caffeine.

These are some supplements you can consider to help support:

• 400-600mg of Magnesium Glycinate or Magnesium Malate to help relax the body and help to stabilize the electrical activity of the heart.

• A daily dose of a quality B-Complex to provide nutrients needed for a healthy nervous system and healthy heart function

• 200mg of CoQ10 (Ubiquinone or Ubiquinol), an important nutrient for heart health and potent antixoidant— great for energy.

FREQUENT URINATION

Frequent urination can go along with having depleted adrenals. One of the hormones implicated with a fatigued endocrine system is aldosterone which controls the amounts of sodium and water in the body, along with our blood pressure. Imbalanced levels of this hormone can contribute to frequent urination.

When it comes to supplements, things like this can help:

• a glass of coconut water daily

• an electrolyte supplement

RESTLESS LEG/ EYE TWITCHES/Leg cramps

When we are stressed, our nutrient need increases. We use up minerals and vitamins more quickly— sometimes we eat foods like sugar and caffeine that also further deplete our minerals and when we are low in certain minerals it can show itself in the form of leg cramps, eye twitches or restless legs at night— all of which are uncomfortable in their own way. Thankfully, rebalancing our minerals can really help calm these symptoms. Here’s where you can start:

• A daily dose of a quality B-Complex to support the nervous

• A daily glass of coconut water

• an electrolyte supplement

• 200-600mg of Magnesium Glycinate or Threonate

You will notice that many of these supplement recommendations are similar across the board for many of these symptoms. Sometimes, just taking something a simple as magnesium can have far reaching effects on different levels of your health in one fell swoop, however, these suggestions will work much better when you combined with a nice clean diet, good self-care and stress management.

Click here to read our post about tailoring your supplement plan based on your stage of adrenal fatigue. 

Do you struggle with these symptoms? If so, let us know what has helped you in the comments below!

All our best,
Danielle + the HYAF Team